Writing and New Technologies
USING WIKIS TO DEVELOP ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS: AFFORDANCES, CONSTRAINTS AND FEEDBACK PRACTICES
Margaret Pate
Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
Working collaboratively in multidisciplinary groups is a reality for many researchers. How can universities prepare their students to function effectively in this world? In this talk I will argue that the use of collaborative writing, using Wiki technology, represents a possible answer. Collaborative learning requires students to pool language resources in order to complete tasks they cannot do alone. They do this through dialogue and interaction with peers. Vygotskian approaches also highlight the importance of social interaction in the zone of proximal development (ZPD). But are learners ready for this approach? Studies have reported both acceptance and refusal of peer feedback. The Wiki is an excellent tool both for the promotion of collaboration as well as peer feedback. For the teacher the possibility to track the changes on a text and the comments made between peers is highly valuable and can be used as an area for teacher feedback to aid the collaborative process. The research for this talk took place during a course run at the Politecnico di Torino, to help PhD students to write academic papers in February 2015. Through the analysis of quantitative data provided by student questionnaires, qualitative data through semistructured student focus group interviews and the wiki pages, I will provide reflections on the affordances and constraints of implementing collaborative writing through a wiki as a means to improve journal writing skills, as well as suggestions for maximizing the potential of both peer and screencast teacher feedback.
References
Hyland, F. & Hyland, K. (2006) Feedback in Second Language Writing: Contexts and Issues , CUP.
Kessler, G., Bikowski, D. & Boggs, J. (2012) Collaborative writing among second language learners in academic webbased projects , Language Learning and Technology, 16 (1), pp. 91109.
Rott, S & Weber, E.L. (2013) Preparing Students to use Wiki Software as a Collaborative Learning Tool , CALICO Journal, 30 (2).
Storch N. (2011) Collaborative writing in L2 contexts: Processes, outcomes and future directions , Annual review of Applied Linguistics, pp. 275288.
Strobl, C. (2014) Affordances of Web 2.0 Technologies for Collaborative Advanced Writing in a Foreign Language , CALICO Journal, 31 (1).