The Effects of Collaborative Learning

on High School Writing Class

Submitted by: Supervised by:

- Asma Benaichouch Mr Brahim Hadad

- Hanane Hamchouch

- Hasna Ezzaki

- Jihad Laziz

Acadimic year: 2018

0
 Table of contents

Abstract........................................................................................................................................2
I.Introduction…..........................................................................................................................3
1. General introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3
2. Statement of the problem ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..4
3.Objectives ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4
4.Rational…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4
5.Hypothesis ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..5
6.Research questions .....................................................................................................................5

II.Literature Review...............................................................................................................6
1- Writing Approaches………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……6
2. Theoretical frameworks………………………………………………………………………………………………………..7
3. Elements of cooperative learning ……………………………………………………………………………………..…8
4. Group processing…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….9
5. Cooperative Writing in EFL classes …………………………………………………………………………………………9
6. Benefits of cooperative learning……………………………………………………………………………………………..9
7. collaborative learning and communicative language teaching ................................................9

III.Methodological Design …………………………………………………………………….……………….…………11

IV.Data Analysis and Interpretations…………………………………………………………………….……12
V.Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………….……13
VII.Bibliography………………………..………………………………………………….……………………………………….14

1
 Abstract
This research stems from an experience which took place in a practicum at
different high schools located in Sidi Bernoussi, Molay Rchid and Hay Mohamadi.
During this period, the teacher trainees noticed that most of students’ level in
writing, which is a salient skill in EFL learning, is not to the standards and most of
time students do it individually. Hence, these teachers suggested that practicing
writing skill collaboratively might help students to improve their level .This study
mainly explores the relationship between collaborative learning and writing class
development at the high school level in four high schools in Casablanca.

2
 Chapter one
General introduction

Writing is considered as one of the most important skill for language

production. However, it is regarded as the main difficult task for both English as a
foreign language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL) students. Since
most of the students not only in Morocco but also in other parts of the world have
weak writing skills, they face many challenges in writing especially making
compositions in a foreign language. Nunan (1989) argues that writing is an
extremely difficult cognitive activity which requires the learner to have control
over various factors. Therefore, this study is going to tackle the effects of
collaborative learning on students’ writing skills.

Collaborative learning has become not only an essential concept in the field
of education (Kohonen, 1989; Kohonen, 1992; Gaillet, 1992; McWham et al.,
2003, Nunan, 1992) but also a well-known and widespread activity in most
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL)
writing classes. The term ‘collaborative learning’ as used in this thesis refers to
students working together in small groups on specific activities, with everyone
being required to participate actively (Cohen, 1994). On the one hand,
collaborative learning refers to ‘a small group of learners working together as a
team to solve problems, complete a task, or accomplish a common goal’ (Graham,
2005, p.11). Collaborative or cooperative learning differs from traditional learning
because it provides structural opportunities for individuals, who are given specific
roles within their groups, to work together to reach common goals. It is usually
contrasted with traditional or competitive classroom environments (Kessler, 2003).
3
 On the other hand, collaborative learning in the context of collaborative
writing means two or more people working together to produce and complete a
text, through practising stages and activities such as collecting, planning and
organizing ideas, drafting, revising and editing (Rice &Huguley, 1994).
Collaborative learning in the form of collaborative writing in EFL classes might
help students to act socially and cognitively, and teachers should encourage
learners to become involved in social activities that promote interaction and the
coconstruction of knowledge (Storch, 2002). Collaborative learning of writing
skills helped students to find new ideas together and exposed them to various
opinions, encouraged them to discuss, debate, disagree and teach one another as
well as helping them to practise aspects of the process approach to writing such as
generating ideas (Graham,2005).

1. Statement of the problem

As it has been already mentioned, the lack of the writing skills is one of the
main problems among students, more specifically EFL Moroccan high school
students. At the level of 2nd year baccalaureates, students are required to produce a
piece of writing during the national exam. However, many of them face several
challenges to accomplish the task as they don’t have enough writing skills. As an
attempt to solve this problem, many studies have proved how using collaborative
learning in the form of collaborative writing in classrooms has a positive effect on
students’ writing strategies (Elbow, 1975; Graham, 2005).Thus, a collaborative
learning strategy might be an effective way of teaching writing to EFL Moroccan
high school students.

2. Objectives

The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of collaborative learning

so as to improve high school students’ writing skill, that is, to figure out if
students working through cooperative learning provide better written texts than

4
working individually in terms of organization, coherence, vocabulary, structure,
and punctuation and to see if collaborative learning has a positive effect on
students’ attitudes and perceptions towards writing in English.

3. Rational

Since it has been noticed that most EFL Moroccan high school students
have serious difficulties when producing written texts, it is very important to shed
light on the strategies adopted by teachers, such as collaborative learning and
more specifically collaborative writing, in order to improve students’ writing
skills. As a result, we intend to conduct this research in order to pinpoint the
effects of collaborative learning on Moroccan high school writing classes.

4. Hypothesis

The hypothesis of the present study revolves around the idea that involving
EFL Moroccan high school students in cooperative learning and more specifically
cooperative writing will positively affect both students’ quality of writing and
students’ attitudes and perceptions toward learning the English language.

5. Research questions

Based on the goals previously mentioned, this research paper attempts to

answer the following questions:
1- How does collaborative writing beneficial to students? Will students’ writing
skill be improved if they are engaged in collaborative learning setting?
2-To what extent do students write better after collaborating with their classmates
than when working individually in terms of accuracy?
3-Are students’ attitudes and perceptions positively affected by involvement in
collaborative learning setting?

5
 Chapter Two
Literature Review

Academic research has been done in the area of cooperative learning.

Researchers interested in
language education have adopted different research approaches, formulated
different objectives, and focused on different aspects.

1- Writing Approaches
There are three main writing approaches : The genre approach which deals
with the reader, the process approach is concerned with the writer, and the product
approach that copes with the form However, our study is basically concerned with
the process approach to writing.

1.1 Process Approach to Writing

The process approach was launched in the mid 1960s Rohman (1965)
claimed that the process approach to writing consists of three salient stages : the
pre-writing stage, drafting, and post-writing stage.
The process approach to writing pay attention to the various stages that any
piece of writing goes through by spending time with learners on pre-writing
phases, editing and finally publishing their work. It aims to get to the heart of the
various skills that should be employed when writing.

1.2 Stages and activities of the process approach to writing

The writing process contains a series of steps to follow in producing a well-
organized piece of writing. Williams ( 2003) claims that students engaged in
6
writing need to be involved in activities that recquire different writing stages like
brainstorming, drafting, and editing.

A- Pre-Writing
In this stage, students collect and produce ideas before finishing the actual
writing. It involves many strategies such as planning, organization of ideas, and
making heading . However, brainstorming and collaborative learning is the best
way of ensuring that this stage was carried out effectively.

B- Drafting
In this stage, students create their initial writing by jotting down their ideas
in a structured way to convey a particular meaning.

C- Revising
In this stage, students review, modify, and reorganize their work by
rearranging, adding and deleting content. I n other words, students concentrate on
the content, and leave details like correcting spelling, grammar and punctuation
until later .

D- Editing
The linguistic accuracy is the main focus of this stage. Students proofread
and correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes.
There are many techniques that could be used during this stage such as :
working in groups, and using resources.

2. Theoretical frameworks
In the mid-1930s, the concept of cooperative learning was launched in
Vygotsky's sociocultural theory which views learning as a social process activated
through the zone of proximal development (Dillenbourg 1999) .
Cooperative learning in the Vygotskian tradition aims at social interaction
either among students or between students and teachers. Social interaction was
important for most writing research which lead to improving writing. Vygotsky
believed that the repeated social interactions of people with experts can develop
thought.

7
 Vygotsky's concept of the ZPD is considred to be theoretical framework for
peer collaboration in second language writing. Vygotsky claims that the zone of of
proximal development is the distance between the what a student can accomplish
individualy and what he can accomplish with the help of a more cabable 'other'.
Piaget (1932) developed a theory of collaborative learning called The
Cognitive Development Theory. This theory is based on how children can
reconstruct their understanding when contradictions occur during their interaction
with others. Through which they acquire new understanding and additional
information which helps them to resolve the contradictions (Gillies& ashman,
2003)

3. Elements of cooperative learning

In collaborative learning, students work in groups for meeting mutual
objectives. Everyone of them is responsible for making an active contribution to
the group .and in order to establish a good collaborative setting, teachers mst
respect the following elements :

3.1 Positive interdependence

Each group member depends on each other to accomplish a shared goal or a
task. It involves all group members working together to complete the group goal.

3.2 Individual accountability

Each group should be accountable for achieving its goals, and each member
must be responsible for providing a fair share of the work toward the group goal.
Teachers need to ensure that every member of the group takes individual
responsability for achieving the group's goal.

3.3 Face to face interaction

Students promote each other's sucess by exchanging resources and
materials, supporting, encouraging, and helping each other to learn in order to be
more motivated and decrease the level of anxiety.

3.4 Social Skills

8
 Interpersonal and social skills are the most needed functions so that
cooperative learning works effectively. That's why teachers have to teach students
the social skills they need for their group work such as: leadership, decision
making, and trust-building.

4. Group processing
Group members discuss how well they are achieving their goals and
maintaining effective working relationships. Group processing is essential because
it pushes students to evaluate their social skills and receive feedback on their
practice during the session (Graham, 2005).

5. Cooperative Writing in EFL classes

According to Ballard and Clanchy (1992) collaborative writing is not easy
for ESL/ EFL speakers, because learning in groups recquires double the amount of
effort.
Storch (2002) claimed that cooperative writing could motivate students to
make decisions and share responsability concerning the writing process.
Most of researchers like Murry and Elbow claim that collaborative writing
is effective only in the final stage mainly revising, and editing. However, Gebhardt
(1980) believes in the effectiveness of collaborative writing both in first and last
stage.

6. Benefits of cooperative learning

The collaborative learning strategy proves to be beneficial in the field of

education. Not only in writing, but in most teaching activities. It affects students's
motivationand achievment. It leads students to reach common goals through
sharing information, making decisions, and debating. Moreover, it is also
benefecial for weak students who will learm from strong partners. When students
work collaboratively, they will be able to acquire new skills, understanding, and
knowledge which would help them develop their performance.

9
 7. collaborative learning and communicative language teaching

The adoption of communicative language teaching will help students master

the basic skills of communication with native speakers. Communicative language
Teaching focuses on language skills namely speaking, listening, reading, and
writing (littlewood2007).The learner is the center of the teaching-learning process.
In CLT teachers have to assign activities which trigger students' communicative
skills and expose them as well to authentic and real life situations.
The term 'group' in CLT means two or more people performing a task
together to accomplish their mutual goals, whereas in collaborative learning the
term 'group' is defined by its four distinctive featues which are: positive
interdependence, Individual accountability, Face to face interaction, social skills,
and group processing.

10
 Chapter three

Methodological Design
The research is purposely conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of collaborative
learning in improving high school students’ writing skill. It is significant since it will study
the outcomes of writing collectively than writing individually. Furthermore, this is a new
study in Morocco designed specifically to explore the effectiveness of cooperative learning in
a Moroccan high school which will absolutely gives way to other studies to be carried out in
other high schools.

For this purpose, the project will address high school students and more specifically
their writing activities. The intended process is to divide the class into two groups: group A
will work collectively and group B will work individually after assigning them the same topic
to work on in form of a paragraph. The focus will be heavily on students working through
cooperative learning after placing an expert student in each group who will play a salient role
in the writing process. Mainly, the observation will be on their writing process how it is
proceeding (pre-writing, while-writing, post-writing), how they give specific roles to each
other (drafter, reviewer, editor). After collecting data, there will be an examination of both
pieces of writing; those working individually and others who worked collectively and then
compare them in terms of vocabulary, punctuation, mechanics of writing, grammar.
Consequently, a questionnaire will be distributed on both categories discussing students’
relevant strategy of practicing writing whether collectively or individually.

11
 Chapter Four

Data Analysis and Interpretations

In order to investigate the effectiveness of collaborative learning and more

specifically collaborative writing on EFL Moroccan high school students. This chapter will be
dedicated to the data analysis and interpretation. The adopted approach will involve both
qualitative and quantitative data with the aim to gain a deep insight into the issue investigated.
The analysis will combine and discuss both data so as to provide a more comprehensive
account of the issues at hand, and to guarantee more objectivity and generalization of the
findings.

In this chapter the findings of the study will be presented through analyses of the
data obtained using the three different research instruments are employed in this study: the
pre- and post-test scores allocated to the essays written by the students; 2) the students’
responses to the general and collaborative learning questionnaire; 3) findings obtained from
the interview

The chapter will be divided into two sections. The first section is devoted to
answering the first research question ‘Would students who are involved in collaborative
writing settings produce better written and better organized essays than students working
individually?’ while the second is devoted to answering the study’s last research question
‘Are students attitudes and perceptions positively affected by involvement in collaborative
learning settings?’.

12
 Conclusion

The current study has put the emphasis on the main problem that most of the students
suffer from, not only in Morocco but also in other countries around the world, which is the
lack of writing skills. Therefore, this research has shed light on the effectiveness of
collaborative learning in Moroccan high school classrooms. It has also dealt with the effects
of collaborative writing on EFL Moroccan high school students and how it helps on
developing and improving their writing skills. In addition to providing the benefits of
collaborative work on written production and in this way offering additional support for the
use of collaborative writing in Moroccan EFL classrooms. This research has composed of
four chapters; the first one has been about general introduction whereas the second one has
dealt with literature review. Concerning the third chapter, it has focused on the
methodological design which relies on both qualitative and quantitative data through the use
of observation and questionnaires. The last chapter has discussed the findings which have
been reached.

13
Bibliography
Dillenbourg. P., Baker,M Blay, A8 O'Malley,C.(1996) The evaluation of
research on collaborative learning, in E. Spada and P. Reiman(eds) learning in
humans and
machines: Towardsan interdisciplinary learning science, Oxford: Elsevier.

Dillenbourg P. (1999) What do you mean by collaborative learning?. In

P.Dillenbourg (Ed) Collaborative-learning: Cognitive and Computational
Approaches. (pp.1-19). Oxford: Elsevier.

Berg, E. C. (1999) The Effects of Trained Peer Response on ESL Students’

Revision Types and Writing Quality, Journal of Second Language Writing.
Canale, M. & Swain, M. (1980) Theoretical Bases of Communicative
Approaches Second Language Teaching and Testing, Applied Linguistics.

Gunderson, B & Johnson, D (1980) Building positive attitudes by using

cooperative learning groups, Foreign Language Annals, 13 (1), 39-46.

Cohen, E. G. (1994) Restructuring the Classroom: Conditions for Productive

Small Groups, Review of Educational Research.

14