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Abstract
Collaborative writing has been used in composition research and pedagogy in U.S. educational institutes since the 1970s. Collaborative writing motivates social interaction among writers and their peers via activities such as peer response. Researchers of second language (L2) writing have asserted that pairing students up in writing can promote learning effectiveness in writing field. This paper explored the effects of pair work on improving writings of Iranian EFL learners. This study had a quasi-experimental setting. The participants consisted of 28 EFL students in a language school of Marand at intermediate level, divided into one control and one experimental group. The experimental group was divided into high proficiency and low proficiency groups, the former was called helper and the latter was named writer, making a pair to complement each other. Both had a pretest writing at the first session. The papers were scored manually and were compared with posttest scores which was conducted at the last session in the Excel sheets and figures. To test the variables, descriptive statistics like mean, standard deviation, and significance value were used. To compare mean scores of both groups, independent t-test was used. Then, the data were analyzed by SPSS software. The results showed that writing performance of the experimental group who practiced pair work has a significant difference with the writing ability of the control group who wrote individually. By pair work, the students in the experimental group produced more accurate sentences than the subjects of control group.
TABLE of CONTENTS
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | i |
| ABSTRACT | ii |
| TABLE of CONTENTS | iii |
| CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION | |
| 1.1. Introduction | 2 |
| 1.2. Statement of the Problem | 2 |
| 1.3. Purpose of the Study | 3 |
| 1.4. Research Questions | 3 |
| 1.5. Significance of the Study | 4 |
| 1.6. Organization of the Study | 5 |
| 1.7. Definition of the Terms | 6 |
| 1.8. Summary | 6 |
| CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE | |
| 2.1. Introduction | 8 |
| 2. 2. The philosophy behind this study: Sociocultural perspective | 8 |
| 2.2.1. Writing in Vygotsky’s school of thought | 10 |
| 2.2.1.1. More Knowledgeable Other or MKO | 10 |
| 2.2.1.2. Elaboration of ZPD | 11 |
| 2.3. Scaffolding in classroom situations | 12 |
| 2.3.1. Facilitative methods in scaffolding | 13 |
| 2.3.2. Characteristics and Critical Features of Scaffolded Instruction | 14 |
| 2.3.3. Challenges and Benefits of Scaffolding | 15 |
| 2.3.3.1. Challenges | 15 |
| 2.3.3. 2. Benefits | 16 |
| 2.3.4. Peer interaction: a good illustration and system of scaffolding | 17 |
| 2.4. Mediation and Writing | 17 |
| 2.5. Accuracy | 19 |
| 2.6. Writing English and pair work an important issue in Iranian context | 19 |
| 2.7. Arguments for and against pair work in writing: To use it or not to? | 21 |
| 2.8. Small groups or large ones? Which yields better results? | 23 |
| 2.9. Advantages of pair work | 24 |
| 2.10. A Large Number of Literature Supporting Pair Work | 26 |
| 2.11. Summary | 33 |
| CHAPTER III DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY | |
| 3.1. Introduction | 35 |
| 3.2. Design of the Study | 35 |
| 3.2.1.Procedure | 37 |
| 3.3. Site of the Study | 42 |
| 3.4. Participants of the Study | 42 |
| 3.5. Research Instruments | 42 |
| 3.6. Data Collection | 43 |
| 3.7. Data Analysis | 43 |
| 3.7.1. Accuracy Measurement | 43 |
| 3.8. Summary | 44 |
| CHAPTER IV FINDINGS | |
| 4.1. Introduction | 46 |
| 4.2. Background Information | 46 |
| 4.2.1. Students’ Background Information | 46 |
| 4.2.3. Language Instructor’s Background Information | 47 |
| 4.3. Research Question | 47 |
| 4.5. Summary | 54 |
| CHAPTER V DISCUSSION and CONCLUSION | |
| 5.1. Introduction | 56 |
| 5.2. Summary of the Study | 56 |
| 5.3. Discussion | 57 |
| 5.4. Pedagogical Implications | 59 |
| 5.5. Recommendations for Future Research | 61 |
| 5.6. Limitations of the Study | 62 |
| 5.8. Conclusion | 62 |
| REFERENCES | 64 |
| APPENDICES | 75 |
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
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Introduction
Writing is a difficult task to perform. This problem is more evident in Iranian private institutes which are based on communication-focused instruction, providing little opportunity for learners to focus on writing skills in the limited class time. This is while demands for professional writing are increasing in academic settings. One way of overcoming this problem is exercising pair work. Pair work is great for practicing various language skills, vocabulary checks, and completing worksheets. Working in pairs gives individual students a lot of practice time. Groups give students the opportunity to create more complex texts, explore relationships between characters, pool knowledge together, and have a more social learning environment. Additionally, there is a better chance for self-correction or peer correction and for a discussion on a wider range of thoughts and opinions in a large size. This social interaction and dialogue with others are considered crucial for learning by social interactionist’ theorists, such as Vygotsky (2000), who stated that learning involves the internalization of social interaction processes, which helps the learner progress from complex to conceptual thinking. Generally speaking, the smaller the group, the more each member acts and the less chance there is that someone will be left out.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
Writing in English has gained a significant eminence in recent years in Iran. The reason behind it can be that in universities of Iran writing articles and dissertations, at different educational levels (BA, MA and PhD) by the students of all majors, accompanies various privileges for their writers as well as academic achievements. For the growing body of academia, even board members of scientific faculties are required to submit at least two papers in English at international journals to retain their positions or promote. This has created a flood of writing demands who yearn to acquire writing skills for fulfilling their above-mentioned academic tasks towards language institutes. This challenges the teachers to explore new ways for improving this skill which is the most difficult one (among 4 skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing) for L2 learners to master. The difficulty lies not only in generating and organizing ideas, but also in translating them into readable and recognizable text. The skills involved in writing are highly complex. L2 learners have to pay attention to higher level skills of planning and organizing as well as lower level skills of spelling, punctuation, word choice, and so on (Poynton ,1996). The difficulty becomes even more highlighted if their language proficiency is weak (Richards, 2002). According to a broad literature review by the author of this paper, one important strategy for improving EFL writers can be using the techniques of pair work with their related strategies in classroom contexts. By working in pairs, you gain experience and understanding about how tasks are often undertaken in the workshops. The successful completion of a group assignment usually means that you have acquired many very important skills, particularly communication, analytical and interpersonal skills, which are highly valued by the instructors. The capacity to listen, question, persuade, respect the opinions of others, help, share and participate is of lifelong value. Working with others also allows for the assignments to be broken into smaller tasks and the workload to be distributed evenly. By working together, students are able to bounce ideas off each other and learn from each other as well. Members can contribute different skills and thus the group can achieve more than individual members could on their own. As a result, this study will endeavor to explore some strategies of pair work and their effects on the writing skills of the learners.
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