Though multimodality is increasingly incorporated into our pedagogies and scholarship, explorations of collaborative multimodal composition are lacking. Existing literature on collaborative writing focuses predominately on texts either composed in singular modes or by a single author, neglecting the ways in which multimodal texts are composed…

This article develops a theoretical understanding of the processes involved in the co-construction of a written text by a teacher and student from a Vygotskian perspective. Drawing on cultural-historical and sociocultural theories of writing and Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), this case study of a student and teacher…

In this article I focus on the mediational role of communicative activity in the co-construction of meaning involved when pupils write collaboratively. I explore the developmental nature of peer intermental or social activity within a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) by drawing on perspectives from sociocultural theory and the dialogical aspects…

This paper reports on the use of action research in a case study involving two iterations of an online workshop implemented at two universities in late 2007 and early 2009 to prepare teaching staff for using wikis for student group work and assessment. Workshop participants were immersed in the experience of collaborating in a wiki as learners and…

Report assignments and collaborative assignments can both be fraught with risk. Report projects, if not well planned, can be too simple or too complex and/or can leave students wondering what they are supposed to have learned--all while creating a major grading burden for the instructor. Poorly planned group projects can cause similar…

The paper offers a case study of two bilingual girls aged 10, born in London, of Albanian-speaking families who arrived in the UK as refugees. An earlier study, when the girls were aged six, explored the strategies they used as they learned to read with their mothers in Albanian using dual language books. Four years on, supported by a primary…

Describes the arrangements for collaborative writing in an urban elementary classroom. Suggests a more complex view in contrast to typical descriptions of collaboration. Discusses a view that includes a range of ways for students to participate in writing together. Describes the ways students responded to opportunities for collaboration. (SG)

Describes how students in three college-level writing groups viewed their collaborative learning experience. Suggests that collaborative learning works (or does not work) in complex ways that cannot be reduced to a field manual of identifying behaviors. (RS)

Describes how a poet at work in a mental hospital can help chronic patients recapture the use of language and expressiveness by teaching poetry. Describes methods of collaborative poetry writing, as well as the rationale for the use of the approach. Discusses a variety of cases and methods. (RS)

The authors report on an interpretive case study that investigated how three elementary teachers summatively assessed their own students' written work over a three and one-half month period. Their collaborative assessment sessions reflected their ongoing routines that created productive social spaces that sowed the seeds for transformational adult…

Teacher knowledge and development from the teacher perspective were studied. Teachers wrote their own stories using collaborative autobiography (writing individual stories in groups). This report documents the evolution of the research methodology in discerning the personal, individual, similar, common, and collective as researchers moved from…

Describes how one English teacher engaged in a collaborative writing exercise with a fifth-grade female student. Explains how the teacher worked to become an equal partner with the student in the collaborative effort. Provides specific information about how the student's writing improved. (HB)

A case study explored the composing processes of two grade one students to determine the role of the computer as a learning tool in the first grade classroom. Analysis of the texts of the children's writing and transcriptions of the tape-recorded collaborative exercise in writing and computer use by the children revealed that young children, given…

This case study describes use of apprenticeship opportunities in a collaborative writing context with two primary grade students with multiple disabilities in an inclusive setting. Analysis of written work and verbal interactions revealed the collaborative peer approach fostered active and constructive participation by both students. (Contains…

Surveying a project that was conducted through the Center for the Study of Writing at Carnegie Mellon University, this book details the classroom inquiries conducted during the 4-year project (1988-1992) by 33 teacher-researchers from secondary and postsecondary classrooms. The articles and their authors are: (1) "Teachers as Theory…