Collaborative writing (CW) tasks require heightened Engagement with Language (EWL), as their learning potential has been shown to be mediated by the number of language-related episodes (LREs) or learners' patterns of interaction. Recent research on CW with young populations has investigated different dimensions of EWL, but a holistic view of the…

This study investigated how the inclusion of model texts as a feedback technique affected students' task motivation and engagement in writing tasks. Adopting a longitudinal design, 60 English as a foreign language (EFL) children (aged 11-12) were divided into three groups: a treatment group, a long-term treatment group, and a control group. The…

Studies analysing the metatalk generated in collaborative writing (CW) tasks have primarily targeted secondary or adult students who wrote either in L1 or L2, and have seldom examined the process of their writing in two languages. Furthermore, these analyses have mostly focused on accuracy discussions and have ignored discussions aimed at making…

Collaborative writing tasks have been claimed to offer language learning opportunities because they implicitly draw learners' attention to form. Nevertheless, their efficacy has been claimed to be moderated by proficiency, as low proficiency learners tend to override form over meaning. These claims, however, are mostly based on adult learners and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of pair interaction on the process and product of collaborative writing through analysing Language Related Episodes (LREs) and students' writing products. Four pairs (nine to 11 years old) represented four different patterns of interaction. The results show that the pattern of dyadic…

Task repetition (TR) is a valuable tool to direct learners' attention from meaning to language form. The first time learners perform a task their focus is on conveying meaning, whereas during the second enactment they tend to focus on the form of their message. Collaborative writing also promotes learners' focus on form, allowing extra time to pay…

Studies on multi-stage writing tasks with adults and children have shown that model texts and task repetition aid language acquisition, especially when learners work in collaboration. However, these studies have not included measures of task motivation, which is vital in young learners (YLs) and could help develop a more comprehensive…

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, many children are not learning to read competently in the first 3 years of primary school; thus, both 'reading to learn' and 'reading for pleasure' in these early years, and in higher grades, are constrained. Two of the many reasons for reading failure are the absence of suitable materials in languages with which…

This paper outlines an adaptable collaborative writing approach employing a wiki to address the typical weaknesses of young Singaporean Chinese students learning Chinese as second language (L2) in Chinese writing. These students' problems in writing include limited and incorrect use of vocabulary, English-style grammar, badly structured passages,…

This is a qualitative case study (conducted in an urban, public school classroom in the United States) of the collaborative composing processes of two groups of first-grade students designated as English Language Learners (ELLs) as they wrote in a writing workshop context. I focused on a specific type of the students' hybrid composing practices:…

This study systematically investigates the English writing research in Taiwan, over the span of time from 1989 to 2008, a 19-year time period. Data collection consisted of five major sources. Guided by Juzwik et al's (2006) study, the data were analyzed based on the general problems under investigated, the age groups being researched, the…