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PROFILE Vol. 16, No. 2, October 2014. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 185-198 185
Proposing a Wiki-Based Technique for Collaborative Essay Writing
Propuesta de un modelo pedagógico para la escritura colaborativa de ensayos en
un entorno virtual wiki
Mabel Ortiz Navarrete 1 *
Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Concepción, Chile
Anita Ferreira Cabrera 2 **
Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile This paper aims at proposing a technique for students learning English as a foreign language when they collaboratively write an argumentative essay in a wiki environment. A wiki environment and collabora- tive work play an important role within the academic writing task. Nevertheless, an appropriate and systematic work assignment is required in order to make use of both. In this paper the proposed tech- nique when writing a collaborative essay mainly attempts to provide the most effective way to enhance equal participation among group members by taking as a base computer mediated collaboration. With- in this context, the students’ role is clearly defined and individual and collaborative tasks are explained. Key words: Collaborative writing, essay writing, wiki environment. Este artículo tiene como objetivo proponer una técnica para la escritura colaborativa de un texto académico en inglés como lengua extranjera en un entorno virtual wiki. El entorno virtual y el trabajo colaborativo juegan un papel importante dentro de la tarea de escritura. Sin embargo, se requiere un trabajo sistemático con el fin de articular la metodología colaborativa con la herramienta tecnológica. La propuesta de este artículo intenta proporcionar una técnica de trabajo que propicie la participación equitativa de los miembros del grupo y considere las características del trabajo colaborativo y las del entorno virtual. Dentro de este contexto, el rol del estudiante es claramente definido a través de la división de tareas individuales y colaborativas. Palabras clave: ambiente wiki, escritura colaborativa, escritura de ensayos.
- E-mail: [email protected] ** E-mail: [email protected] How to cite this article (APA, 6th^ ed.): Ortiz Navarrete, M., & Ferreira Cabrera, A. (2014). Proposing a wiki-based technique for collabora- tive essay writing. PROFILE Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 16(2), 185-198. http://dx.doi.org/10.15446/profile.v16n2.38877. This article was received on July 20, 2013, and accepted on January 24, 2014.
186 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras Ortiz Navarrete & Ferreira Cabrera Introduction In Chile the teaching of English has become a compulsory language subject in the school curricu- lum and its teaching is particularly hard as Spanish is the only dominant language in Chileans’ every- day life. This becomes a barrier for both those who are learning the language for communicative pur- pose and those who intend to teach the language. For the latter, there is a need of acquiring effective and innovative methods and techniques in order to master English as a foreign language. Within the mastery of English, writing is the ability wherein pre-service teachers of English demonstrate to be least proficient. This may be due to the fact that writing is considered as one of the most difficult skills to develop during the learn- ing process of a foreign language i.e., “even native speakers at university level very often experience serious difficulties in showing a good command of writing” (Lázaro, 1996, p. 89), thus students may not feel motivated. Therefore, teaching methods and learning approaches play an important role in order to encourage students’ active involvement in writing and, for the purpose of this paper, involve- ment in academic writing. In this context, it is assumed that students per- form better in writing when collaborative learning is incorporated in the classroom. Moreover, collab- orative work in a virtual environment may increase the potential of teaching and learning and may facilitate the planning and production of a written document. On the one hand, the use of the virtual environment “wiki” enables pre-service teachers to integrate technology into the classroom. On the other hand, this virtual tool involves new opportu- nities for writing development as students can work in or out of the classroom. Nevertheless, a didactic and systematic method is required for students to perform the task effectively. In the revised literature review, not many stud- ies show clearly how a collaborative writing task is carried out, therefore, in this paper a technique for writing an argumentative essay collaboratively in a wiki environment is described and explained. Conceptual Framework The Collaborative Construction of Knowledge The collaborative construction of knowledge emerges from the sociocultural theory, which states that individuals are situated within a social and cultural context (Lamy & Hampel, 2007; Nunan, 2004). Its main precursor is Vygotsky (as cited in Choul, 2008), who, examining the role of interaction in children’s learning, affirms that a child who works with an adult or a peer with a higher ability or more capable, can develop strat- egies that will allow her/him to solve problems independently. Collaborative learning involves a set of meth- odological strategies which aim at maximizing the benefits of cooperation among students (Gross, 2007; Jacobs & Small, 2003; Johnson & Johnson,
- who work in groups in order to achieve a common goal. Students develop linguistic and communication skills through different proce- dures, methods, and various techniques. According to Trujillo (2002), among these methods are those who promote discovery learning such as jigsaw puzzles, student team learning, learning together, and group investigation. “The differences between each method are the degree of structure of the task, the use of rewards, and individual assessment methods” (Trujillo, 2002, p. 8). Another essential technique is the assignment of specific roles. Gross (2007) states that “each stu- dent’s role can change along the process but it is
188 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras Ortiz Navarrete & Ferreira Cabrera the task. According to Tompkins (2008), during the pre-writing phase the students determine the pur- pose of writing. At this stage the students discuss and generate ideas for further development. This phase is crucial since the objectives of the writing task are set and the students agree on a plan to fol- low in order to achieve these objectives. The Use of Wikis for Collaborative Writing Tasks The emerging information society is based on the use of powerful technologies. These technolo- gies aim at promoting essential changes in the way we teach and learn and demand the use of new teaching methods that enable learners and instruc- tors to adopt new roles. The current challenge focuses on the successful integration of these new tools in order to support teaching and learning sig- nificantly and improve traditional methodologies. In other words, the contribution does not come from the computer itself, but from the way it can be used to foster teaching and learning (Chapelle, 1997; Egbert, 2005; Sánchez, 1998; Warschauer, 2010). In the field of computer-mediated communi- cation (CMC) and within technology tools that can Figure 1. The Collaborative Writing Process support writing development, there are different types of synchronous and asynchronous communi- cation such as chat, Skype, forums, blogs, e-mail, wikis, and many more. Each of these tools has applications that can eventually enhance writing and, essentially, collaborative writing production, an area in which, according to Jones, Garralda, Li, and Lock (2006), there seems to be a positive view in the literature regarding collaborative learning and CMC in the area of second language learning. In this context, a wiki, a Hawaiian term that means “quick,” has gained considerable recent attention both within and outside the writing class- room and the wiki’s main pedagogical contribution in the educational field is to support writing (Bar- ton, 2005; Ebersbach, Glaser, & Heigl, 2005; Garza & Hern, 2005; Lamb, 2004). Writing lessons, which commonly focus on individual work, can take advantage of collaborative learning and a wiki envi- ronment can help to enhance students’ written performance and to promote active participation. Wiki is a type of website that allows users to work collaboratively by building texts that can be quickly and easily edited by authorized users (Bar- tolomé, 2008; Loyo & Rivero de Magnago, 2005; Parallel Writing Sequential Writing Reciprocal or Reactive Writing It consists of the subdivision of tasks. Each member writes one part of the text simultaneously. It consists of editing a text through different phases. One member writes the first part of the text then s/he shares her/his part with a second member who continues the text and so on until a final version is reached. All parts of the writing task are done by all members. They all together work around a single document.
PROFILE Vol. 16, No. 2, October 2014. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 185-198 189 Proposing a Wiki-Based Technique for Collaborative Essay Writing Pennell, 2008). According to Cabero (2007), Lee (2010), and Morgan and Smith (2008), the main features of wikis are the following:
- A document can be created easily and quickly.
- It can be edited synchronously and asynchro- nously by multiple authorized users.
- It contains a “page history” that enables users to access previous versions of the written document.
- It allows authorized users to create new pages.
- It promotes collaborative work.
- It contains a banner that allows written comments. Figure 2 shows the front page of a wiki environ- ment called PBworks. Regarding the collaborative component, al- though more research is needed on the use of wikis in the educational field, several researchers, accord- ing to Ioannou and Artino (2009), have advocated the use of a wiki space to engage students in online collaboration activities. Bryant (2006), for example, states that “as wikis have no predefined structures, Figure 2. A Wiki Environment Taken from http://pbworks.com/ this feature makes them ideal for collaborative writ- ing or group projects involving multimedia” (p. 62). Likewise, Cress and Kimmerle (2008) distinguish wikis from other tools, such as blogs, affirming that “wikis provide new opportunities for learning and for collaborative knowledge building as well for understanding these processes” (p. 108). Swan and Shea (2005) also assert that “wikis have a significant potential to support collaborative learning” (p. 6). As has been stated, one of the main advantages of this tool in the teaching and learning process, then, is to maximize the collective production of knowledge. Collaboration in the production of a written text using a wiki leads students to learn from others and to acquire different responsibilities around one shared goal, whereby the technological resource facilitates the process of interaction, communica- tion, negotiation, and the reflection of ideas during the joint construction of the written text. In this context, the technological tool plays a facilitating role during collaborative knowledge construction, especially for learners who try to build virtual learn- ing communities from different parts of the world.
PROFILE Vol. 16, No. 2, October 2014. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 185-198 191 Proposing a Wiki-Based Technique for Collaborative Essay Writing the body paragraphs. Besides, if all group mem- bers take part in writing the introduction, this will assure logical links between the introduction and the body paragraphs in which each student will be in charge of one paragraph. Figure 4 provides an example of an introductory paragraph of an essay written by a group of undergraduate students in a wiki environment. One of the characteristics of a wiki environment is that each author’s contribution can be visualized. Figure 5 shows how each member contributed to the writing of the introduction. Figure 3. Distribution of Tasks in a Wiki Environment Figure 4. Sample From Students (Introductory Paragraph) The Body Paragraphs in a Wiki Environment As technology tools used properly can signifi- cantly enhance learning, it is the teacher’s role to make the best use of a wiki environment by valuing its main characteristic as a collaborative tool (Bar- tolomé, 2008; Egbert, 2005; Sánchez, 1998). Within this particular context, one advantage of a wiki environment is that it enables students to work on different pages simultaneously. Based on this aspect, this technique suggests that for the construction of the body paragraphs, group members should work Phase I Phase II Phase III Phase IV Phase V Introduction Body paragraphs Parts connection Wiki Task Conclusion Revision This part of the writing is done all together. This part of the writing is done all together. Group members revise the text all together and send it to one group for online peer review. Each group member is in charge of writing one body paragraph. The task is done simultaneously in the wiki. Parts are connected in order to generate oan single document. Students check that ideas make sense
192 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras Ortiz Navarrete & Ferreira Cabrera individually. This means that each student should be in charge of constructing one body paragraph. It is suggested that this phase can be carried out individually due to the fact that students already know the ideas they have to expand upon. Anyhow, in order to prevent the construction of an incoher- ent text, something that may occur when students work collaboratively, it is advisable that once each student finishes his part, group members should generate a single document in the wiki environ- ment and revise each paragraph together until it sounds coherent to each group member. The wiki environment facilitates this process due to the fact that students are working in the same learning environment. Figure 6 provides an example of the body paragraphs of an argumentative essay in a wiki environment. Figure 7 shows the students’ individual contri- butions to the writing of each body paragraph. Introduction was created by bryanabos show changes Introduction was edited by bryanabos show changes Introduction was edited by Cami Muñoz Figueroa show changes Introduction was edited by Cami Muñoz Figueroa show changes Introduction was edited by Cami Muñoz Figueroa show changes Introduction was edited by Bruno Caballero show changes Introduction was edited by Bruno Caballero show changes Figure 5. Sample From Students Working Collaboratively in a Wiki Environment The Concluding Paragraph in a Wiki Environment After students have connected the introduc- tion and paragraphs, group members should write the conclusion all together. As the conclusion is a relevant part of the writing and at the same time a complex one, students must be able to come up with a good summary and find a sense of con- nection with the introduction. Besides, a good conclusion should also go further in the sense that it should give the reader an opportunity for analysis and reflection (Crème & Lea, 1997; Germov, 2000; Levin, 2004). For all these reasons, it can be stated that in this phase students also need each other in order to provide an appropriate and coherent clo- sure of the writing, together with reinforcing the central idea of the text. Figure 8 provides an example of a conclud- ing paragraph of an argumentative essay in a wiki space.
194 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras Ortiz Navarrete & Ferreira Cabrera Figure 9 shows each individual’s contribution to the writing of the conclusion, as four students can be seen working collaboratively to create the conclusion. The Revision Process in a Wiki Environment To end up this process, group members should revise the text. The review phase involves a process of re-reading the text to identify errors. Revision is an important part of the writing process and, at the same time, a difficult one, especially when revision is carried out through peer review. This step can be carried out in different ways: The group reviews the written text altogether, each group member revises one paragraph of the text or each member is responsible for a specific aspect, such as grammar, vocabulary, organization of ideas, and so on (Cas- sany, Luna, & Sanz, 2000; Krause, 2007). Krause (2007), who has written about how to collaborate and write with others, suggests that during the revision phase one member of the group should read the produced text out loud while the other members of the group read along to identify errors. According to this author “reading your writing out loud to others gives the Conclusion was created by Cami Muñoz Figueroa show changes Conclusion was edited by Bruno Caballero show changes Conclusion was edited by bryanabos show changes Conclusion was edited by Cami Muñoz Figueroa show changes readers and writer a real sense of the voice of an essay and is a great way for writers and readers to catch small grammar errors” (p. 70). What Krause proposes is an effective way to revise an academic text. The reading aloud technique makes the pro- cess of revising the argumentative essay easier as group members solve the problem together. Fur- thermore, in order to take advantage of a wiki environment and to make a writing activity more engaging for students, group members can send invitations to other groups to see their drafts and to receive online feedback from their peers. Every wiki has a banner that allows authorizes users to make virtual comments and this feature distin- guishes this writing tool from others. Based on the cooperative learning techniques proposed by Apple (2006), students will also have a specific role in order to assure the achievement of goals within a collaborative environment. These roles are:
- Facilitator: A person responsible for ensuring that the group stays on task.
- Recorder: A person responsible for writing down group decisions.
- Time keeper: A person responsible for check- ing the time left to finish the task. Figure 9. Sample From a Group of Students Working Collaboratively on the Concluding Paragraph
PROFILE Vol. 16, No. 2, October 2014. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 185-198 195 Proposing a Wiki-Based Technique for Collaborative Essay Writing This process, in which tasks are performed in groups and individually, assures equal participa- tion. Moreover, the writing task can be fulfilled rapidly since students are working synchronically. Conclusion As a conclusion the wiki-based technique proposed for collaborative essay writing aims at achieving different goals. One of these is to promote writing development among teachers of English in Chile due to the fact that they often do not devote much teaching time to developing this ability. On the other hand, this proposal also aims at pro- moting appropriate technology use in teaching. As Gross (2007) says, “Technology itself does not change any teaching practice, however, when it is consistent with a theoretical perspective it may have a significant potential” (p. 115). Thus, by means of this proposal teachers may get a clear view as to how to integrate technology for writing development in an effective way from a theoretical perspective. As future teachers should be exposed to innovative teaching methods, this proposal could be included in English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher prepa- ration programs because more support and training are needed to help student-teachers develop ICT (information and communications technology) competences and to effectively integrate technology into language teaching. Finally, this proposal is expected to be imple- mented in a future project in order to promote peer online feedback to help pre-service teachers become better writers and to promote autonomy and self-correction among them. Furthermore, teachers of English in Chile devote too much classroom time to teaching, which limits their time for writing revision. Thus, this future project is also aimed at facilitating their job by means of peer feedback. References Apple, M. T. (2006). Language learning theories and cooperative learning techniques. Doshisha Studies in Language and Culture, 9(2), 277-301. Retrieved from http://doors.doshisha.ac.jp/webopac/bdyview. d o? b o d y i d = B D 0 0 0 1 1 5 8 3 & e l m i d = B o d y & l f name=006009020004.pdf Barkley, E. F., Cross, K. P., & Howell, C. (2007). Técnicas de aprendizaje colaborativo [Collaborative learning techniques]. Madrid, ES: Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia/Morata. Bartolomé, A. (2008). Web 2.0 and new learning par- adigms. eLearning Papers, 8. Retrieved from ht t p : / / o p e n e d u c at i o n e u ro p a. e u / e n / a r t i c l e / Web-2.0-and-New-Learning-Paradigms Barton, M. D. (2005). The future of rational-critical debate in online public spheres. Computers and Composition, 22 (2), 177-190. Bryant, T. (2006). Social software in academia. Educause Quarterly, 29(2), 61-64. Cabero, J. (2007). Nuevas tecnologías aplicadas a la edu- cación [New technologies applied to education]. Madrid, ES: McGraw Hill. Cassany, D. (2001). Decálogo didáctico de la enseñanza de la composición [Ten didactic rules for teaching com- position]. Glosas Didácticas, 4. Cassany, D. (2008). Prácticas letradas contemporáneas [Contemporary literate practices]. México, MX: Ríos de tinta. Cassany, D., Luna, M., & Sanz, G. (2000). Enseñar lengua [Language teaching]. Barcelona, ES: Editorial Graó. Chao, Y. C., & Lo, H. C. (2009). Students’ perceptions of wiki-based collaborative writing for learners of English as a foreign language. Interactive Learning Environ- ments, 19(4), 395-411. Chapelle, C. A. (1997). CALL in the year 2000: Still in search of research paradigms? Language Learning and Tech- nology, 1(1), 19-43. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/ vol1num1/chapelle/default.html
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198 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras Ortiz Navarrete & Ferreira Cabrera Tompkins, G. E. (2008). Literacy for the 21st Century: A balanced approach (5th^ ed.) Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Trujillo, F. (2002). Aprendizaje cooperativo para la ense- ñanza de la lengua [Cooperative learning for language teaching]. Publicaciones de la Facultad de Educación y Humanidades del Campus de Melilla, 32, 147-162. Van Waes, L. (2004). Collaborative writing in a digital envi- ronment. Information Design Journal & Document Design, 12(1), 73-80. Warschauer, M. (2010). Invited commentary: New tools for teaching writing. Language Learning & Technology, 14 (1), 3-8. White, R., & Ardnt, V. (1991). Process writing. London, UK: Longman. Woo, M., Chu, S. K. W., Ho, A. & Li, X. (2009, November 18). Collaborative writing with a wiki in a primary five English classroom. Paper presented at the 6th^ Inter- national Conference on Knowledge Management. Retrieved from http://eproceedings.worldscinet.com/ 9789814299862/9789814299862_0016.html About the Authors Mabel Ortiz Navarrete holds a master degree in ICT from Universidad de Concepción (Chile). Her main area of interest is ICT and language learning. Anita Ferreira Cabrera holds a PhD in Linguistics and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Edinburgh University (Scotland). Her field of study includes Applied Linguistics, CALL, and Computer Science.
