Collaborative writing of flash fiction and English learning as L2: the development of grammatical accuracy and lexical density

Writing texts in a second language (L2) requires more cognitive effort than writing in the mother tongue and, as language production is beneficial to learner development, it is necessary to think up pedagogical strategies focused on writing skills. This article reports a study which aimed to investi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Diêgo Cesar Leandro, Janaina Weissheimer
Format: Article
Language:Portuguese
Published: Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados 2017-08-01
Series:Raído
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ojs.ufgd.edu.br/index.php/Raido/article/view/5658
Description
Summary:Writing texts in a second language (L2) requires more cognitive effort than writing in the mother tongue and, as language production is beneficial to learner development, it is necessary to think up pedagogical strategies focused on writing skills. This article reports a study which aimed to investigate the impact of collaborative writing on the development of grammatical accuracy and lexical density in texts produced by learners of English as L2. The participants produced collaboratively in small groups three pieces of flash fiction, a short narrative in a hundred words. The written production took place online through GoogleDocs, during eleven weeks. Once the collaborative writing process was finished, participants answered an online questionnaire on the collaborative writing process and the flash fiction genre. The quantitative results indicate a focus redirection from the product to the process of composition, and also indicate the production of texts with more lexical substitutions. The qualitative results show that participants identified both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to the collaborative writing process and flash fiction production.
ISSN:1984-4018