Collaborative Writing Tasks with the Goal of Developing All-round Communicative Competence in L2 English

Sammanfattning

This study explores to what extent frequent language-related episodes aid language acquisition through collaborative writing tasks for L2 learners. Recent research drawingupon established theories such as Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, including the concepts of the zone of proximal development, the more knowledgeable other, and negotiation of meaning indicates that collaborative writing is beneficial for L2 learners (Watanabe & Swain, 2007; Storch, 2011; Swain & Watanabe, 2012). According to The Swedish National Agency of Education, Skolverket (2018), the teacher is responsible for developing the students’ all- round communicative competence in English. Collaborative writing is one approach that may help the students acquire that competence. However, there is some degree of debate regarding the pairing together of interlocutors who are at varying proficiency levels. That is, some scholars argue that a more knowledgeable other may scaffold the less proficient peer, while others argue that the teacher should not pair together learners who are at different proficiency levels. Furthermore, there are a limited number of studies that focus particularly on secondary school L2 learners. As a result, we investigate what implications the results of L2 learners in control and experimental groups in higher education have for secondary school learners as well.