The Effects of Peer-Mediated and Individual Writing Conditions on the Fluency, Complexity, and Accuracy of Iranian EFL Learners’ L2 Writing

Abstract

Vygotsky (1978) states that based on sociocultural theory (SCT), learning is an interactive process; therefore, when learners are involved in col­laborative writing, the opportunity of the interaction among them is increased (Aljaafreh & Lantolf, 1994). To this end, this study was an attempt to explore the impact of peer-mediated and individual writing conditions on intermediate female EFL learners' writing fluency, complexity, and accuracy. Before the treatment, through a PET test, the researcher selected 48 intermediate female learners randomly from among 85 and assigned them into two groups, namely, experimental and control groups including 24 learners in each class (i.e., 12 pairs in peer-mediated and 24 learners in individual groups). All the learners in both groups wrote 7 compositions either in pairs or individually in seven sessions during seven weeks and the eighth composition having the same topic as the first one was used as post-test. The results of independent-samples t-test revealed that peer-mediated group outperformed the individual one in terms of fluency, complexity, and accuracy. The implications are presented regarding the advantages of peer-mediation in EFL writing courses.