Adding a Different Taste: EFL Teachers’ Experiences with Collaborative Writing

Abstract

In the middle of writing pedagogy mainstream which places writing as solitary activity, collaborative writing has been emerged as a promising activity. This study reveals EFL teachers’ experiences in teaching using collaborative writing. Giving them space to share their experiences becomes an academic effort to make their voice to be heard by other EFL writing practitioners. The study is approach through narrative inquiry which primarily focuses on EFL university teachers’ experiences in firstly engaging with collaborative writing, and in managing collaborative writing. Three EFL writing teachers who have had process pedagogy and have intensively applied collaborative writing for some years, were asked to write their experiences in the narrative frame and interviewed to gain deeper information about their experiences. The findings reveal about the teachers’ main reasons of applying collaborative writing, the teachers’ dynamic feelings on teaching using collaborative writing, and teachers’ way in managing the collaboration. Recollecting those important experiences becomes intellectual resources for better collaborative writing class. Further exploration on effective patterns of collaborative writing will be worth investigating.