Download - Sue Grief - Archive · Introduction In this paper we share the findings of a small development project that grew from the NRDC Effective Practice Study in writing (Grief et al. 2007).

Sue Grief

EFFECTIVETEACHINGAND LEARNING:DEVELOPMENT PROJECT REPORT

Collaborative writing

Collaborative Writing 6/9/07 12:56

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EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

COLLABORATIVE WRITING

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Contents

Introduction 4

Why study collaborative writing? 4

What we did 5

What did we learn? 8

Which features of collaborative writing

help the learners to develop as writers? 10

Supporting collaborative writing: 11

The role of the teacher

Supporting collaborative writing: 12

The nature of teaching materials

Wider benefits 12

Conclusion 13

References 14

Collaborative writing

Sue Grief

This is one of several linked publicationsarising from the five Effective PracticeStudies carried out by the National Researchand Development Centre for Adult Literacyand Numeracy (NRDC) from 2003 to 2007.The five studies explored effective teachingand learning in reading, writing, numeracy,ESOL and using ICT.

NRDC has produced three series ofpublications from the Effective PracticeStudies: the research reports, published inFebruary 2007; the practitioner guides,published in partnership with NIACE inAutumn 2007; and the development projectreports, published in Autumn 2007. For titlesin the first two series, please see the backcover.

These development project reports focuson specific elements of effective classroompractice in these areas:• Oral reading fluency in adults• Collaborative writing• ‘Bestimation’: Using basic calculators in

the numeracy classroom• Using voting technology for assessment• Reflection and action in ESOL

EFFECTIVETEACHINGAND LEARNING:DEVELOPMENT PROJECT REPORT


Introduction

In this paper we share the findings of a smalldevelopment project that grew from the NRDCEffective Practice Study in writing (Grief et al.2007). The focus of the development project wascollaborative writing.

We look at:• some of the collaborative writing activities that

teachers and learners undertook• the responses of teachers and learners to

these activities• the value of the activities in terms of learners’

writing• the role of the teacher in supporting

collaborative writing• the role of teaching and learning resources • the wider benefits for learners of collaborative

activities.

Why study collaborative writing?

A literature review

In a literature review on the teaching of writing toadult literacy learners, published by NRDC (Kelly etal. 2004), working collaboratively on writing wasidentified as one of a number of teachingapproaches that could potentially help learners todevelop as writers. Studies covered by the reviewprovide some convincing arguments forencouraging learners to write collaboratively (seeinsert below).

The findings of the Effective Practice

Study in writing

As part of the Effective Practice Study on theteaching and learning of writing we attempted totest out the hypothesis that collaborativeapproaches were beneficial to learners’development in writing (Grief et al. 2007). Thefindings were not clear-cut:

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DEVELOPMENT PROJECT REPORT

It helps learners to combine their strengthsrather than focus on their weaknesses.(Bishop 1995)

A supportive and co-operative group can providea safe audience that gives learners the securityto take risks with their writing. (Phillips 1992)

It provides an immediate audience and feedbackwhich helps learners become aware of the needfor clear messages. (Porto 2002)

It can provide opportunity for the ‘dialogue’ thatsingle authors have to create for themselves. Ithelps learners to anticipate the potentialreader’s responses. (Clark and Ivanicv 1997)

It can make the process of revision moremeaningful. (Hodges 2002)

It can help to empower learners. (Robinson 2001)

It can promote learner autonomy. (Hodges 2002)

Full references provided in Kelly et al. 2004.

Views on the value of collaborative writing

from the literature review


• in interviews learners told us that they enjoyedand valued opportunities to work with otherlearners

• the correlation analysis showed no linkbetween collaborative writing activities andlearners’ progress in writing

• the analysis indicated a negative correlationbetween working in this way and learners’confidence in writing at work or in public.

These findings suggested a need for furtherinvestigation.

Further reasons for looking at

collaborative writing

Although writing is often perceived as a solitaryactivity, in fact, in everyday life, it is veryfrequently a shared task. As teachers andresearchers, those of us involved in the projecthad experience of collaborating with colleagueson a range of documents. The learners weinterviewed for the research study also told ushow they worked with others on writing.

New technologies both support and encouragecollaboration. The ease with which documentscan be shared by email and tools such as ‘trackchanges’ facilitate co-operation in the creation ofwritten texts while social uses of the web offer anew range of opportunities for onlinecollaboration.

Recent research in the field of mathematicsteaching and in the use of ICT with Skills for Lifelearners has demonstrated the value of learnersworking collaboratively (Swan 2006; Mellar et al.2007).

What we did

Seven teachers took part in the project, fourworking in South Yorkshire and three in London.Their classes covered a range of contexts andincluded young learners referred to a TrainingProvider from Connexions, and adult learners ata residential college. Some classes were at Entrylevel and others included learners at Levels 1and 2. Two of the classes were made uppredominantly of learners who’s first languagewas not English.

At the start, the teachers met in two groups withthe project manager. We discussed the findingsof the literature review and the research studyand shared our own experiences of encouraginglearners to collaborate on writing.

We identified the following questions to shapeour enquiry:

• Can writing collaboratively help learners todevelop as writers?

• If so, in what ways?• What features of collaborative writing help

learners to develop as writers?• How can we best support these?

The teachers introduced collaborative writingactivities into their courses during the autumnterm 2006. They planned activities that would fitinto their existing schemes of work and suit theneeds of their learners. They took care to explainto their learners that they would be introducingcollaborative writing activities and that they werepart of a research project.



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Some of the collaborative writing activities

used by teachers in the project

In the pre-writing activity each learnerwas invited to pick an item out of thebag and describe what they saw. Atthis stage no value judgements wereallowed.

‘As in previous weeks the learners joinedin the pre-writing session confidently. I

think this was because in the tasks Ihave set there are no “right” and“wrong” answers.’

In groups the learners then had to usethe evidence from the bag to describethe character who owned it.

Drama bag

The teacher planned a three-weekproject to create a survey aboutcafés. The plan was that the learnerswould use this with learners inanother class. The learners workedcollaboratively on selecting,structuring and sequencing thequestions.

The group were mainly learnerswho’s first language was not Englishworking at Entry 2 and the projectprovided opportunity to improve theiruse of questions.

Creating a

survey

As a stimulus the teacher took in apicture of three women feedingchickens. In the whole group sheasked the learners what questionsthey could ask which would givethem useful information about thepeople in the picture. This discussionproduced a list of questions thatincluded:

Where are they? What country, town, village?Why aren’t there any men?What have they just been doing?

At this stage there were lots ofsuggestions and they were allaccepted.

‘I feel this was important. It meanteveryone felt able to make acontribution even if it was short.’

After this the learners worked inpairs to produce a draft profile of oneof the characters.

Starting from

a picture




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The task was to work in a smallgroup to write a modern version of afavourite children’s story.

As a pre-writing group activity, theteacher shared pictures from a rangeof fairytales and well-knownchildren’s stories such as PostmanPat and Thomas the Tank Engine.

The group discussed theircharacteristics including themes andsymbolism and shared their ownexperiences of children’s stories.They also discussed updating talesfor children today.

Retell a story

The tutor introduced the concept ofdifferent styles of writing andfacilitated a class discussion, askingfor examples and talking aboutaspects of these different styles.

Following this the learners worked inpairs to create pieces of writing in aparticular style. The tutor selectedthe style but the learners chose thetopic. They worked together on aflipchart and presented their writingto the group at the end of the activity.

‘This activity enabled learners to putinto practice the ideas about style thatthey had been introduced to in thewhole group. Prescribing the style inwhich they had to write but not thesubject gave them a framework but didnot hamper their creativity. Their workwas their own; it was relevant to them,used a context of their choice andmeant they were more fully engagedwith the task.’

Different styles

of writing

Learners on a course,‘Skills for Work andStudy’, worked together to compose a personalstatement for a jobapplication.

Pre-writing tasks includedreading and discussing jobspecifications and casestudies of candidates.

Creating

personal

statements

Learners wereintroduced to examplesof instructional text andanalysed the features ofthese in the wholegroup. In pairs they thenworked on instructionsto make a cup of teausing an interactive web-based quiz.

Instructions for

making a cup of

tea


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The teachers:• took opportunities to observe the learners as

they worked in small groups or pairs on theplanned activities

• recorded their observations• recorded their reflections on the sessions • devised opportunities for the learners to

provide their own feedback on the experience.

Most collected oral feedback from learners, twoused questionnaires and one used a learningdiary on computer.

Early in the spring term 2007 the teachers metwith the project leader to share theirexperiences, their own reflections and theresponses of the learners who took part in theactivities. This meeting allowed us to analysehow far the project had begun to provide answersto our research questions.

What did we learn?

How well does working collaboratively on

writing help learners to develop as writers?

It was not viable to measure change in learners’competence in writing over such a short period. Itwas however possible to observe their behaviouras writers, to look at the writing they producedcollaboratively and to listen to their thoughts on thevalue of working together on writing.

Two teachers noted improvements in the writingthat learners did together when compared towriting undertaken individually. The teacher of agroup of learners who’s first language was notEnglish, who were writing questions for a survey,observed an improvement in the structure andorder of the learners’ questions when they workedas a group. In another class the teacher providedevidence in the form of two pieces of writing by thesame learner and commented:

The responses of teachers All the teachers who took part in the project werepositive about the experience and felt that theirlearners had benefited from taking part in thecollaborative writing activities. Several expressedsurprise at how effectively the learners workedtogether and how well they organised themselves.Two teachers noted that working collaborativelyhelped learners to focus on writing for a longerperiod.

They also remarked on the way their own roleschanged. As learners worked together they hadthe opportunity to stand back and observelearners, something they realised that they usuallyhad little or no time to do. In the Effective PracticeStudy the teachers we observed generallymaintained firm control over activities in theclassroom. To varying degrees in this project theteachers loosened this control. They took on therole of facilitator rather than director of the class,allowing the learners greater autonomy, butoffering support when necessary.

The sessions were not without their challenges andthe teachers’ thoughts on the management ofgroup activities are shared in a later section of thisreport. Given a choice, the learners did not alwayswish to work together and erratic attendancesometimes meant that plans had to be changed orabandoned.

’The progress made by P in the structure of herwriting is very encouraging, even after such arelatively short period of time. When workingwith her partner they discussed at length theorganisational aspects of their task. Theydiscussed the use of paragraphs and when anew one should be started.’


The responses of learnersThe majority of learners spoke or wrote positivelyabout their experience of working with otherlearners on writing. Their comments support theview of Bishop (1995)* that writing together in thisway shifts the emphasis from the weaknesses ofthe individual to the combined strengths of thegroup. It encouraged the learners to value eachother’s knowledge and to learn from one another.

These comments also suggest that writing alonecan be an isolating and possibly stressfulexperience. In contrast collaborative writing wasfelt to be both supportive and creative.

A minority expressed doubts about working

together. One learner felt that it was difficult tojudge how well you were doing when you workedwith other people. Another felt uncomfortableabout having to make compromises aboutsomething she felt strongly about and a fewexpressed concern about contributing more to atask than a partner. The need to constantly obtainthe consensus of the group was also mentioned.

In one organisation the results of a ‘before’ and‘after’ questionnaire indicated a considerableincrease in confidence in writing over the period ofa short course and in particular an increase inresponse to the question, ‘How confident are youfor others to read your writing?’ In anotherorganisation a questionnaire showed that learnersidentified more strongly with the followingstatements by the end of the course:• ‘I am confident making suggestions for

writing.’• ’I think writing a first draft is useful.’

The latter tallies with the observation of theteachers, that working together helped learners torecognise the value of drafting.

* Full reference provided in Kelly et al. 2004.



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I found working in

groups helpful as it

highlights your own

strengths and

weaknesses and

makes you feel you

are not on your own.

What I liked was

working in pairs

which meant there

were two people to

put their ideas across

instead of having to

think of something on

your own.

It benefited me a great deal because in a group

you are talking to each other and sharing ideas

rather than working on your own.

I really enjoyed bouncing ideas about and

listening to other students’ comments.

Working with someone helps to stimulate

the thinking process and also helps to

build confidence.


Writing collaboratively

encouraged learners:

- to be willing to take risks

with their writing

‘For me the most significantdifference between theirindividual and collaborative workwas their willingness to take arisk with structures whenworking collaboratively.’(Teacher)

- to value the process of

planning and drafting a text

Teachers felt that the process ofplanning and drafting a piece ofwriting was more ‘real’ tolearners when they worked onthis together and that theyrecognised its value moreclearly.

- to think carefully about

vocabulary

Working together raisedquestions around vocabulary.Two learners spent aconsiderable length of timediscussing the differencebetween the meanings of thewords ‘house’ and ‘home’ and‘pebble’ and ‘stone’.

In the same class two learnerswho were discussing the preciseword to use initially wrote a fewdown to see if they ‘looked right’.They then decided to use athesaurus which they hadpreviously never done eventhough it had been available ineach session.

- to check their grammar

‘I found it amazing how muchlearner-centred discussion therewas about technical aspects ofwriting and language. I didn’task or direct them to discussthese things.’ (Teacher)

In one group, a learner who’sfirst language was not English,shared her understanding ofgrammar. She was able tocorrect a subject-verbagreement. She and herpartners also had a discussionabout the need for consistency inusing the narrative voice and thedifficulty of doing this when theywere writing in the first personbut using ‘we’ as they talked.

- to take more account of the

reader

Writing collaboratively gaveopportunity for immediate peerfeedback. This appeared to bemore empowering than teacherfeedback and also helpedlearners to become more awareof the needs of the reader of thewriting.

Which features of collaborative writing help learners to develop as writers?

We noted a number of specific ways in which working collaboratively helped learners with their writing. These are set out below.

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The planning stage helped

you make the story in your

head.

What I enjoyed most was

when we were writing

different words to find the

best word to use.

What I enjoyed most was

having a new person look and

give their opinion.

You’re more conscious who

you are writing for.

I can work things out better

because I can ask the other

person.


• Plan collaborative writing activities carefully

including pre-writing activities.

• Think carefully about the materials used forcollaborative writing activities. (See next page)

• Think carefully about groupings. While insome classes learners were left to create theirown groups, many of the teachers placedlearners in groups. In doing so they noted thatit was important to know the learners well andto take account of personalities and groupdynamics.

• Group size is important. Small groups workedbest and three appeared to be the optimumnumber of learners.

• Talk explicitly with learners about working

together and set some simple ground rules.One teacher noted how certain learnerswanted to take on all the roles in a group. Shehad to remind the group what workingcollaboratively meant.

• Be prepared to step back and leave thelearners to work on their own. Some teachersfound this difficult, especially when learnerswere slow to get going.

• Be sensitive to what is happening in the

groups and recognise when it is necessary tointervene and offer support. Learners in oneclass needed a lot of support to work withoutthe teacher.

• Use questions carefully to support groups

without taking over.

• Respect what the learners choose to write.One group chose to write a very violent versionof a fairytale modelled on a Japanese filmgenre. The teacher wrote: ‘...it is their story,they are the authors. Let them question whothe reader is and whether it is appropriate.’

• Decide whether the class is ready to work in

this way. Two teachers felt they would not haveasked their learners to write together in thefirst half term. Others felt working in this wayhelped the learners to come together as agroup.



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Supporting collaborative writing: The role of the teacher

Based on the experience of the teachers who took part in the project, we drew together the followingadvice for teachers who want to introduce collaborative writing in the classroom.


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The following materials worked well:

• Materials which learners can move around,such as cards, work better thanworksheets. Choices made using cards arenot permanent and learners are moreinclined to change decisions using cardsthan when they are required to write on aworksheet. Also, sharing one set of cardsdraws learners together whereas learnerscan hide behind worksheets.

• Computer software that allows learners todrag and drop elements on the screen canwork in the same way, encouraging thegroup to experiment and discuss choices.

• Large sheets of paper allow two or morelearners to read what is being written andto contribute to this. Pairs in one groupcreated mindmaps together, both writing intheir ideas on the same sheet.

• Carefully chosen pictures can provide agood focus for group discussion and astimulus for writing. One teacherencouraged the learners to identifyquestions about the scene depicted as astarting point for their discussion.

The teachers also noted other benefits notdirectly related to learners’ writing. Workingcollaboratively:

• exposed learners to different viewpointsand experiences: learners were observedcorrecting misconceptions and sharingknowledge of their own cultures.

• encouraged some learners to contributemore fully than they did in the larger group.

• helped new members of the group tointegrate more quickly.

• developed understanding, trust and respect between learners.

• helped learners to gain an understanding ofother learners’ specific needs.

Supporting collaborative writing: The nature of the teaching materials

Wider benefits




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Conclusion

The evidence of this project suggests thatencouraging learners to write collaboratively canhave positive outcomes, not only in terms oflearners’ confidence to write, but also in the levelof their engagement with the whole process ofwriting from decisions on topic or style to thechecking of grammar and vocabulary. It is anapproach that deserves the attention of adultliteracy and language teachers and teachertrainers.

Whether or not the use of well-plannedcollaborative writing activities could, over time,make a measurable difference to learners’competence as writers will need to be thesubject of a different and much longer study.


References

Grief, S., Meyer, B. and Burgess, A. (2007)Effective teaching and learning: Writing. London:NRDC.

Kelly, S., Soundranayagam, L. and Grief, S.(2004) Teaching and learning writing: A review ofresearch and practice. London: NRDC.

Mellar, H., Kambouri, M., Logan, K., Betts, S.,Nance, B. and Moriarty, V. (2007) Effectiveteaching and learning: Using ICT. London:NRDC.

Swan, M. (2006) Collaborative learning inmathematics: A challenge to our beliefs andpractices. Leicester/London: NIACE/NRDC.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the practitioners who workedon this project:

Alison BagshawJean BrunwinSue ChattwoodFay MiddletonBronwen RayMarina RichardsRuth NorthJane Tones

Also to Jan Chatterton and Monica Collinghamfor recruiting and supporting the teams inSouth Yorkshire and London.

This report was peer reviewed by:Alison Bacon, City of Bristol CollegeSamantha Duncan, Institute of Education,University of London


NRDC

Institute of Education

University of London

20 Bedford Way

London WC1H 0AL

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7612 6476

Fax: +44 (0)20 7612 6671

email: [email protected]

website: www.nrdc.org.uk

NRDC is a consortium of partners led by the Institute ofEducation, University of London with:• Lancaster University• The University of Nottingham• The University of Sheffield• East London Pathfinder• Liverpool Lifelong Learning Partnership• Basic Skills Agency at NIACE • Learning and Skills Network • LLU+, London South Bank University • National Institute of Adult Continuing Education• King’s College London• University of Leeds

Funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities andSkills as part of Skills for Life: the national strategy forimproving adult literacy and numeracy skills.

Other publications from the NRDC Effective Practice Studies

The research reports – available in full or summary formats from www.nrdc.org.uk/publications

Effective teaching and learning: ReadingEffective teaching and learning: WritingEffective teaching and learning: NumeracyEffective teaching and learning: ESOLEffective teaching and learning: Using ICT

The practitioner guides – available from www.niace.org.uk/publications

Developing adult teaching and learning: Practitioner guides - ReadingDeveloping adult teaching and learning: Practitioner guides - Writing Developing adult teaching and learning: Practitioner guides - NumeracyDeveloping adult teaching and learning: Practitioner guides - ESOLDeveloping adult teaching and learning: Practitioner guides - Using ICT
