| dc.description.abstract | This study was conducted to explore how online collaboration among English as a foreign language (EFL) students might enhance their peer feedback and revision practices, with the ultimate aim of improving their writing. This research contributes to the ongoing debate about the impact of new technologies on students’ writing practices as it examines the topic from the students’ perspective – a viewpoint often neglected in many EFL settings. A case study in the Omani context was employed to answer the research questions in light of the most recent trends in the educational system in Oman towards the integration of new technologies to provide students with collaborative learning environments. Using a mixed method design, this study was conducted with 23 participants in their usual classroom environment where the focus of teaching and learning is writing. The main participants were students, as they are the core recipients of the changes implemented by their institutions. Given the chosen mixed method approach, several methods were used namely, online and in-class observations, written texts analysis, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews. These methods of data collection provided the data needed to build a detailed case study in order to answer the research questions. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the quantitative data, and a thematic analysis was employed for the qualitative data. Quantitative findings of the students’ writing revealed that the online peer feedback resulted in improvement in the students’ overall writing performance, compared with the first draft scoring. However, the students did not make a statistically significant improvement in all writing sub-skills when compared with their first draft. It improved the students’ performance in the sub-skills: grammar and vocabulary while the results revealed a non-significant effect of the approach on the writing sub-skills: content and organisation. Although most of the students revealed an awareness of the significance of the content and the organisation of their texts, the observed online task showed that students focused mainly on surface-level mistakes in their revision. In addition to changes in performance, the qualitative analysis revealed that online collaboration seems to have also developed the students’ writing behaviour over each draft. The participants appreciated the online task, believing it was easy to reach, motivating, promoted technology literacy, enhanced the learning process, boosted critical thinking, and that it played a role in the elimination of a previously passive experience of learning. However, they raised many concerns regarding the online collaborative task: experiencing difficulties with the use of the platform, lack of time, mistrust between students, and concerns about the absence of the teacher’s involvement. These views reflect tensions when moving to an increasingly interactive approach and indicate how much impact the context has on the success of any pedagogic initiative. The findings further indicated that scaffolding was mutual with both partners being capable of providing guided support to each other through giving and receiving feedback irrespective of their level of writing proficiency. The findings revealed that the opportunity given to the learners to express their revision behaviour was an invaluable experience that revealed their progress throughout the course. The discussion foregrounds the significance of sociocultural theory; showing how classroom culture is as significant in explaining the findings as classroom practice. It emphasises the need to explicitly promote the value of collaboration and the skills to engage in it. The study is significant in offering insights into the way in which writing should be taught in an EFL context, as well as in offering further insights to better enhance the effectiveness of the implementation of technology in EFL writing courses. The findings have raised implications for policymakers as well as teachers, because the teacher’s role changes when engaged in online collaborative platforms. | en_GB |
