Abstract:
The current study was an attempt to investigate the impact of grouping type on the grammatical accuracy of Iranian EFL learners in collaborative writing. Through administering the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency, 64 female university students available participated in this study and were assigned to two groups--heterogeneous and homogeneous. The treatment process lasted 12 weeks of collaborative writing and revising, with emphesis on the development of the the participants’ written grammatical accuracy. They were pretested and posttested through a descriptive free writing measure. The results revealed that the participants in both groups had higher posttest scores. Using ANCOVA, it was found that there was a differential effect of grouping type on the grammatical accuracy of homogeneous and heterogeneous pairs, indicating that the participants in heterogeneous group had significantly higher posttest scores than those in homogeneous group. Furthermore, although the grammatical accuracy of both groups increased, a significant difference was observed between them, revealing that the participants in heterogeneous group outperformed those in homogeneous group. The findings of this study can be interpreted in terms of the sociocultural theory and Vygotsky’s idea of the zone of proximal development.
Machine summary:
Through administering the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency, 64 female university students available participated in this study and were assigned to two groups--heterogeneous and homogeneous.
Keywords: Collaborative writing, grouping type, homogeneous group, heterogeneous group, grammatical accuracy Introduction The use of pair and small group work in which learners in groups of two or three write collaboratively in both first (L1) and second (L2) language learning classrooms is one well-liked method of writing instructions (Adams & Hamm, 1996; Doughty & Pica, 1986).
Concerning those conflicts in collaborative writing that students experience while having discussion with their group, some researchers showed that interaction and discussion within participants in groups are influenced by the group selection (Adodo & Agbayewa, 2011; Cady, 2011; Doughty & Pica, 1986; Kuiken & Vedder, 2002; Maftoon & Ghafoori, 2009; Mahenthiran & Rouse, 2000).
Some studies emphasizing the method of group selection including heterogeneous and homogeneous grouping type in different educational areas have been done widely since 1990s to understand the success of these group selection ways (Adodo & Agbayewa, 2011; Cady, 2011; Doughty & Pica, 1986; Kian-sam, 1999; Maftoon & Ghafoori, 2009; Webb, 1989).
Zamani (2016) conducted a study as an attempt to investigate the impact that homogeneous and heterogeneous groupings of Iranian EFL learners regarding their prior levels had on their writing ability when working cooperatively.
Discussion The study was an effort to investigate the possible effect of homogeneous and heterogeneous groupings of Iranian university EFL learners on their written grammatical accuracy when working collaboratively.