How is peer learning interpreted in small groups? Online collaborative short story writing activity among Turkish EFL learners
Abstract
This paper is about a qualitative investigation into student perceptions of peer learning during a collaborative short story writing activity among Turkish high school EFL learners. Two groups of three students, 16-year-old EFL learners at A2 level English proficiency (CEFR), undertook an online collaborative English short story writing exercise over seven weeks using Facebook.
I collected data from focus group discussions, online one-to-one chats and online discussion threads from both groups. Although this research was small-scale, I obtained valuable insights into peer learning that emerged throughout the writing exercise.
The findings revealed that according to participants' recounting, most of the participants learned from each other through some web and mobile tools. For example, participants who reported that they were not confident with their English knowledge used Google Translate in the prewriting stage and the participants, who were more competent in English corrected the linguistic errors of the Google translated text and helped their peers improve their writings.
Participants shared and showed how to use the grammar and spell check websites or mobile applications with their peers. Participants shared the websites about grammatical information with peers and explained them how to make better sentences in English, participants shared online dictionaries with their peers and explained how to use the correct words in their writing.
The online opportunity, crucially, gave participants independence and ownership of their own learning such that they now have the ability to move it forward in their own way in their own time and autonomously.