Collaborative Writing in a Computer-Supported Classroom: Mediation, and Self-Assessed Beliefs and Attitudes About Writing
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Collaborative Writing in a Computer-Supported Classroom: Mediation, and Self-Assessed Beliefs and Attitudes about Writing by Meng-ying Daphne Lin A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Meng-ying Daphne Lin 2015 Collaborative writing in a computer-supported classroom: Mediation and self-assessed beliefs and attitudes about writing Doctor of Philosophy, 2015 Meng-ying Daphne Lin Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning University of Toronto ABSTRACT This classroom study investigated how computer-based writing tools and collaborative writing tasks mediated the development of individual writing competencies among 35 graduate students during a 4-week course in Taiwan focused on English tests like the TOEFL. I prepared a unique platform of writing tools for the course and then quantified the types of writing knowledge generated from students' collaborative writing (CW) and uses of these mediation tools, then associated these with the students’ CW performance and then individual writing performance on 3 drafts of 4 TOEFL writing tasks over the duration of the course. Data included collaborative writers’ dialogues and online browsing histories and all compositions produced during the course. Supplementary data were questionnaires and interviews on students’ perceived changes in communications, reflections on CW, and self-assessed beliefs about their writing abilities. A comparison class of 26 students, which I also taught a year later, served as a control condition with the same course content, and writing tasks written individually (rather than collaboratively). Analyses identified symbolic and material mediation tools in Language-Related Episodes (LREs) in CW writers’ dialogues and uses of Internet writing resources. Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) modeling then tested the relationship between tool-mediated ii writing knowledge and CW performance, and then correlation analyses evaluated the relationship between CW performance and students’ individual writing development. GEE modeling and interpretive analyses investigated over time the students’ changes in communications, reflections on CW, and self-assessed beliefs about their writing abilities. Students in the CW course improved their English writing significantly more than comparison students did. Their symbolic and material tool use resulted in two types of writing knowledge, linguistic forms and skills of expression, which together with practice writing collaboratively, were associated with the students’ writing development. The CW students expressed positive views towards the mediation tools, their abilities for verbalizing in English, and various cognitive and attitudinal indicators, whereas the control group did not change their beliefs about writing over time. The present results strengthen the claims from Sociocultural Theory about the value of mediation for writing development in a foreign language and provide insights about CW for writing teachers. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully acknowledge that the dissertation could not be done without the help of many selfless contributors. I would like to show my deepest appreciation to my supervisor Professor Alister Cumming for his thoughtful mentorship in my six years of doctoral study at OISE in the University of Toronto. Professor Cumming always provided insightful feedback and provoking ideas when I brought my questions to him. His providing immediate attendance for my academic needs made the earning of this degree possible. My special thanks are due to my committee members, Professors Jim Cummins and Eunice Jang, for their valuable advice to polish this dissertation even more before my oral examination. Also, I would like to thank Professors Nina Spada and Charlene Polio for their helpful discussions of several issues in this thesis. I would like to show my appreciation to three raters: Kate Wu, Blossom Wang, and Stephanie Lin for their willingness to offer time in marking compositions while they were doing their graduate studies. Thanks are also due to Masa Hsu and his crew of programmers for the developing and modifying the English Writing platform. I am indebted to church members in Holy Word Church for their prayers to keep me strong in faith in seeking academic growth. With their help, I was able to adopt myself to the different environment from where I grew up. I wish to thank the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Toronto and Ministry of Education in Taiwan for their generous financial assistance. Lastly, but most importantly, I would like to show my deep gratitude to my parents for their encouragement and everlasting love to make this trip to Canada possible. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................................................ xii CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 Rationale and research questions .......................................................................................... 1 Significance of the study ...................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................................... 6 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND EXPLANATORY THEORIES ................................... 6 Activity Theory as a descriptive framework ........................................................................ 6 Theoretical framework applied to the present study ............................................................. 8 Sociocultural Theory as an explanatory theory .................................................................. 11 Mediation .................................................................................................................... 11 ZPD ............................................................................................................................. 12 Imitation ...................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................................... 15 METHOD ................................................................................................................................... 15 Research context and program objectives .......................................................................... 15 The development of a writing platform .............................................................................. 21 Structure and function of English Writing platform ................................................... 24 Collaborative writers’ mediation ................................................................................ 27 Overview of the Research Design ...................................................................................... 29 Data collection schedule ............................................................................................. 29 Data collection and analysis for Question Set One ............................................................ 31 Research Question 1.1 ................................................................................................ 31 Research Question 1.2 ................................................................................................ 35 Rating procedures and reliability ........................................................................ 36 Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) modeling .......................................... 37 Choices of the correlation structure and model selection for GEE .................... 39 Modeling procedures .......................................................................................... 40 Research Question 1.3 ................................................................................................ 40 Data collection and analysis methods for Question Set Two ............................................. 43 Research Question 2.1 ................................................................................................ 43 Research Question 2.2 ................................................................................................ 44 Research Question 2.3 ................................................................................................ 45 CHAPTER FOUR ...................................................................................................................... 48 RESULTS ..................................................................................................................................