Collaborative Summary Writing and EFL Students' L2 Development

The current study investigated the effectiveness of Collaborative Summary Writing (CSW) on university students' second language (L2) development. The study used 86 first year students in three intact classes studying in Urmia University of Medical Sciences. In one of the classes, students were assigned to dyads, and in the second one the participants were assigned to triads. These two classes were used as experimental groups and the third one was the control group in which the students were required to carry out the summary writing task individually. The study lasted 16 weeks and involved a pre- and post-test. Writing quality was determined by a holistic rating procedure that included content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics. Results of the study showed that CSW experience had an overall significant effect on all students' L2 development; however, it was evidenced that students in pairs benefited the most. Considering writing improvement, it was observed that students' writing ability improved significantly in terms of content, organization, and vocabulary, but not for grammar or mechanics. Finally, a number of theoretical and pedagogical implications for further research are presented. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.