Design and Evaluation of Accessible Collaborative Writing Techniques for People with Vision Impairments

Collaborative writing tools have been used widely in professional and academic organizations for many years. Yet, there has not been much work to improve screen reader access in mainstream collaborative writing tools. This severely affects the way people with vision impairments collaborate in ability-diverse teams. As a step toward addressing this issue, the present article aims at improving screen reader representation of collaborative features such as comments and track changes (i.e., suggested edits). Building on our formative interviews with 20 academics and professionals with vision impairments, we developed auditory representations that indicate comments and edits using non-speech audio (e.g., earcons, tone overlay), multiple text-to-speech voices, and contextual presentation techniques. We then performed a systematic evaluation study with 48 screen reader users that indicated that non-speech audio, changing voices, and contextual presentation can potentially improve writers’ collaboration awareness. We discuss implications of these results for the design of accessible collaborative systems.

Challenges Encountered during Synchronous On-Line Collaborative Writing via Google Docs

This study investigated (1) the challenges encountered by a heterogeneous group of first year undergraduates during a synchronous on-line collaborative writing activity conducted through Google Classroom using Google Docs and (2) their perceptions of the pedagogical approach. Five sub-groups of undergraduates participated in the study, and their written transcripts were analysed for patterns of interaction in terms of equality and mutuality based on the Taxonomy of Writing Change Functions and Scaffolding Strategies (Li and Zhu, 2017). Data on learner perceptions were analysed for underlying themes. The findings, which were interpreted from the perspective of the Complex Dynamic Systems Theory, revealed that synchronous on-line collaboration is complex and challenging due to the dynamic patterns of interaction. This study concludes that Google Docs is a useful pedagogical tool and could be used for second language writing development despite the challenges. However, in transferring the findings to other second language learners or learning contexts, caution needs to be applied.

ASSESSMENT OF JOURNALISM STUDENTS’ WRITING PROJECTS COMPLETED INDIVIDUALLY AND IN COLLABORATION

The authors discuss the issues and benefits of collaborative writing in journalistic education, comparing the texts written by students in different conditions: in group collaboration, individually after prewriting group discussion, and individually without any collaboration. We used a survey for collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. The participants were 21 second year and 15 third-year students, who wrote 18 fiction stories for preschool children (3 were written in the collaborative writing groups of 4, where the students were allowed to choose partners for small groups; 3 in the collaborative writing groups of 4, where the students were not allowed to choose partners; 6 after prewriting group discussion, and 6 without any collaboration). 12 six-year students evaluated delivered texts. We also interviewed 12 teachers of the Department of Publishing and Editing about the collaborative writing tasks at the meeting of the Department. Teachers’ interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed. The students and teachers expressed positive attitudes towards collaborative writing, that contributes to students’ learning outcomes and prepare them for teamwork. The highest score got the texts written individually after the prewriting discussion. The stories written by the students who were allowed to choose partners in a group work gained higher scores than texts prepared in randomly created groups. The participants in the self-selected conditions reported that they enjoyed а high level of participation, sharing the workload and supportive behaviour. We also observed the evidences of unequal participation of students in collaboration in small groups where the partners were not familiar. The lowest average score got the texts written with no collaboration. So, we proved that there is a need for implementing prewriting group discussions in the learning process. It is necessary to differentiate the role of each student in collaborative writing to evaluate individual results correctly.

SYNCHRONOUS COMPUTER-SUPPORTED COLLABORATIVE WRITING OF THE PROPOSAL DURING THE PANDEMIC

Modern technology has already changed the way we live, but the COVID-19 pandemic has provided us educators with an unprecedented situation in which we are faced with the enormous challenge of teaching online for a long period of time. It is therefore important to analyse various techniques for getting the most out of distance teaching, especially in a synchronous mode. The aim of the study discussed in this article was to analyse students’ attitudes towards collaborative online work undertaken in synchronous mode during the pandemic. Thirty-three first-year BA students studying English Philology participated in this study. Respondents reflected on the process of online, synchronous collaboration via MS Teams by answering an online survey. The results of the study revealed that collaborative learning allows participants to actively participate in an online lesson, interact with others, co-construct a writing task, apply the new language introduced in lessons in a practical task and receive almost instant feedback. Consequently, any sense of isolation the students may feel is reduced and a sense of community is developed. In addition to this, a collaborative task enhances students’ use of academic skills and the development of key competences that can lay the foundation for lifelong learning.

Are EFL Writers Motivated or Demotivated by Model Texts and Task Repetition? Evidence from Young Collaborative Writers

Studies on multi-stage writing tasks with adults and children have shown that model texts and task repetition aid language acquisition, especially when learners work in collaboration. However, these studies have not included measures of task motivation, which is vital in young learners (YLs) and could help develop a more comprehensive understanding of task effectiveness. The present study analyses task motivation in 24 EFL YLs writing in pairs during three sessions divided into a model group (MG) and a task repetition group (TRG). Results show that students’ task motivation is high in general but declines in the MG while it is maintained in the TRG. As for the motives, working together is the main reason students give to justify their positive scores. These results complete previous knowledge about models and TR, reinforce the value of collaborative writing and encourage the inclusion of motivation measures in task-based research.

Building Bridges: A Conversation between Friends, about Language, Laziness, and Long-distance Running

This conversation took place in a shared Google Doc over several occasions in April and early May 2021, between friends and colleagues, artists and writers, Hannah Clarkson and Matilda Tucker, in the context of an ongoing experiment in collaborative writing. In their individual and collective practices, Clarkson and Tucker explore potential embodiments in language(s) of thinking and dwelling in the ‘here and elsewhere’ of places and spaces they may not physically be in, across cultural, geographical and/or emotional distance. They are interested in how language can be employed as a tool for empathy beyond concrete linguistic understanding; how translation as method opens up to modalities of fictioning and collective storytelling; and writing as an experiment in sharing everyday struggles and building collective narratives of care. An attempt to bridge gaps between the here and elsewhere of Stockholm, Berlin and all the other places that in this time of pandemic we cannot be, the text below is not a conclusion but a conversation. It is a thinking out loud - or rather, on screen - together, on themes of language and translation; belonging and resisting; work and laziness; former and formless selves.

Warsztat duetu autorskiego. O pisaniu kolaboratywnym Jolanty Fuchsówny i Jana Brzękowskiego

The article presents the concept of collaborative writing or multi-author writing using the example of the novel Black Paris by Jolanta Fuchsówna, a forgotten columnist of the “Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny”, and the avant-garde poet and writer Jan Brzękowski. This interwar novel from 1932 is yet to be published in book form. The specificity of the preserved materials and the manuscript make the concept of collaborative writing the operative one for studying the text and describing these writers’ collaboration.

Les effets d'une posture plurilingue de l'écriture collaborative sur l'expérience émotionnelle d’apprenantes créolophones et la qualité de leurs productions écrites

The purpose of this research was to determine, first, how a plurilingual or monolingual posture adopted during a collaborative writing task influences the emotional experience of Creole learners of French as a second language (FL2), and second, how this emotional experience interacts with the quality of the written production. To this end, 39 FL2 Creole-speaking learners collaboratively wrote texts under two experimental conditions: one imposing the exclusive use of FL2 during the collaborative activity and the other allowing free choice as to the languages to be used. After each task, participants individually answered a self-evaluation questionnaire to measure their emotional state while doing the task. In order to establish a relationship between the emotions experienced by the learners and their writing performance, the texts from both conditions were evaluated using an analytical rubric. The results showed that the participants experienced more positive emotions when they were free to use all their linguistic resources, including their native language (L1). Thus, their emotional experience was significantly more positive in the condition without linguistic constraints. While having access to L1 use contributed to a more positive learning climate, obligatory second language (L2) use was primarily associated with tension and anxiety. Also, participants who experienced positive emotions, regardless of the task, wrote better texts and scored highest on overall quality.

A Telecollaboration Project on Giving Online Peer Feedback: Implementing a Multilateral Virtual Exchange During a Pandemic

Telecollaboration, also called virtual exchange or online intercultural exchange, is a form of collaborative learning whereby language learners in different locations engage in computer-mediated communication to complete tasks online. There is ample evidence that telecollaboration promotes the acquisition of language skills, intercultural competence, and digital literacies. Challenges faced implementing virtual exchanges include differences in time zones, learning objectives, academic calendars, and cultural attitudes. The present article describes a case of a multilateral telecollaboration project based on the facilitated dialogue model involving four institutions—two in Europe and two in the United States—that was designed to prepare students for the experience of giving online peer feedback on collaborative writing assignments. Our initial goal was to explore the challenges students would face and the benefits they would receive from a complex telecollaboration project involving multiple institutions and two task sequences: 1) input and reflection on giving and receiving peer feedback, 2) completion of the collaborative writing task to be peer reviewed. However, new challenges and opportunities emerged after the switch to emergency e-learning and remote teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. Relying upon multiple data sources—including correspondence, observations, class discussions, surveys, reflective writing, and information stored in virtual learning environments—our methods of data collection involved convenience sampling, while data analysis was predominantly descriptive. Our results demonstrate that even during a global pandemic, students and instructors face similar logistical challenges and reap similar benefits as has been reported in the literature. Yet our experience also reveals the resiliency of telecollaboration in the face of extreme disruption as well as the potential to exploit virtual exchange to develop learning strategies—such as methods for giving and receiving peer feedback—and meta-awareness of how language is used in the real-world—such as the implications of English as a lingua franca.