Exploring The Role Of Languaging In Group Writing Tasks

This study examines the 1st-year MA students’ verbal and written performances in a group of four to explore the role of languaging in the long-term group writing tasks in a semester for the academic purpose.Multiple sources of data were collected,including the group discussions,individual reflections and group writing,supplemented by classroom observations,field notes,given text and the homework samples.Data analysis of group discussions were based on the coding scheme of languaging sequences,task-related sequences and private speech respecting the articulated purpose and topic involved in the group discussion,which were guided by the assignment structure in group writing text and coded using the qualitative research software Nvivo 11.Individual reflections were mainly evaluated in light of the participants’ gains,problems,and suggestions from doing group writing tasks.Data analysis of the present study revealed the mediational role of languaging in learning through the long-term group writing tasks.Languaging including collaborative dialogue and private speech may appear as a collective scaffolding among learners,in the form of inquiry,peer correction,debate or shifting expert role,towards their shared learning goal.Besides,the present study also demonstrated the learners’ languaging-medicated development in their academic learning ability and cooperative learning ability,by examining their performances in different group writing tasks.In the end,this thesis respectively discusses the mediational role of languaging,learners’ language use and the cooperative learning realized in those long-term group work.Moreover,this study draws attention to the importance of applying group writing tasks for academic purpose in the after-class learning activities and makes implications for future researchers,teachers/instructors and learners.