The Effects Of English Majors’ Proficiency Pairing On Engagement In Collaborative Writing

Engagement is a multifaceted concept that indicates the extent to which learners are actively participating in their learning process.In second language acquisition(SLA),previous studies have proven that students’ engagement in peer-peer interaction during collaborative writing tasks has a positive effect on their language learning.However,in language classes,one real problem faced by language teachers is whether students of different proficiency levels benefit equally from getting engaged in collaborative tasks.This study aimed to investigate whether proficiency pairing has an effect on English majors’ task engagement in collaborative writing.According to previous studies,engagement was studied in terms of pair engagement and individual engagement.Pair engagement was measured in frequency,resolution and type of cognitive conflict episodes(CCEs)pairs produced,while individual engagement was explored from cognitive,social and affective aspects.Based on this,the study proposed the following research questions:1)Does proficiency pairing affect English majors’ pair engagement in terms of the frequency,resolution,and type of cognitive conflict episodes(CCEs)produced in collaborative writing?2)Does proficiency pairing affect English majors’ individual engagement in terms of cognitive,social,and affective aspects in collaborative writing?In order to answer the research questions,this study conducted a between-subject design.Thirty sophomore English majors in a comprehensive university in Yunnan Province from one same class were classified into three types of proficiency pairs based on their scores of the CET-4 test.The fifteen pairs were labelled as "High-High","High-Low",and "Low-Low".In one natural class in the first semester of their second year’s schooling,they participated in the study to finish an assigned collaborative writing task with their partners.They were asked to audio-record the whole process of their interaction while writing collaboratively.After the task,an affective engagement questionnaire was given out.Afterwards,through the interactive discourse of students and the results of the questionnaires,their engagement in the task was analyzed from the perspectives of pair engagement and individual engagement.Results have shown that proficiency pairing did affect English majors’ pair engagement and individual engagement from several aspects.Specifically speaking,in terms of pair engagement,High-High pairs produced significantly more CCEs and correctly resolved more CCEs than both Low-Low pairs and High-Low pairs;in terms of individual engagement,high proficiency learners showed a higher level of social and affective engagement when paired with other high proficiency learners while low proficiency learners were more engaged cognitively and emotionally when paired with other low proficiency learners.This study has provided empirical evidence for the effect of proficiency pairing on language learners’ engagement in a collaborative writing task.Furthermore,this study also provides suggestions for language teachers on pairing different proficiency students to make them engage in tasks as much as possible.