Author ORCID Identifier
Date Available
12-4-2020
Year of Publication
2020
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
College
Education
Department/School/Program
Education Sciences
First Advisor
Dr. Joan Mazur
Abstract
This study used an exploratory holistic single case study design to understand how Arabic as a foreign language (AFL) students completed a small group writing assignment using Google Docs. More specifically, this study investigated the interaction patterns that emerged between the students throughout the writing process, and if a relationship existed between the emerging interaction patterns and the holistic quality of the final written text. This study also explored the content focus of students’ comments and students’ perceptions of Google Docs-mediated small group writing.
Informed by the sociocultural theory in language learning and by drawing on Google Docs comments and archived history pages of text construction, and a post-study questionnaire as the main sources of data, this study showed that the students completed the writing assignment in four different interaction patterns: collaborative/main editor, collaborative/passive/interactive editors, cooperative/interactive editors, and dominant/passive/main editor. The findings did not reveal that a relationship existed between the merged interaction pattern and the holistic evaluation of the final written texts. The results also revealed that students’ comments focused on language-related episodes (LREs). That is, in their comments, the students paid more attention to grammatical, and lexical aspects of the shared texts. The students’ responses to the questionnaire, in general, showed positive attitudes toward Google Docs and the small writing activity in the Arabic language classes.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2020.469
Recommended Citation
Alkhateeb, Maher, "GOOGLE DOCS-MEDIATED SMALL GROUP WRITING IN ARABIC AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES: INTERACTION PATTERNS, WRITTEN TEXT QUALITY, AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS" (2020). Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences. 78.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/edsc_etds/78
