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A ew Approach toward Process Oriented Writing

Wikis in EFL Classes

Shirin Sadaghian
Alzahra University


Abstract
One of the purposes for which wikis are used in educational context is to promote writing. Till
now the collaborative aspect of wikis was the focus of ESL teachers; however, the current
research adds another dimension to the application of the new tool, namely using wikis for
promoting process-oriented writing. Comparing process and product oriented approach to
writing the former reveals a focus on knowing for yourself, drafting and revising; whereas, the
latter focuses on the final product. However, the implication of process-oriented writing in
traditional classrooms is difficult because of the bulk of time consumption. The study took the
advantage of wikis for process-oriented writing through both collaboration between students and
students editing and revising of one anothers added texts to the given starting paragraph by
instructor. The text has been edited by whole students enrolled in the course. The detailed study
of final text along with interview with student writers revealed that students had real sense of
collaboration while writing in their class wiki. The records of the edited texts also revealed that
the writings were all accomplished as a process. Finally, the study recommends teachers
incorporate wikis in EFL courses in order to promote real collaboration in process-oriented
approach.

Key terms: Wikis, Collaboration, Writing, Process writing

1. Introduction
The 20
th
century has brought big changes to the life of people. One of the big changes which
was called web has lay aside the way people used to reach information. However the turning of
21
st
century has changed the nature of web and introduced web2 with the motto that the web is
no longer limited to clicking, browsing and reading but to more interaction in speech and
writing. The original vision and promise of the Web, according to Tim Berners - Lee, developer
of the World Wide Web, was the possibility of its providing collaborative online spaces where
we can all meet and read and write. (Carvin, 2005, p. 1) However todays web is more near to
Berners Lees initial intent thanks to the online tools such as blogs, podcasts, and wikis. These
tools provided the users with the opportunity to write, re-write and edit others writing.

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The most used web tools that has attracted users attention are weblogs, wikis, podcasts and
webquests. Among these tools wiki is an online collaborative writing tool which could serve
several educational purposes. Lamy and Hampel (2007) define the main function of wikis as
joint authoring. A wiki is also defined as a collaborative web space where anyone can add
content and anyone can edit content that has already been published (Richardson, 2006, p. 8)
the aim of wikis at the first step was helping learners collaborate, share and build collaborative
online content by writing on the web. Marandi 2011 believes that good wikis successfully
demonstrate such concepts as social constructivism, scaffolding, collaboration, etc., and are
therefore very easily adapted to educational settings which take the advantage of processes
which accord sociocultural theory. According to Marandi (2011), CALL( computer assisted
language learning) studies fall within cognitive or socio cultural theory. Sociocultural theory
which drives on Bakhtin and Vygotskys ideas sees language learning as an interpersonal
process situated in a social and cultural context and mediated by it (Lamy & Hampel, 2007,
Cited in Marandi 2011). Drawing on sociocultural theory the concept of collaboration this study
aims at introducing wikis as useful tool for practicing process oriented collaborative writing. The
study first elaborates on the nature of writing and concept of wikis and examines the role of
wikis in promoting process oriented collaborative writing in EFL classes.

2. Writing
Writing as the one of the four skills of language which indicates literacy has been often
slighted in language classes. One of the reasons for this partial omission could be students
dislike toward writing assignments which requires them to compose. Chastain (1998) believes
that students are not in habit of doing this type of work and have little knowledge of how to
approach, preserve and complete. (p.250) for this problem Chastain himself has given a solution
which is considering carefully all students psychological and emotional attitudes. We are no
longer looking at writing as a product but what is important for us is writing process during
which students are engaged in the writing process. Process writing pays attention to the various
stages that any piece of writing goes through. White and Arndt(1991) stress that writing is re-
writing and revision which lends itself to process writing. Besides looking at writing as a process
writing can be seen as a cooperative activity in educational settings. Jeremy Harmer believes that
though people write on their own in their personal lives, language classes are places where
students can take advantage of cooperative writing (2007). Cooperative writing works well when
the focus is on writing as a product or process. Apart from revising and editing the generation of
ideas is best pursued by having more than one author. Harmer elsewhere mentions that
cooperative writing is immensely successful if students are writing on a computer or sending
emails to each other or as with Wikipedia modifying each others entries. (2007, p.329)
However the focus of current study is on taking advantage of wikis in EFL classes for promoting
cooperative process writing which requires a glimpse at the nature of wikis.




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3. History of Wikis
Although the concept of wikis has been around for many years, the first true wiki, called
WikiWikiWeb, was created by Ward Cunningham in 1995 (Tapscott & Williams, 2006). The
word wiki was taken from Hawaiian meaning quick. Perhaps the most well - known wiki is
Wikipedia ( www.wikipedia.org). Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia with completely open
content: nearly every article could be edited by anyone. West also defines group working as one
of the aims for which wikis were designed.


3.1.Features of Wikis
Access Controls: Wikis can be either public or private.
Capacity: All wikis support the creation of multiple pages by multiple authors, and thus
can quickly grow in size. Depending on the wiki, there may be restrictions on how many
pages you can create the length of each page, and the size of embedded images and
media.
Editing Features: Although wikis offer a variety of features that allow users to change the
wiki s page layout, organization, and formatting, a wiki is not Microsoft Word! Basic
word processing features, such as fonts, bullets, and simple tables, are available in most
wikis and are generally easy to use.
Customization and Skins: One challenge with wikis is that pages have a tendency to look
plain and generic. Customizing the way a wiki looks is often limited by the editing
features of the wiki or by the various skins that you can use. A skin is an overlaying
page design theme that affects the default fonts and colors on the wiki pages.
Advertising: Free wiki services typically include advertising on their pages, which you
cannot remove.
Communication: Most wikis support some type of embedded communication among wiki
members. This can take the form of e - mail links to members, discussion threads, and
page comments.
File Sharing: Although all wikis support hyperlinks to documents and Web sites already
located on the Web, some wikis support file sharing within the wiki through a file upload
feature.
Administration: Administration of a wiki involves planning for how learners will access
and use the wiki, and ensuring the security of the learners and their wiki contributions.
Number of Users: Some wiki services limit the number of users that can be members of a
wiki.
Logins and Passwords: All wikis provide some measure of control over access through
the use of login and password protection
Archiving and Version Control: The most common concern new wiki contributors
express is the fear that they will mess up someone else s work.
Security: It is important that teachers be aware of the risks and challenges that the read -
write Web presents. They must consider issues of privacy and safety to ensure that
students have the best possible learning experience .

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Widgets and RSS Feeds: Wikis are continually updating their services to include
additional features through the use of widgets. Widgets are small programs embedded
within Web pages that can add functionality and interactivity to wiki pages.

Although wikis are similar to other types of communicational tools such as blogs and
discussion forums in that all are asynchronous forms of communication there are still differences
among them. Comparing blogs and wikis, blog postings are made in a chronological sequence,
with the most recent entries typically displayed at the top of the page. Wikis are organized more
dynamically than blogs, with the grouping of information determined by new entries,
hyperlinked concepts, and collaboratively determined structures. Further, a blog is typically
managed by a single person, who has primary responsibility for the content and structure of the
site. Wiki ownership is distributed and shared among all of its contributing members. Finally,
and most importantly, blog postings typically cannot be modified, whereas wiki contributions are
open for editing. Comparing wikis and threaded discussions whereas threaded discussions
supports elaboration of individual concepts and ideas, wikis allow for students concepts and
ideas to be integrated with those of the rest of the class through collaborative editing
(Farabaugh,2007). Instead of limiting users to adding to another student s contribution, the wiki
opens the door to brainstorming, group problem solving, critical evaluation, synthesis, idea
refinement, and group consensus (West, 2009). Wikis have the potential to be more suitable than
blogs or threaded discussions for supporting online collaboration, especially among learning
teams with a specific, shared goal.

4. Wikis in Education

Considering the use of wikis in education in k12 levels, Richardson (2010) believes that
schools and administrators are hard pressed to justify the use of such an open venue for the
publication of students work. though this can cause chaos and fear among students parents," soft
scrutiny" theory helps teacher overcome the problem. Wikis also pose some pedagogical
challenges as well. Richardson believes that wikis are good at fostering collaboration and one of
the aims for which wikis were initially designed was providing the chance for students to learn
how to develop all sorts of collaborative skills, negotiating with others to agree on correctness,
meaning, relevance and more. An example of the use of wikis in k12 education is provided by
Richardson (2010) where he describes Jason Welker's wiki named Wikinomics which is one f
the greatest examples of collaborative construction by students.
Engstrom and Jewett (2005) investigated collaborative learning in the context of geography
class by the use of wiki who concluded that teachers can promote critical thinking skills through
the use of information literacy skills In another study related to knowledge building, Lund and
Smrdal (2006) also studied the extent to which a wiki can be conductive to collective
knowledge building.

5. The Study
The current study aims at examining the role of wikis as a collaborative writing tool for
promoting process writing among English language learners in Iranian EFL classes. The study
adhered to the qualitative paradigm and an online tool called wiki along with two interview
sessions were the tools of the study.

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The participants in this study were 11 male and female Iranian intermediate level English
language learners who were enrolled in English language learning for more than 3 years. The
researcher as the instructor of the course had an unstructured interview about students attitude
toward writing in the new language before the beginning of the study. Following the interview,
the instructor of the course established an educational wiki in wikispaces (a free wiki server).
Students then were informed of wiki writing and the applications they can do using wikis. After
providing necessary information about wikis and wiki writing, the instructor of the course
provided students with a topic of their interest and asked them to add their paragraph
occasionally during the course. The beginning paragraph of the text was a discussion provoking
one written by the course instructor, which was read by students and gave them a direction
toward their writing. The students then wrote their texts that were related to the pervious
paragraphs. Each student had to consider the coherence of the whole text and edit it when
necessary. During the term, each student participated in the writing process for 3 times. Some
students merged their paragraphs with that of others in order to help the unity and coherence of
the final product. The final product (a rather long text) was the result of participation of all
members of the course, which consisted of thirty-four paragraphs. After the completion of the
writing tasks, students were interviewed again about their attitudes toward writing. Both
interviews were unstructured interviews done during the class time the result of which was
recorded for final analysis.

6. Result & Discussion
The current study aimed at introducing a new writing approach for EFL classes. The approach
integrated technology and collaboration in order to promote process oriented writing in foreign
language classes. Before the introduction of the new approach to the participants in the study, an
unstructured interview was done about students attitude toward process-oriented writing. It was
interesting that students enrolled in the study thought of process writing as something
inapplicable in real situations. One student asserted, Process writing takes a lot of time and is
good at theory level but not practice. Some students were also unaware of the nature of process
writing; others however thought it is appropriate only for beginner levels. Overall, we can say
that students had a negative attitude toward process writing in the new language prior to the
introduction of the tool. However after the introduction of wikis and teaching students how to
write in a wiki the history bottom of the wiki, revealed a progress in process writing. The history
of wiki showed the number of revision and editions done on the text which revealed that seven
out of eleven students had revised the whole text during the time they wanted to contribute to the
writing. All eleven students had entered wiki and added their text. The number of contribution of
each student was minimum of 3 times which revealed students' eager toward revising their
common text. In fact, students showed more enthusiasm toward writing and revising the text.
The result was also confirmed during the second interview were six out of eleven students found
the new approach exciting for three reasons which were collaboration, online publishing and the
ease with which students could revise the text. One student admitted that she felt more
comfortable with her classmates when writing in an online medium. Four of the participants in
the research also found that the process writing was not that difficult and collaboration facilitated
it. Students thought of process writing as a chance to contribute more to their own text and
writing.

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A change in students' attitude was quiet observable during the second interview. Students
were more comfortable with process writing and felt real collaboration in production of their
final text. Comparing to the traditional modes of writing the study had several advantages. One
of the advantages of the current study was promoting collaboration among students of the class
during the first sessions of the course which is usually impossible or highly time consuming
when done in traditional classes. The second advantage was facilitating process writing which
was also hard without resorting to the online tools. The last but most important aspect of online
writing was motivation which was shown by students during the writing phase. During the
second interview, students admitted that they liked using such new tools. Although introduction
of the new tool had many advantages over traditional writing tools, some short comings were
also perceived during the study. The introduction of the new tool could be problematic in
situations where students had little knowledge of internet and working with online tools was a
kind of barrier for their learning. If used without a correct introduction, wikis could cause chaos
in EFL classes because of students' unfamiliarity with the tool. For this reason the study suggests
giving necessary instruction prior to the introduction of the tool.



7. Conclusion

The study concluded that writing in EFL classes could take the advantage of new online tools
such as wikis and blogs. English language instructors can familiarize students with new
technologies with the aim of boosting collaboration among them. Among these new tools wikis
as a collaborative writing tool could be used in order to promote process writing among students.
The study recommends teachers incorporate wikis in EFL courses in order to promote real
collaboration, boosting motivation and facilitating writing in process-oriented approach to
writing.










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