Exploring Peer Collaborative Writing in EFL Secondary Mixed-age Classrooms

Abstract

Based on the beliefs (assertions) that students benefit socially and cognitively from interacting with peers of different ages, mixed-age (M-A) classrooms have attracted much attention from educators, education policymakers, and researchers. Nevertheless, research into the role and impact of age grouping in second (L2) and foreign language (FL) learning is rather scarce. Moreover, a growing body of research has shown that by linking oral and written modes, collaborative writing (CW) aids language learning. However, the majority of studies have investigated adult and young adult students, and very few were conducted with secondary and high school students. Based on our knowledge, no study has explored CW in M-A secondary school classrooms. With these research gaps in mind, and drawing predominantly on documentary analysis of student written work, the present study examined CW of 28 students of English as a foreign language (EFL) aged 12 to 15 old learners who jointly wrote a comic. The findings point to limitations of M-A peer interaction suggesting that there is a threshold for the younger learners in terms of benefiting from CW with their older partners. Similarly, the findings suggest that the extent to which OS benefit is rather limited.