COLLABORATIVE WRITING AS A TOOL FOR IMPROVING NARRATIVE ESSAY WRITING FLUENCY AND WRITING PROFICIENCY IN ESL STUDENTS

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the efficacy of collaboration in writing on ESL learners’ ability to craft a narrative essay. The setting of the research is a Private university in Karachi. The participants selected for the study were 60 ESL undergraduate students who were selected through purposive sampling technique, with 30 placed in each of the two groups, i.e. an experimental group with the treatment of collaborative writing and a control group with individual writing. The research problem underwent a quantitative study and was analyzed by using pre and post tests to determine changes in students’ writing fluency and narrative essay creation. The study revealed the experimental group to have a significantly favorable dominance over the control group with respect to the quality and writing performance and writing fluency of narrative essay. It was evidence of the impact of collaborative writing through the use of peer interaction and feedback, and writing in partnership to achieve a more advanced level of content improvements and better organization of ideas as well as language use. The study findings show that collaborative writing excels in the area of establishing and enhancing writing skills in an ESL classroom by encouraging students to think critically as narrative essay writing and writing fluency improve. This study strongly advocates for collaborative writing to be used in combination with ESL teaching.