Implementing collaborative writing to enhance students writing

The problem of low achievement in English among students is an issue in the educational issue in the UPSR, PMR and SPM examinations. If more attention is not given to this problem, it could affect the attainment of the National Philosophy of Education and Vision 2020. Therefore great effort should be made to overcome this problem. The main purpose of this study was to find out whether the implementation of collaborative writing in the classroom would enhance students’ writing skill. This study was carried out on 60 form three students of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Gedangsa, Kuala Kubu Bharu, Selangor Darul Ehsan. The theories underlying this study were Vygtosky’s Social-Cognitive theory, Piaget’s theory on Cognitive Conflict and Swain’s Output hypothesis. The method used was quasi-experimental. The findings of this study indicated that the subjects in the experimental group who wrote collaboratively improved in their mean scores for post-test by 7.47 as compared to the control group that scored only 4.30. The essays of the coauthors of the focal group also showed some improvement in the length and the generating of idea. It proved that the coauthors applied what they learned and gained during the collaborative discussion when writing alone in the post-test. The finding also revealed a pattern in coauthors’ interactive idea development namely idea generating, giving alternatives, eliciting, monitoring, responding and resourcing.