Collaborative writing for ESL learners

Rank 5

This blog is based on the article: "Online Collaborative Writing Using Wikis"

When I started to read this article, my childhood came back to me for a while...
I remebered my primary school years, one teacher leave us the homework of write our own "personal diary" why? well maybe because this "wiki" activity is that exactly. The same methodology is apply it, the only difference is the technology attraction.

According with Richardson A wiki is a website where anyone can edit anything anytime they want (Richardson, 2006). A strategy that can cover all the writing skills is too good to be true. In the article some writing strategies are presented basing the didactical and methodological rate on one simply, but effective, source.

First, two of the main ideas are: Improve the writing skill and collaborative writing. But, let's disarm this.

• Improve writing skill.

What can be more atractive than show someone else my own ideas about my own life?
Researchers suggest that teenagers (from 11 to 21 years), are in a certain stage that puss them to ask themselves simple but complex questions like: Who am I? Why am I doing this? Etc. The reality is that those existentialisms are normal! Like the sun or the moon... What I'm trying to explain with this? most of the school's curriculums are not captable in order to work with this kind of problems, that is why this article got my attention; students are in the freedom of explain what they feels, what are their opinions, but most important, this is a free space to be themselves.
How this "Wiki" activity can do all this? because the answer lies in the resource that is offered.
For example:
-Book reports
-Brainstoming wikis
-poetry.

• Collaborative writing.

Internet had become the door of the world, everybody can get in contact, and that is the magic of the internet, sometimes, on teachers fields, it's difficult to encourge students to work on teams, wiki offers interesting activities to develop work teams classes.

For example:

-the class as one big group

-community writing projects

-Interest Clubs/Extra­curricular Activities

-Lunchtime and Recess

-Adapting to Secondary School Life.

In conclusion. The importance of develop meaninful educational processes is alarming, the world is changing, the educational processes have to change too, wiki is one of those rare but interesting source, with a lot of potential for an agressive expansion. Teachers also, can have part on this type of tasks, through monitoring and cheacking, writing activities never would be the same.