The Effect Of Collaborative Dialogue On Alignment And Writing Accuracy In The Continuation Task

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of collaborative dialogue on alignment and writing accuracy in the continuation tasks.Specifically,underpinned by Wang's continuation theory,this research focused on whether collaborative writing can have a better effect on alignment at lexical,phrasal,and sentential levels,and on writing accuracy compared with individual writing;and how interaction in collaborative work affects the alignment and writing accuracy.Thirty-two English major sophomores from two intact parallel classes participated in the study and they completed two continuation tasks respectively(collaborative continuation task&individual continuation task).The tasks were controlled for the content and the arrangement of the tasks was counterbalanced.The data included 16 individual continuations,16 collaborative continuations,and the transcripts of 16 pair interactions.In addition,an electronic questionnaire and an interview were also adopted.Results from the qualitative analysis of 32 written continuations revealed that there was a higher frequency of linguistic alignment at lexical,phrasal,and sentential levels in collaborative continuations compared with the individual work.The analysis of the error-free clauses and error-free T-units revealed that collaborative writing had a significantly better effect on writing accuracy.In addition,results from collaborative dialogue revealed that the collaborative interaction was conducive to the noticing of passage saliency and the comprehension of the input reading materials,thus improving the strength of alignment in learners' continuations.The analysis of collaborative dialogue also revealed that collaboration provided learners with more opportunities to solve linguistic problems and thus facilitated the improvement of the writing accuracy.The present study has provided further evidence to support the positive effect of collaborative dialogue on alignment and writing accuracy in the continuation task.Finally,the pedagogical implications for L2 teaching are discussed,and some suggestions for future research are offered.