Effects of Group Awareness Tools on Student Engagement and Enjoyment in Online Collaborative Writing

Abstract

Group awareness tools have the potential to promote student engagement and improve the quality of online collaborative learning. However, few studies have explored the effects of group awareness tools on second language learners’ engagement and enjoyment in collaborative writing. In this pilot study, we adopted a quasi-experimental design to examine whether the use of group awareness tools led to increased student engagement and enjoyment in online collaborative writing of English argumentative essays. The results revealed that the students in the experimental condition (with a group awareness tool) demonstrated higher behavioral engagement than the students in the control condition (without a group awareness tool), while no statistically significant difference was found in cognitive engagement and social engagement. Additionally, compared with those collaborated with the traditional method, the students using group awareness tools generally indicated higher enjoyment but the difference was only significant in the dimension of student support. Some discussions were made and suggestions for future studies were also provided.