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Zhengjie Li

International Department of the High School Affiliated to South China Normal University, China

 

Patrick Mannion

Kansai Gaidai University, Japan

 

Imelda Bangun

Keiser University, USA

 

Abstract

Notwithstanding that much research has been conducted to showcase how Google Apps can impact the collaborative writing progress, how Google Apps can facilitate the L2 writing of EAP (English for Academic Purposes) students viewed through the lens of sociocultural theory and cognitive theory of multimedia learning is underexplored. This study addresses this gap by utilizing a modified survey to reveal EAP students’ learning experiences regarding the development of their academic writing via Google Apps at a language center embedded in a university. Results show that although little to no positive relationship was observed between students’ writing performance and their perceptions of employing Google Apps for collaborative writing, the Advanced Writing class yielded a statistically significant difference compared to the Academic Writing class in the Motivation subscale. Also, students from East Asia demonstrated more willingness to work collectively on assigned writing projects than their peers from Arabic countries. The results suggest that Google Apps may better empower EAP students to improve their academic writing if the classes are more project-based and subject-area related. Among the implications are that essential facets such as class type, students’ linguistic and cultural background, and prior experience with and knowledge of Google Apps should be pedagogically attended to.

 

Keywords

English for academic purposes, sociocultural theory, computer-assisted language learning, multimodal collaborative writing, Google Apps