Finding interviews:

In this section, the data collected from in-depth interviews will be presented for further
discussion and analysis. 
Generally, collaborative writing experiences have nurtured writing and teamwork skills for
English learners. This is the reason why it becomes part of the compulsory subjects in the
training program in SOFL. However, interviews with 12 students studying at SOFL
demonstrated that each student had a different opinion on the experience of collaborative
writing. The responses were aggregated into four themes including the process, the
preference, benefits, and drawbacks of collaborative writing tasks
1. The process of doing collaborative writing tasks:
The very first question was about the arrangement of the work which shows almost all
of them have separated the topic into small parts, then they did the research
individually. For instance, student 8 has noted that “Normally, the task is broken
down into segments and assigned to each team member to complete individually
within the given time. After that, we put all the completed segments together to form
the final product and then cross-check, with one member reviewing and unifying the
final task’’. Student 11 also has the same opinion that “the first thing our group does
is meet and divide the work, usually the group will have 4 members. We will divide
into 2 small groups and begin to do research related to the task. After doing research
individually, our group will meet and let the members take on the work that they feel
most confident in.”

Besides, when dealing with conflicts among team members, they tended to resolve
internal conflicts on their own. Student 4 has stated that “Although sometimes
conflicts arose, they could be resolved within the group”. Student 3 held the same
opinion as student 4 but his team also consulted the teacher when the matter remained
skeptical “one time when we were doing syntax, we found it too difficult to choose,
so we asked the teacher for advice”.

2. Benefits of collaborative writing tasks

Moreover, the table also reports the mode of advantages of collaborative writing is 6,
followed by 12 students’ opinions. It can be seen that collaborative writing tasks have
exerted a positive impact on their academic writing skills. For example, student 1 said
that “In my perspective, collaborative writing helps to learn more vocabulary with
 good structure”. Student 3 also noted that “I think collaborative writing improves
language skills quite a bit. Examples are lexical choices and grammar structures”

In addition, developing creativity is one of the benefits of collaborative writing,

according to student 4 “I also found myself becoming more creative. It's like I come
up with a lot of ideas or ideas that I wouldn't be able to come up with when sitting
alone”

Not only boost creativity, but 6 out of 12 also agreed that they became more
responsible when working as a team. This is reflected in the response of student 10
“My team is all enthusiastic and shares a lot when working together. Therefore, I feel
more responsible with the assignment” and student 11 “I find that collaborative
writing also helps people to be more responsible when doing assignments.”

Furthermore, collaborative writing helps them communicate better as they freely

share ideas and resources. Student 6 said that “This has trained me to confidently state
my own opinions as well as listen to others’ opinions and make corrections”.
Similarly, student 11 also shows that “I find it quite good to do collaborative work
because when I write an essay with many people, it will have more ideas and we will
be better evaluated”

Finally, collaborative writing has given them a chance to practice teamwork skills.
Student 7 described that “I could share the workload, making everything lighter. In
addition, although there were sometimes disputes, I still have to admit that when
many people think together to come up with an outline for the article, more ideas
would come out.”

3. Drawbacks of collaborative writing tasks

On the other hand, collaborative writing also has a ruinous effect on the various fields.
First of all, it can ignite a debate among team members. Six students faced up with the
fact that there were arguments among team members which prevented them from
completing the tasks. For instance, student 8 stated that “The only thing that bothered
me was the conflicts encountered during group working”
 Besides, difficulty in scheduling the meeting and inability to complete the work in
allotted time are reported as problems of collaborative writing. For example, student 7
complained that “sometimes someone was late to the deadline, affecting the whole
group”. Low student engagement might be a result of those issues. The case of student
4 is a telling example “But my teammates were so lazy. When I scheduled meetings,
they always found excuses not to attend. When it was time to submit the outline to the
teacher for approval, no one cared”

Additionally, the lack of language proficiency and fairness issue could be considered
as the disadvantages of collaborative writing. For example, student 9 noted that he has
a bad experience because of the differences in students’ levels. The fairness issue is a
big problem that receives 5 responses. For instance, student 11 said that “sometimes
there are members who rely on the group, so the division of work is not fair”

4. The preference for collaborative writing

In terms of the preference level of collaborative writing, 9 out of 12 students reported
that they had a good experience with collaborative writing, this number accounts for
75% in total. This is the reason why if they have to choose between collaborative
writing and individual writing, they definitely put collaborative writing as the first
choice. For example, student 2 noted that “Better be collaborative writing. I
personally think that collaborative writing can reduce the workload since it requires
dividing the work evenly; thus, it won't be too stressful to complete the work on
time.”. Similarly, student 6 said that “I will definitely choose collaborative writing
because I personally find that collaborative writing has helped me learn a lot from
other friends”