Abstract
Genre knowledge plays an important role in the development of L2 learners’ academic literacy (Lee, 2022). However, less is known about how learners develop the knowledge of genre writing through interactive activities (Li & Zhang, 2023; Yu & Lee, 2016b). To fill the gap, this study used a theoretical framework supported by Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory (SCT; Vygotsky, 1978) and systemic functional linguistics-informed genre approach (Halliday, 1985) to investigate how L2 learners develop their ability to write English argumentative essays through collaborative, genre-based writing instruction in an EFL classroom in China.
The instructional context was a required semester-long English course at a Chinese university. I implemented a collaborative, genre-based writing program in which learners received instruction in argumentative writing. In the face-to-face synchronous interaction context, learners worked with peers (a fixed partner for collaborative writing; random peers for essay revision) to complete argumentative writing tasks, using the domestic web-based platform: Shimo Docs.
These participants were identified as novice writers (Yasuda, 2015) through an English placement test and pre-study interviews. This study collected data through multiple sources, including audio recordings of learners’ collaborative dialogue, collaborative and individual English argumentative essays, revision history logs, semi-structured interviews, and additional documents saved from Shimo Docs. Rooted in sociocultural theory, the study adopted microgenetic analysis to look into how peer interaction shapes written argument moment by moment. The findings found that pair interaction supports learning argumentative writing at the macro-level, primarily task planning, rhetorical structure, and content development. However, the degree of learning and the effects of peer scaffolding varied from pair to pair. The findings also demonstrated that peer conferencing prompted learners to focus on argumentative writing with respect to coherence and cohesion, content refinement, rhetorical structure, and lexicogrammatical usage. With random peers, the locus of interaction depended more on readers who delivered feedback, but writers tended to demonstrate their self-regulation within the ZPD by critically evaluating and adapting feedback into their essay. Additionally, The findings reveal that, through the interactive activities, learners progressed from simplistic genre awareness to a more contextualized understanding of genre writing. By examining learners’ individual writing essays, the findings also show that learners gradually improved their rhetorical knowledge in iframing English argumentative essays to meet genre expectations. Lastly, the analysis of learners’ perceptions suggests that their interactions involved subtle micro-dynamics that varied across different stages of the same writing task.
This study contributes to L2 writing scholarship by investigating the complex and interrelated relationship between the process and product. The study shows how process- oriented interaction dynamics influence concurrent written product and learners’ writing development in the long term. It not only offers actionable pedagogical implications for educators to implement collaborative genre instruction but also advances equity by empowering the development of academic literacy of inexperienced student writers in China.