Speaker
Description
Sentence complexity plays a crucial role in academic writing, influencing coherence, clarity, and syntactic development. Grounded by Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, this study examines the effect of students' contribution levels in online collaborative writing on their sentence complexity, analyzing whether increased engagement leads to more sophisticated sentence structures. Employing a mixed-methods design, the research was conducted with 80 English-major students at Hong Bang International University (HIU), Vietnam, enrolled in an 11-week online course, Reading and Writing 3. Quantitative findings revealed positive relationships between the students’ writing complexity and the levels of contributions during the collaborative writing process via Google Docs. Semi-structured interviews showed that most of the students enjoyed writing collaboratively via Google Docs due to their partners’ strong support, despite technological challenges. In addition, all the interviewees reported their improvements in the use of complex sentence structures in writing. The findings support the implementation of collaborative writing in the online learning environment.
Biography
I am an English lecturer at Hong Bang International University, Ho Chi Minh City, specializing in teaching English reading and writing, and business English. As an emerging professional in language education, I am committed to enhancing my pedagogical expertise to advance my academic career. My primary research interests include language pedagogy, with a particular focus on English writing instruction and learner engagement in online learning environments. I am dedicated to exploring innovative teaching strategies that foster effective language acquisition and improve student interaction in digital learning contexts.
