Examining an Out-of-Class Collaborative Writing in an Interdisciplinary Research Project in Science and Technology Studies

This dissertation explores the nature of collaborative writing in an interdisciplinary research context beyond classrooms. Most of the current studies in collaborative writing in second language contexts are based on collaborative writing in classroom-based contexts such as English as a Second Language courses with undergraduate students. Collaborative writing tasks are getting its popularity both in classrooms and beyond classrooms with various purposes and objectives. Thus, it is more likely that multilingual writers encounter some kinds of collaborative writing tasks in various contexts. For writing instructors and writing curriculum developers, it is important to understand various types of collaborative writing tasks and their writing practices.

The current study investigates the nature of collaborative writing in an interdisciplinary collaborative research project. The study examines the processes of a multilingual writer’s literacy development in collaborative writing tasks. Based on a qualitative case study, the study focuses on identifying what literate activities were involved in, what effects from the writing collaboration were observed, and what factors influenced this multilingual writer’s writing development. I analyzed various sources of data such as writing samples, writing journal notes, observation fieldnotes, project documents, and the interviews from the focal participant, the graduate student, and two other co-authors as informants in the study. Based on a multilingual writer’s perspective, the findings show what the collaborative writing practices look like in an interdisciplinary research setting. The findings indicate that a multilingual writer’s writing skills were constantly evolving while interacting with collaborators through various phases of collaborative writing. Particularly tasks in collaborative revision process such as mediating the gaps between co-authors and responding to research members were crucial in developing awareness for audience and content organization. Drawing on a naturalistic qualitative study, this dissertation discusses that studies of collaborative writing in second language learning contexts needs to provide broader perspective and aspects of collaborative writing in various settings that multilingual writers engage in. The research concludes with a discussion of pedagogical implications, limitations of the study and future research.