Exploring the Roles of Google.doc and Peer e-Tutors in English Writing

This study explored college students' experiences with and perceptions of integrating both the Google.doc and peer e-tutors into an English writing course. This socio-cultural study employed online collaborative learning mechanisms with an attempt to develop students' English writing skills and motivation over the course of one year. Participants included a class of forty-four, 1st-year non-English majors from a college in southern Taiwan; eleven fourth-year English majors were also invited to assist with online, peer e-tutoring. The findings revealed that most students demonstrated positive attitudes towards using this online writing system and were satisfied with their meaningful interactions with peer e-tutors. On-line tutoring activity enhanced their English writing skills, and they reported a desire to engage in similar practices in the future. A few challenges emerged from using the Google.doc, including periodical missing data from the screen and an accidental lag that occurred during the course of writing online. Several conclusions can be drawn from the study, which have some implications for EFL teachers. Suggestions for future research are also provided.