Instructions:

Please select one or two discussion questions to respond to. Include quotations and insights
from Wang (2014). Use another color to indicate your response. Use the comment tool to
extend another peer’s work.

Kevin Tyner
Jonathan Weber
Discussion Questions:

1) How does the use of collaborative tools like wikis contribute to the learning of an EFL
learner?
Collaborative tools such as wikis allow participants to be active learners and this is beneficial
to EFL students/learners. According to Wang (2​015) wikis allow students to exchange
and share information and participate in a social constructivist setting “due to its
collaborative and interactive nature of communication” (p.384).

Chris Wong - The wiki allows students to use the language for its intended purpose:
communication. This is about as “authentic” a task as one can achieve. Wang (2015) writes
in the conclusion “The findings obtained from this study indicate that exposure to authentic
language input from the wiki in an EFL setting can contribute to both language development
and social interaction.”(p.389)

.
2) What are some advantages(i.e. Pedagogical values) or disadvantages of using
online tools like wikis for learners?
As mentioned above, the advantages to using wikis and digital collaboration tools allow
students to be active participants, which focus on pedagogical ideas of social constructivism.

Some disadvantages of using wikis could be the issues access, such as the subjects in the
paper reported (e.g. Browser incompatibilities, network connection issues) (p. 386). While
wikis may be doing a lot to help their written language, it does less to address the immediacy
of spoken language and social cues that come along with having a face to face
conversation.

3) How does collaborative tools like wikis support (or not) the idea of social
constructivist learning?
According to Wang (2015) wikis promote social constructivism and “they can
promote effective collaborative learning and confidence in the formative self and
peer assessment by facilitating rapid feedback, vicarious learning through observing
others’ contributions and easy navigation and tracking facilities”(p385).

Chris Wong - Social constructivist learning involves constructing knowledge through

collaboration and the negotiation of varying ideas with others. A collaborative wiki involves
sharing and reading other ideas. A wiki has the benefit of reducing the risk that one student
monopolizes the conversation - something which can often occur during face to face
meetings. Additionally Wang (2015) writes, “an interesting aspect that emerged was the
development of some students’ ability and willingness to offer and receive feedback. At the
beginning, the students were reluctant to make comments on their wiki pages; some were
afraid of providing others with critical feedback. However, towards the end of the project, the
students demonstrated confidence in giving and receiving criticism yet constructive
comments” (p. 389)

4) Wang (2015) argues that “the students believe that the online collaboration through
wikis enabled them to interact with their peers and to engage in meaningful and
authentic tasks” (Wang 2015, p.387) to what extent do you agree or disagree with
this idea? Provide
To a certain extent I agree with this theory, but I believe all to most members of the group
must be willing to work together in a productive manner. Constructivism works well when you
have active participants. If people are not willing to be active learners, interaction and
engagement is difficult. However, if people are willing to involve themselves in the process, I
believe they will get more out of activities such as collaborative wikis.

I can agree with the idea that it enables a form of interaction and that it is increasingly
meaningful and authentic. In the 21st century, collaboration is more and more valued, and
this collaboration is increasingly done online through tools like wikis and Google Docs.
However, I do think that wikis are easier to use for cooperative practices as compared to
collaborative tasks, the difference being that collaboration uses much more of a critical eye
to make one final complete product while cooperative tasks allow each participant to
contribute their own section while offering comments on others (similar to what we are doing
here.) With that said, the percentage of students who felt motivated to learn English through
wikis is a great benefit in and of itself (p. 386)

5) How can you apply Wang’s findings to your own practice? How can wikis be used to
support interdisciplinary learning?
This is an excellent question and helped create a possible collaboration with my co-worker.
As a Social Studies/History teacher, I often work with the grade level English teacher in
order to improve our student’s writing. We could possibly create a wiki where students use
the content involved in Social Studies and create wikis based on the content of my class or
possibly texts in both classes.

Wikis could be a great way for students to engage with each other on a jigsaw project. Each
student could take a section of a topic, do their research, then each the group. As the
student-expert taught, the others (students) could be contributing to a wiki with their
understandings. This would allow the student-expert to self-assess their own teaching as
well as seeing how the audience perceived their message. Finally, at the end, each group
could edit and submit a final product.