EFL COLLABORATIVE WRITING: TEXT PRODUCTION AND ONLINE RESOURCES ESCRITA COLABORATIVA NO ENSINO DE INGLÊS: PRODUÇÃO TEXTUAL E RECURSOS ONLINE

This paper discusses the use of digital online resources as a means to foster collaborative writing in EFL lessons. Two main online free platforms are suggested and briefly analyzed: Powtoon and Google Docs. The discussion finds theoretic support in the new literacies approach in the studies of the New London Group, Gee and Hayes (2012) and adopts a Bakhtinian orientation to language as social practice. The ideas presented are meant to be explored in EFL lessons in a variety of different learning levels and teaching contexts, ranging from basic to higher formal education as well as language schools. It is both a proposal and an exploratory study which aims at expanding the discussion concerning the processes of teaching and learning how to write in English in Brazilian formal educational contexts.


Introduction
When teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is concerned, the development of writing skills is rarely seen as one of the most discussed issues in academic papers published in Brazil.One might ask why it is so and then they would have to resort to a walk through Brazilian language politics and background history, back to the days when the country was under the reigns of a dictatorial government.
According to Azzari (2013, p. 09), it was in the 1960's that the foreign languages got demoted from a prestigious position within school curriculum as a result of Federal 1 Full professor and researcher for the Letters Courses and the Post-Graduation Programme in Languages, Media and Arts at the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas (PUC-Campinas).Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from The State University of Campinas.Campinas, Brazil, email: elianeazzari@gmail.comgovernment decisions concerning national guidelines for Brazilian basic education.As the researcher highlights, Brazil was then under a rather post-industrial capitalist oriented military government, which, in the 1970's, regarded foreign language knowledge as a nonfundamental skill to a "desired" citizen.The educational system was then focused on training workers to fulfill automobile industries and others alike.
As a result, state schools were to choose when and which foreign modern languages were (or not) to be taught, as they were no longer a mandatory item in High School curriculum.As some researchers as Azzari (2013) and Rocha (2010) argue, language lessons were mostly centered on teaching grammar and general language structures and skills such as listening, speaking and writing were deemed less important.According to Azzari (2013, p. 12-13), the publication of The National Curriculum Parameters for Modern Foreign Languages teaching in 1998 brought up some change to the aforementioned scenario, although it also put a premium on a single (specific) skill: reading comprehension.
Those series of political decisions, which have been roughly mentioned in this discussion, were preceded as well as followed by several others which, no matter what, still reaffirmed writing as a sidekick part of the foreign language education.Such political choices seem to have driven the matter to two (amongst many others) aspects which deserve to be spotted by the present discussion.
Firstly, for the country as a whole, focusing on reading and grammar only meant neglecting the poorer students the right to better communicate in other language(s), resulting in the opening of the Brazilian economy / market to the establishment of several private language schools (which were accessible to a minor number of citizens who were rich enough to pay for language lessons).
Secondly, for the history of foreign language teaching in Brazil, it meant disregarding writing as an important way of construing meaning and communicating.And although a lot of water has run under the bridges since those days, it seems fair to believe that, so far, although writing in a foreign/second language is seen "as a field in itself", as Villas Boas (2017, p. 2) reassures, it is commonly disregarded by educational institutions and writing ends up being "[…] taught as a mere backup in teaching other skills" (VILLAS BOAS, 2017, p. 3).Even major franchising language schoolsstill a highly prospect business in Brazilseem to disregard the role of teaching how to produce written texts in a foreign language.
Additionally, to add insult to injury, Villas Boas (2017, p. 4) suggests that Brazilian teachers tend to avoid discussing writing as a topic either in conferences and/or workshops in the EFL area.
However, in the late ten to fifteen years, as one of the results of globalization processes in economic and cultural areas, English has again risen up as the language for communicating with the whole world.Consequently, there is an increasing concern in several different areas of the Brazilian society in terms of international insertion.Accordingly, Jordão (2016) points out that internationalization processes have been a major discussion in several Universities all over the country.Unfortunately, one great issue to be faced is the fact that not only did Brazilian higher education students and professors/researchers prove to be facing a new demand, but we have also taken notice that achieving its goals might entail a lot of rethinking, as Jordão (2016) suggests.This fast time-travelling trip through some of the relevant aspects of Brazilian EFL education history has just showed us that Brazilians are still reaping what the linguistic policies so far have (or have not) plowed.Maybe, it is finally time to switch back to the idea of language as an integrated system, as a social practice which entails more than just memorizing a set of rules and structural systems.
In this paper, EFL teaching is considered from a historical perspective, therefore adopting the idea of language as a social practice.It reviews the proposals of Bakhtin and his Circle and their interface with language education under the discussions fostered by Shields (2007) and Vitanova (2013).It also considers the ideas issued by Gee and Hayes (2011) who address language learning aspects in the digital age.
All things considered, the main objective of this study is to recall the important role of teaching (and learning) writing skills in EFL lessons.It is accomplished by offering a both exploratory and propositional approach to collaborative writing in the educational environment.It argues that writing in EFL within the help of some of the free resources available from the digital online space might foster students' EFL skills development from a more contemporary perspective.In order to do so, two main digital platforms are brought into view: Google docs (available at: https://www.google.com/docs/about/)and Powtoon (available at: https://www.powtoon.com/home/? ).
Although there are no intentions to offer final answers or solutions to such a complex and important issue, there is a chance the present discussion might stimulate EFL language teachers, students and/or researchers to reinstall the idea of tackling writing as an important part of the language learning process.It might as well give the ones involved in the educational area some empirical ideas concerning possible integrations of digital online resources and their affordances in their daily practice routines.

Methodology
In order to explore and propose a collaborative perspective to the development of writing skills in the EFL lesson, this paper adopts a qualitative approach and it is inserted in the field of teacher research.Lankshear and Knobel (2004, p. 4) state that, more recently, teacher researchers have greatly favored qualitative approaches which focus on the idea that "teaching should be recognized and lived as a professional engagement".The authors explain that, instead of merely applying formulaic frames to their lessons, contemporary teachers, who engage in research, "draw on their expertise and specialist knowledge as educators to pursue educational goals that have been established democratically" (LANKSHEAR; KNOBEL, 2004, p. 4).
Thus, by reviewing a selection of theoretic discussions and taking the aforementioned researchers' explanation into consideration, this article is methodologically oriented by a qualitative view that accounts for teachers as experts, as well as researchers, who rely on their peer experiences and investigations in order to take better informed decisions for their own classroom plans/procedures.The theoretic review is then considered as both a means for analysis, able to support and orient the choice of the two digital platforms, as well as the grounds for integrating them in the written activities to be suggested.

Theoretic Grounds
As Gee and Hayes (2011, p.136) point out, the world we presently live in is absolutely complex, and it is right to say that "we live amidst many interacting complex systems (systems made of many interacting variables with unpredictable outcomes)".It seems that being able to communicate in a variety of modes and modalities is no longer only an individual feature, but as much as a goal to be achieved as a need.
Literacy has always been regarded as a school task, i.e., one that should be carried on in a formal educational environment.It has usually entailed print books, materials which have been specially made and selected by the teachers, the ones with the expertise.Therefore, reading and writing have been associated to passive and active individual abilities, respectively.Not anymore.
The digital era and the event of the World Wide Web (WWW), connecting people, places and ideas fast, simultaneously and immediately, has changed a lot of (social) configurations and the schooling systems could no long afford to be an outcast in such a cultural change.None of the day to day activities one performs has ever been the same.
Except for those who still live under extreme poor and underprivileged conditions (in underdeveloped countries and/or developing country areas, such as some of the ones that are far from central areas in Brazil), the online universe, the digital time-spaces supported by the internet, has caused an undeniable social revolution.
According to Gee and Hayes (2011, p. 54), every time that there has been a major change in a fundamental social life system, such as transportation or writing, there is a transition time, a period that "gave rise to major changes in human societies, cultures, and the global world".It happened when there was a historical transition from handwriting to printing, for instance.As these researchers affirm "[…] in the history of literacy, change regularly comes from the margins.Practices we see as aberrant and marginal, often represent the future.We will see that this is happening today in and around school" (GEE; HAYES, 2011, p. 55).Therefore, it is past time that formal educational practices make a general effort to keep up with the changes the digital era has brought to everyone's life.The world has been transitioning from an iconographic to an oral centered society, and then moving into wordily written centered cultures.Nowadays, due to the digital media and their resources, our lives have been pervaded by communications that resort to mixed up icons (such as emojis and emoticons).Different forms of reduced writing have spread around, resembling oral speech and bringing down formal writing rules and expectations.Maybe, this could be seen as a fourth cultural era, a hybrid one, in which people "write" messages, whilst referring to it as "speaking" to someone else.Such a scenario brings us to the core of this paper's discussion: teaching and learning writing skills in the digital era, when most texts are produced, shared and circulated via digital media and means, in a multimodal and multisemiotic fashion and in a collaborative way.
First of all, it is important to reassign the concept of writing from a similar updated point of view.Gee and Hayes (2011, p. 56) affirm that "writing is the production of meaning, not just 'consumption'".According to these researchers "thanks to digital media, we live in an age where, at least potentially, anyone can produce almost anything" (GEE; HAYES, 2011, p. 56-57).Still, as the same writers further clarify "any writing system is based on a set of conventions that must be mastered.In English, we use the alphabet […] and various conventions".As a consequence, literacy learning may not require "overt direct teaching", which is one of the different ways one might learn, but "it does require interventions beyond talking" (GEE; HAYES, 2011, p. 58).
Although teaching and learning the conventions that constitute the writing process is a central aspect of literacy, writing (as well as reading, speaking and listening) demands other capacities as it is essentially (part of) a social practice.It means that, when addressing writing and its processes, one must bear in mind that it demands more than just being able to figure out what are and how to use a "bunch" of the rules and sets of conventionalized choices.
Going beyond those aspects, one must consider that the written language is "part and parcel of a larger process of learning social languages", as pointed out by Gee and Hayes (2011, p. 61).
Accordingly, when discussing the speech genres, one of his central concepts, Bakhtin (1973) states the role of social interactions in one's relationship with the words.In order to negotiate and constitute meaning, one needs to relate with a text as an "extra-linguistic phenomena" that, as Bakhtin (1973, p. 151) explains, "[…] must not however be separated from the province of the word, i.e.; from language as concrete, integral phenomenon.
Language is alive only in the dialogical intercourse of those who make use of it".So, when teaching/learning writing skills, especially in a foreign language, it is important to assure students that it is a meaningful, situated and contextualized process, one in which the interlocutors might experience and experiment with socially practical issues.By doing so, teachers will be moving such act of language beyond the boundaries of sets of grammar rules, conventionalities and encrypted ordering only.It is required from the learners and the instructors to work with the concreteness and integrality of language as suggested by Bakhtin.
Therefore, focusing on contemporary writing, by regarding language as a social practice, requires bearing in mind that "to be [there is, exist] means to communicate.Absolute death (not being) is the state of being unheard, unrecognized, unremembered" (BAKHTIN, 1984, p. 287).As Vitanova (2013, p. 149) states, the previous quote shows us that Bakhtin was "preoccupied with the themes of selves authoring their signifying spaces and voices embedded in discourse".By promoting writing practices which are closer to the actual context learners face on daily basis, a teacher can make it more meaningful and signifying for those involved in the event.
Therefore, given that language is seen as a wholesome phenomenon, as proposed in the Bakhtinian discussions, and that current writing practices revolve around multimodal and multisemiotic environments, it should mean that contemporary writing is also part of multiliterate practices which are set in digital times and spaces.
It is not rare to hear common sense remarks or even academic propositions about the supposed effects of the digital media in the amount of actual reading and writing performed by teenagers nowadays.Certainly, if one takes into consideration the volume of paper-print books or other forms of verbal production young learners might get in contact with these days, raw numbers drawn from bookshops sales might be disappointingly low 2 .Regardless, those print texts are most probably not the number one written choice in terms of verbal interactions in the present times.There are several (other) forms of renewed, reenacted and reinvented genreswhich also count as literacy practicespopulating the digital spaces.
In several different waysand usually connecting participatory culture and shared community-type interestspeople of all ages (but apparently mostly younger ones) engage in digitally-situated writing practices that demand a lot more from them than only a set of linguistic rules.As many scholars have already proposed (e.g.: JENKINS, 2006; BLACK, 2005; GEE, 2004), the digital online universe offers plenty of opportunities for writing in a meaningful context, as it can be seen in fan communities dedicated to writing (about) games, films, books, bands.It is a whole world of opportunities for anyone to engage in multiple literate practices that allow them to actually find their own voices, whilst communicating.
In such digital environments, one of the most regular aspects of writing is collaboration.A great number of digital medium and their affordances make it common practice for anyone to appropriate and remix each other's texts (the concept of text, in this case, covers more than just verbal expressions, and so it must be taken from a broader point of view).One of the affordances typically found in the digital medium is the opportunity to comment and contribute in real time or as soon as the production is "published" in the digital environment.It calls for a refreshed look at the way authorship is perceived, thus moving us further from traditional (usually editorial) perspectives to the idea of authoring as a collaborative practice.As Santaella (2011Santaella ( [2007]], p. 78-80) remarks, the contemporary artistic production is both multiple as well as demands semiotic competences, resources, cooperation and adaptability.
All in all, although the digital era has enhanced the opportunities and means for writing practices within day-to-day communication, EFL lessons in educational set-ups still seem to underestimate the role of this ability in language learning processes.As Villas Boas (2017, p. 5) adverts, by helping young ones to improve their EFL writing skills, teachers might be also assisting them to profit from connecting to an array of digital practices.This may also help them to be better prepared to engage in a variety of (other) social (not necessarily digital) practices in their future personal and professional lives, which would always be a plus.
Having said that, this discussion moves on to present two digital online free resources, proposing sample ideas to articulate them in writing practices in educational spaces.

Google Docs and Powtoon: a proposal with online resources for collaborative writing
In the present discussion, the platforms Powtoon and Google Docs have been chosen as examples of digital resources to be toned in with contemporary writing processes in EFL.
The reason for selecting these two very specific items is that, actually, both have already been tackled by the author of this paper in her own EFL teaching practices.Therefore, those digital platforms will be briefly described, and some pragmatic (and simple) sample ideas will be offered based on this writer´s recent experience and some classroom activities she has designed.
Google docs is a free tool offered by Google when one signs up for an email account.

According to its website, it is a
Web-based application, in which documents and spreadsheets can be created, edited and stored online.Files can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection and a full-featured Web browser.Google Docs is a part of a comprehensive package of online applications offered by and associated with Google.
Google Docs has also been spotted in another study developed by Azzari and Custódio (2013, p. 73-92) who describe an experience with collaborative writing in a Brazilian High School class.According to the teacher-researchers, by resorting to online text production not only did the use of the digital platform allow students to maximize classroom time and opportunities to get together as members of a group, but it also contributed to let them feel comfortable enough to speak up their minds in ways they would not usually do in a regular classroom (AZZARI; CUSTÓDIO, 2013).Chatting online is already a common practice within those learners who proved to be at ease to voice their own ideas and opinions throughout the writing process.Moreover, writing online also meant they could easily share hyperlinks that drove them to other documents, songs, videos, etc.
The experience reported by Azzari and Custódio (2013) was developed as part of a syllabus-component writing task students had to accomplish for a Brazilian Portuguese high school Portuguese language lesson.However, it might easily be seen adopted for/by/in a variety of different EFL contexts (provided that there is access to the specified digital technology granted for both teachers and learners, in and out of school boundaries).A sample activity, devised and designed by the author of this current paper, is described in Table 1:

DIGITAL RESOURCE TEACHING CONTEXT
EFL lessons for learners taking Letters (Portuguese/English) graduation Courses.

LESSON(S) OBJECTIVE
(re)write a short story based on another one previously read by learners.

INSTRUCTIONS / PROCEDURES
1 Students get together in small groups.
2 Each group reads a short story chosen from a Website suggested by the teacher.https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/easy-english-short-stories-2/ 3 Class work: teacher presents students with Google Docs and explains its available tools 4 Group work: discussing the short story (main idea; specific information; new vocabulary learned; topics and issues tackled by the story.
A shared Doc opened in Google Docs for Reading Discussionused tools: online chat; interactive writing and editing; comments; responses, etc. 5 Group work: writing processbrainstorming; selecting and organizing ideas in topics; creating a draft; text editing; proof reading.
A shared Doc opened in Google Docs for Process Writing.Main tools: online chat; interactive writing and editing; comments; responses, etc. Table 1.A sample writing EFL activity integrating Google Docs.Source: developed by the author for this paper.
The lesson procedure described in Table 1 shows that resorting to Google Docs all throughout different steps in the writing process allows learners to share, construct and edit their document from afar.Students can add comments, converse amongst themselves in a real-time live chat and keep track of the changes proposed by each collaborative-writer.
Alternatively, it is possible to download the text for offline editing / usage.It is a user-friendly environment, with simple commands and icons that are quite similar to the ones presented by most of the computational text editors currently in use.
Furthermore, it is also a great space/opportunity for teachers to follow their learners' progress in writing, thus performing an ongoing (process centered) evaluation.It also enables the teacher to provide students with a (more) recursive feedback (one that allows learners to rethink their choices, double-check, compare and correct their own productions).This teaching procedure runs counter to a more "traditional" (production centered) one in which teachers only assess students' progress by correcting their final written "product".By sharing the online "doc" file, teachers and pupils might simultaneously perform corrections as well as join the discussions in the writers' chat.
On top of that, recurring back to Gee and Hayes (2011) ideas, it is a fact that "multimodality" is an important element in socially shared interactions these days.By moving learners to produce texts in a digitally resourceful (online) environment, teachers can encourage them to create multimodal texts.Students may share their learning when dealing with English as a target (verbal) language as well as produce multimodal texts combining words with images, gifs (animated images) and/or hyperlinks to other texts (such as video clips, audio clips and alike).Writing in EFL can then be seen as a more socially situated practice, closer to most (young) learners' own reality, as they face "writing" these days as more than only gathering words in a message.
Moreover, as Jenkins (2006) and Black (2005) propose, when set in digital environments, young people tend to create a lot of textsparticularly when they feel like they have time and space to express "affiliation" and "appreciation".This might also be perceived as a "responsive act" (BAKHTIN, 1984;SHIELDS;2007) to another text they had previously interacted with.That is why the activity proposed in Table 1 starts with learners choosing and reading a short story.That story is not only targeted as a means to develop language and reading skills, but also to provide students with a meaningful input so as to give them a chance to be "[..] preoccupied with the themes of selves authoring their signifying spaces and voices embedded in discourse", as Vitanova (2013), previously referred in this text, explains.
Another important aspect is mentioned by Gee and Hayes (2011) to whom meaningmaking is part of the writing processwhich can be noticed by the teacher when (s)he follows their students' discussions/contributions during the online document preparation.
Moreover, as it is informed by Bakhtin (1973;1984), communication is established in social practiceswhat hopefully occurs when reading and writing are part of a shared, collaborated process of acting with/upon/towards textsas the one proposed in Table 1.The active role of each student, from choosing and reading a text to brainstorming and writing a short story, depends on being able to interact, cooperate and negotiatereal-life roles assumed by us, as citizens, in ordinary, every-day social practices.
In order to apply to this updated concept of writing, it is also relevant to recall Santaella´s (2011Santaella´s ( [2007]]) words regarding the semiotic competences one needs to produce contemporary texts.Bearing it in mind, a follow-up step is then suggested as an expansion of/for the activities proposed in Table 1.
Additionally, instead of just handing in their final (short story) texts to the teacher, students could be invited to share it with the whole class with the help of a video presentation.
This could be therefore done by using Powtoon.
Image 1: Print screen of the make-out of a sample activity in Powtoon According to its developers 3 , Powtoon is a software that enables users to elaborate presentations and/or videos.It offers a set of tools that are very similar to the ones found in programs used to create multimedia presentations (slides), adding an idea of integrating "cartoons".It also entails video-making computer language which allows users to design cartoon-like presentations and/or videos without requiring any previous experience with such platforms.Powtoon also permits the addition of personalized audio and images as well as offers a variety of pre-disposable pictures and sounds.Some resources might be assigned as exclusive for those who sign up for a paid version, though it is possible to create a lot of 3 "Powtoon" website available from: http://www.powtoon.com/about.Access on Oct 26th, 2017.
multimodal texts in a funny, colorful and contemporary way.It may also be used for more professional presentations; may it be the case.
All the texts created in the platform (which is online and offers a range of limited resources for free) might mix up verbal texts, moving images and other resources that can either be saved as a slide presentation or finally published as a video-clip.The latter demands from the user having an account channel on YouTube (Powtoon automatically uploads the final video produced to the user's channel when the link is given by the user).
Recalling the proposal presented in Table 1, as learners finish editing and proofreading the final version of their short story in the online "Doc", they might use Powtoon to: a) create a video that serves as background scenery/set for presenting their story (orally) to their classmates.In this case, the video might illustrate the actions, characters, events and other plot elements; or b) to create a video that presents their short story in a multimodal version, by adding recorded / written verbal texts, gifs, images, cartoon characters, background music and so on.
As a matter of fact, it makes for a very resourceful classroom presentation, while enabling learners to deal with a variety of literacy skills and capacities which have proved to be very important and required for acting out in a digitally operated world, as previously stated.
Teachers may also choose to create an online Powtoon classroom for up to 60 students/participantsin which everyone could publish and share their videos.However, this is not a free resource, thus a monthly fee is required.

Conclusion
The affordances offered by the digital medium presented in this short proposal/discussion (Google Docs and Powtoon) make it possible for both learners and teachers to deal with present-day texts in (rather) interactive ways, expanding the idea of writing to an updated social practice, as discussed by the theory reviewed.It also allows cooperation in a sense, while promoting creative uses of the target language (English) combined with other forms of conveying meaning.These are text constructions which are easier to be devised in the digital space.The digital resources adapted to the sample writing lesson proposed here also make it possible for learners to expand the concept of "text" to hypertexts, integrating other forms of contemporary texts to their own production.This also facilitates sharing their creations with others, as suitable.
A set of assorted claims, derived from political choices and the different degrees of relevance given to certain language skills (that should or should not be developed in formal education) seem to have sustained the idea that it is not actually viable, useful or interesting to dedicate oneself to writing texts in EFL Brazilian educational contexts.The discussion presented in this paper tried to claim it differently by presenting a theoretic approach to language that understands it as a complex and social phenomenon that must be perceived beyond its structural rules and conventions only.
However, to adopt writing as a skill to be worked within EFL lessons in the current days also demands from teachers to being open to accept that it is a process/act associated with new ways of conveying meaning and signifying a world that is immersed in the digital age.
Consequently, by adopting the use of two simple, free, online media resources, EFL teachers and learners may hopefully pave the way to be inserted in the digital era, while facing language as a social practice that is actually performed in different social discursive spheres.It also gives EFL learners an opportunity to produce different genres, meanwhile offering them a chance to communicate and signify themselves within a range of up-to-date semiotic resources.
Lastly, addressing the writing as a relevant communication skill seems to make more sense when it is approached from a social and historical point of view, under the perception that texts are, in fact, more than verbal expressions only.Foreseeing the importance of tackling literacy practices as a multiple task demands from both students and educators a myriad of abilities to deal with multiple semiosis, ways of accessing, producing and sharing their own textual productions.
This study remains as a sort of provocation, as an open door, hoping it sounds inviting enough for others to come through, dialogue with it and contribute to it in further discussion papers.