Promoting University Students ’ Collaborative Learning through Instructor-guided Writing Groups

This paper aims to examine how to promote collaborative learning among university students via instructor-guided writing groups. The research took place in Rwanda and was undertaken as a case study involving 34 second year undergraduate students, divided into 12 small working groups and one instructor. The data were collected by means of open-ended group interviews carried out after each of the 12 groups had finished writing an essay in English. In their responses, students acknowledged having improved their interpersonal and collaborative skills through writing groups. Students also indicated that, while discussing and interacting with their group members and with the support from their instructor, they improved their English, gained new ideas and perspectives, and learned better about text coherence. However, a small section of students did not appreciate working in groups while writing due to occasional internal disagreements and incompatibility between group members. Some strategies are proposed o