Collaborative Writing Activities Through Pedagogical Translanguaging Practices To Evidence EFL Learners’ Advancement In Higher Education

Abstract

This action research employed an exploratory qualitative approach to address pedagogical translanguaging practices in free English courses at the University of Pamplona, located in Pamplona, Norte de Santander. Through participant observations, rubrics, and journals, this project achieved three goals: firstly, to explore the implementation of collaborative writing activities informed by translanguaging pedagogy in an EFL group of higher education learners, secondly, to document EFL learners' language learning progress through collaborative writing tasks and reflective journaling, and thirdly to evaluate learners' writing skills development and language appropriation based on the pedagogical translanguaging practices and their reflections. The following study highlight the importance of collaborative writing activities in fostering EFL learners’ motivation and participation in teamwork. It also evidenced improvements in learners' linguistic repertoire and intercultural understanding, alongside by enhancing the respect for diverse cultural backgrounds and viewpoints. Nevertheless, this research faced notable limitations, particularly the constrained timeframe executed by the outdated academic calendar at the University of Pamplona, which reduced the number of workshops. Therefore, this constraint in contrast with participants’ delays in returning their journals, restricted the scope of data collection and analysis. Despite these challenges, the findings underline the potential of pedagogical translanguaging practices as a valuable tool for enhancing EFL learners' sense of identity and confidence when using English, while making the learning process more meaningful and collaborative.