Metalinguistic reference in the collaborative writing process

Abstract

The collaborative writing process activates metalinguistic reference during the interaction that participants engage in to generate and make decisions about the linguistic-textual units that will form the text. The purpose study presented in this article is to analyse metalinguistic referencing in the collaborative writing process of primary school students. It takes as its theoretical framework the complexity of the writing process, considering the different linguistic-textual levels and components involved, and the particular characteristics of the process when a text is produced collaboratively. Methodologically, the interaction of students from different school years during the process was recorded. The analysis focused on the presence of manifestations of metalinguistic reference, the mechanisms that it activates, the linguistic-textual levels or domains involved, and the metalinguistic terms used. In addition to the overall scores, the results for the different years of schooling, second, fourth, sixth and eighth, were considered in order to see trends in progression. The results show the presence of a metalinguistic reference in the process analysed, with an extensive use of metalinguistic terms. The reference covers the different linguistic-textual levels and domains, with an emphasis on punctuation. Metalinguistic terms are used from a functional point of view to serve operations and decisions and to guarantee the homogeneity of the text among the participants. The comparison between the different years shows a significant decrease in the weight of spelling from the second to the fourth year and the increasing importance of the level associated with the domains of genre, text and discourse. The study also shows the relevance of the format of the collaborative writing task used for the results obtained in the different domains and for the activation of knowledge related to grammar learning.