Students’ Perceptions Toward The Effectiveness of Collaborative Brainstorming in Academic Writing Classes

Abstract

Dr. Jonathan Newton from University of Wellington, New Zealand in the faculty’s conference on November 15, 2018 stated about the 21st century skills. The skills that were mentioned by Mr Newton included collaboration and teamwork, creativity and imagination, critical thinking, and problem solving. In writing classes collaborative brainstorming is one of many activities that can be conducted by teachers to help students develop their 21st century skills. It is because collaborative brainstorming makes students think critically, creative, work better in a group, and solve problems collaboratively. This study investigated students’ perception on the use of collaborative brainstorming in Academic Writing classes and its effectiveness for students of Faculty of Language and Arts (FLA)-UKSW in writing. The participants of this study were 33 English Language Education (ELE) students who were taking Academic Writing class. The data was analyzed qualitatively, supported by open ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The results of the data analysis exposed to prove that collaborative brainstorming helps students in Academic Writing projects. Finally, this study indicates the importance of classroom interaction during classroom learning activities. This study also suggests a strategy to overcome students minor participation during group discussions.