Abstract This study examines the impact of collaborative tasks on learner engagement in a fully online English as a Foreign Language (EFL) course at B2 level. While collaborative learning has been widely recognised as beneficial for language development, learners in online contexts often express reluctance to groupwork due to preferences for autonomous study and challenges such as scheduling and uneven participation. Drawing on data from courses enrolling over 8,000 students across three semesters at a Spanish online university, the study explores learners’ perceptions of collaboration (RQ1). To address RQ2, the analysis zooms into one semester, examining the effect of collaboration on motivation, emotional connection, perceived learning gains, and course outcomes. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining descriptive statistics from end-of-course surveys with inferential analyses (ANOVA, t -tests, regression) of longitudinal survey data and final marks. Results reveal ambivalence towards groupwork: although many students expressed a preference for working alone, collaborative tasks were associated with increased feelings of closeness to classmates and groupmates, higher perceptions of language improvement, and a positive correlation between participation in groupwork and overall course performance. Motivation fluctuated during the course but rose significantly by the end. The findings highlight both the potential and challenges of integrating collaborative activities in online EFL settings and offer implications for task design, teacher support, and future research.
Robbins et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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