سید رضا دشتستانی

Online collaborative writing (OCW) is an essential pedagogical method in higher education, promoting learner interaction and shared responsibilities in academic writing tasks. While previous research has explored learners’ perceptions of OCW across various academic writing genres, there is a lack of investigation into how OCW impacts higher education students’ perceptions of their research article abstract writing performance. Utilizing an OCW perception questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, this study aimed to gauge the perceptions of 20 Iranian PhD TEFL candidates regarding an online collaborative academic writing course focused on writing research article abstracts. Quantitative and descriptive analysis of the questionnaire data and qualitative thematic analysis of the interview questions revealed that participants held positive views of technology-mediated writing instruction. However, they noted challenges faced, such as connectivity issues, software glitches, or time management. Besides, they offered recommendations, including exerting more rigid rules and defining more online assignments for the betterment of such online courses. The findings underscore the necessity of integrating technology-based writing instruction into teacher training programs to equip educators with essential skills for effective implementation. Besides, given the participants’ favorable looks towards interactive platforms like Google Docs, conducting joint research article writing programs can enhance the collaborative writing experience, ultimately leading to better academic outcomes for doctoral candidates.