efl learners’ attitudes toward a collaborative webquest activity

Computer-supported collaborative learning (cscl) has been researched by a growing body of studies and conceptualized as an impetus for language development. one of the major challenges of online collaborative learning activities has been finding ways to ensure successful collaboration among learners. as online collaboration poses emotional, motivational, cognitive, and metacognitive challenges to language learners, understanding learners’ behaviors and beliefs toward collaborative learning becomes increasingly important. in fact, language learners’ attitudes and perceptions toward webquest-based collaborative learning and the underlying reasons for those perceptions need further investigation. the current study explored efl learners’ attitudes toward a webquest collaborative task during the covid-19 pandemic. to this end, fifty-five junior high school students worked in twelve groups for five weeks. qualitative data were gathered from efl learners’ weekly reflective diaries. the thematic analysis of the data showed that students’ attitude is dynamic and subject to change ranging from negative in the first session to highly positive in the last session. the analysis revealed that almost all learners held favorable attitudes toward cscl. furthermore, the data showed that the target activity provided peer learning opportunities, improved group work skills, increased interest, and motivation, and resulted in language learning gains throughout the sessions. conversely, students’ negative attitudes originated from their previous experience in collaborative learning tasks. also, imbalanced collaboration among participants led to negative emotions and perceptions in some learners. the findings emphasize the impact of contextual factors on learners’ behavioral patterns and perceptions in online collaborations. implications of the study will target language teachers and learners, as far as collaborative tasks are concerned.