Using Google Docs for Collaborative Writing Feedback With International Students - Effective Methods and Pandemic Remote Pedagogy

Oct 15, 2026

Using Google Docs for collaborative writing feedback addresses persistent challenges in English instruction, particularly in peer feedback and online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The work proposes a critical perspective on scaffolding collaborative writing feedback remotely with Google Docs, including synchronous and asynchronous applications. It details how instructors used shared documents to track feedback and corrections, design interactive writing activities, and support peer editing. It also explains why technology-enabled collaboration improves timely revision, accountability, and student-centered learning for international ESL learners.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Collaborative writing feedback challenges

Peer feedback and online instruction barriers

Google Docs as a platform for collaboration

Synchronous and asynchronous use

Scaffolding remote feedback

Tracking corrections and feedback

Interactive writing exercises

Pedagogical rationale for collaboration

Learning through collaboration and motivation

Why use Google Docs for collaborative learning

Accountability, immediacy, and real-time review

Using Google Docs for Collaborative Writing Feedback With International Students Giving effective writing feedback can be a challenge for any English instructor. Teaching students how to provide peer feedback can be problematic as well. Both these challenges may seem even more apparent when teaching online during a pandemic. Using Google Docs for collaborative writing feedback is one effective method for addressing both these concerns in a university-based Intensive English Program (IEP). This critical perspective examines how to scaffold collaborative writing feedback remotely using free and widely available platform Google Docs and looks at future use, post-pandemic. In particular, it will share how the authors used Google Docs to track feedback and corrections from instructors to students, set up interactive writing exercises in synchronous courses, and engage in peer-to-peer editing during a pandemic. Keywords: collaborative writing, Google Docs, remote learning, pandemic pedagogy, academic writing feedback, international students, ESL Everyone, to some extent, has been upended by the pandemic. This upheaval felt particularly violent to us, the authors, as English instructors at an Intensive English Program (IEP) on a major university campus. Before COVID-19, online classes or hybrid classes were commonplace but often not considered the ideal modality for learning and teaching in a university-based IEP. However, for many, instruction changed to online or virtual overnight at the start of the pandemic. Suddenly, English language instructors had to reevaluate traditional lessons, learn new technology, and generally transform their language pedagogy. Teaching online is a significant paradigm shift and involves different skills, including changing pedagogy and interactions (Palloff & Pratt, 2007) . For most, the experience was challenging. However, as Kessler et al. stress, "the co-evolution of technology, pedagogy, and the nexus of the two create opportunities for wholly new writing environments and experiences" (2012, p. 106) . Simply put, for many of us, the challenge of teaching remotely in the pandemic led to improved modalities of teaching writing. For these two instructors, this meant harnessing the power of the free and widely available platform Google Docs for implementing collaborative writing and giving feedback. Since the 1990s, Google has impacted the world in some form or another. It has even become a verb. However, instructors may not be fully aware of how Google Docs can help students give and receive collaborative writing feedback in a synchronous or asynchronous course. Google Docs transforms the virtual learning experience for both the students and instructors. For collaborative writing feedback, instructors and students work together simultaneously to correct errors and transform writing. Teachers and students can engage in collaborative writing feedback in real time in a classroom, but with many classes online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers must merge technology and pedagogy. Teachers need readily accessible tools, and learners need instruction on how to use technology and collaborate virtually. Almost three decades ago, Lam & Pennington predicted that collaborative writing could benefit from future technologies because they could allow more timely feedback and revision and a faster response time, potentially increasing motivation and creativity (1995) . Luckily, that future is here now in the form of Google Docs, where instructors can easily facilitate peer collaboration and feedback in writing classes. Google Docs brings the in-person experience to a virtual environment through collaboration. As Vygotsky (1978) famously espoused, learning comes from collaboration. Working together to grow and change is the very foundation of a student-centered classroom. For students learning a second language, collaboration in pairs, in small groups, or even across the whole class becomes eve

FAQs

What problem does the document address for English instructors during remote teaching?

It addresses the difficulty of providing effective writing feedback and teaching students how to conduct peer feedback, which becomes more apparent when classes move online during the pandemic.

How can Google Docs support collaborative writing feedback in online courses?

Google Docs enables learners and instructors to correct errors and transform writing together, supporting real-time classroom-like peer collaboration even in virtual environments.

What specific uses of Google Docs are described for remote writing instruction?

The document describes tracking feedback and corrections from instructors to students, setting up interactive writing exercises in synchronous courses, and engaging in peer-to-peer editing during a pandemic.

Oct 15, 2026

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