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Abstract
The present study investigated the difference in the extent of use of first language (L1) in the brainstorming stage between second language (L2) collaborative and individual writing. It also explored the relationship between the extent of use of L1 and L2 writing quality in terms of fluency, accuracy, syntactic complexity, and overall quality in both collaborative and individual writing modes. The study adopted a mixed non-experimental design and the sample consisted of 120 Egyptian English as Foreign language (EFL) freshman students at the same proficiency level from the Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University. Qualitative data were collected from digitally recorded collaborative pre-writing discussions; individuals{u2019} think aloud protocols in the brainstorming stage of writing as well as collaboratively and individually written paragraphs. The qualitative data were analyzed quantitatively. The quantitative analysis showed that there was no significant difference between collaborative and individual groups regarding the extent of use of L1 in the brainstorming stage. Moreover, in both collaborative and individual writing, students used either L1 only or L2 only in the brainstorming stage of L2 writing or a mixture of L1 and L2. The number of those who used L1 only was approximately equal to those who used L2 only in the brainstorming stage and higher than those who used a mixture of L1 and L2. The findings also indicated that use of L1 had no effect on L2 writing fluency, syntactic complexity, and overall quality in both collaborative and individual writing modes. However, the use of L1 was found to have a negative effect on L2 writing accuracy which was significant for individual writing compared to the collaborative mode