Abstract

Collaborative writing is widely recognised as an effective approach to EFL instruction, yet its pedagogical value depends largely on how collaboration is organised. This qualitative case study investigated how rotating roles structured collaborative writing among 126 eleventh grade students at a senior high school in southwest China. Data were collected over a 15-week instructional intervention through classroom observations, student reflections, and paired draft–revision texts. Inductive thematic analysis identified three interconnected developmental patterns: role-guided participation, collaborative meaning negotiation, and integrated collaborative composing. Together, these patterns indicate that rotating responsibilities broadened learners’ participation beyond assigned roles, promoted more equitable contributions, and supported collaboration across multiple composing stages. Rather than functioning simply as a role-assignment strategy, role rotation organised learners’ participation in the recursive writing cycle and encouraged increasing integration of planning, drafting, feedback, and revision. These findings suggest that rotating roles provide an effective instructional scaffold for supporting collaborative writing in secondary EFL classrooms.

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