Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol. 1(2) July 2015 ISSN 2252-7427 123 EXPLORING THE USE OF JIGSAW WRITING AMONG ESL WRITERS: A CLASSROOM RESEARCH Noor Hanim Rahmat University Technology Mara, Pasir Gudang Campus, Johor Bahru, Malaysia E-mail: patanim@gmail.com APA Citation: Rahmat, N. H. (2015). Exploring the use of jigsaw writing among ESL writers: A classroom research. Indonesian EFL Journal, 1(2), 123-134 Received: 02-12-2014 Accepted: 01-05-2015 Published: 01-07-2015 Abstract: The use of jigsaw classroom has been used by Aronson ȋʹͲͳͷȌ since the ͳͻ͹Ͳ’s. )t is a research based cooperative learning technique and has been successfully used in classrooms all over the world. Out of the jigsaw classroom, comes jigsaw writing and its serves the same function as cooperative learning in the classroom. The benefits of cooperative learning goes beyond learning the contents of the lessons, students gain a new way of learning in groups. Teachers teaching writing in the ESL classrooms will agree that teaching the writing process is not an easy task. ESL learners struggling with the learning of the language are faced with added difficulty of having to write essays in the ESL classroom. According to Elola (2010), collaborative writing can bring many benefits to learners in the ESL classroom. This study is based on the theories of Scaffolding and Cooperative learning. It introduces yet another interesting teaching method to make ESL writing a fun and interactive classroom activity. Qualitative and quantitative data analyzed revealed interesting implications for future teaching ESL writing. INTRODUCTION Tracing the Development of Teaching Writing Figure 1. Development of teaching writing (Rahmat, 2008) Figure 1 above shows the summary of development of teaching writing over the years. Initially in the in the ͳͻ͸Ͳ’s, writers were encouraged to be creative in their writing. The focus of teaching writing during that time was the finished product of the writing. The next stage was the cognitive orientation stage ȋͳͻ͹Ͳ’sȌ. During that time, researchers began looking at what writers actually did when they wrote. The third stage was called the social Orientation Stage ͳͻͺͲ’s where writers began to consider the social context of their writing. Here the focus was writing for a purpose. After ͳͻͻͲ’s and ʹͲͲͲ’s, researchers (and writing teachers) took a turn in their focus. From social context, the focus in writing class changed to the audience-the reader expectation. Following that, ESL writing classroom began to focus on corrective feedback-self feedback, peer feedback and also teacher feedback. Lately, many studies have been done to improve the teaching of writing in the ESL classroom. According to the theory of principled eclecticism Larsen-Freeman (2000), teachers should consider the different trends and ideas that have occurred historically and then choose what fits the needs of their classroom setting. Over the years the focus of the writing classroom has undergone a variety of changes. As a whole, the writing classroom The Written Text The Writer The Writer and the Society The Writing Teacher Writing Acitivites