Before starting this program, I wasn't too familiar with what wikis are, and what their many uses are. I can now see how beneficial they can be for group work, and how great of a tool they are for collaboration. The article mentions that they came about in the 90's by scientists and engineers who created them as knowledge bases. This seems to be the case with many online platforms, such as facebook.
The article mentions a few downsides of wikis, and one of them in particular has the potential to be troublesome for ESL students. If you are teaching a class that does not have much technological experience, the initial setups and modifications that wikis require may be difficult to deal with. This can be a time-consuming task for both students and teachers, and the benefit of the wiki must be worth the time spent setting it up.
What about the idea of creating a "class wiki," where the entire class collaborates on one page, in specifically assigned tasks. While the project has the potential to be chaotic, it may be easier for the teacher to monitor one giant wiki, as opposed to a bunch of smaller wikis. I'm still not behind wikis 100%, but I think they do have potential in ESL classrooms.