What is it about?
The present experimental study was set to investigate the effectiveness of mobile technology (WhatsApp) in improving the critique writing skills of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners and increasing their motivation for learning. The same Sophomore Rhetoric course was given to the control and experimental groups. The first hypothesis guiding the present study is that there is a statistically significant difference between the control group and the experimental group at the 0.05 alpha level regarding the critique writing test scores of students. The second hypothesis is that there is a statistically significant difference between the control group and the experimental group at the 0.05 alpha level regarding the attitudes of students towards learning. The participants (n =52) are enrolled in Sophomore Rhetoric classes at two English-medium universities. The study employed the factorial mixed methods pretest- posttest control group experimental design. The experimental conditions included the integration of the WhatsApp application into the experimental group class whereas participants in the control group were given the regular Sophomore Rhetoric instruction with no WhatsApp mediation. Qualitative data using 2 questionnaires and quantitative data using pretests and posttests were collected. The findings of the study underscored the effectiveness of the treatment. The integration of WhatsApp into classroom practices helped teachers improve students’ critique writing skills.
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Why is it important?
The No Child Left Behind Act stipulates that the use of technology in the classroom is a necessity. The plethora of related research underscored the significance of the use of computer-assisted tools and the effects of computer technology as an information communication technology (ICT) tool to support and improve the reading comprehension of learners with a reading comprehension difficulties in comparison with the equivalent non-technological or traditional print-based tools (Ghamrawi & Shal, 2012). Nowadays, educational mobile technology is commonly used in online teaching in universities (Jimoyiannis, Tsiotakis, Roussinos, & Siorenta, 2013). The mobile tool increases students’ opportunities to learn in the setting of online instruction. Online courses that include mobile technologies have become trendy in universities, and the number of web-based mobile courses has tremendously increased (Inan, Flores, & Grant, 2010).
Perspectives
The Learning Communities and Activity theories form the theoretical framework of the study since the WhatsApp learning promotes the online teaching and learning, a community is a group of learners who cooperate and collaborate to participate in course activities. The main goal of the WhatsApp community is to develop the construction and dissemination of knowledge between groups through collaborative learning activities (Bielaczyc & Collins, 1999). Individuals who are involved in a working group believe that their inquiries can be answered through working supportively and collaboratively as a community (Rovai, 2002). Activity theory is a framework used to construct and analyze interactions between the learners of a group and to find out the factors impacting their involvement in online discussion. Activity theory assisted the researchers to identify factors that impact students’ involvement in online discussion. The activity theory is utilized to investigate human-computer interactions and to form a conceptual framework in the field of computer and mobile technologies for labeling and examining the structure, progress and context of learning activities facilitated by computers, mobile technologies, and so on. Activity theory is also utilized to describe and analyze the factors that impact users’ participation in online discussions facilitated by computers devices.
Dr. Ghada M. Awada
American University of Beirut
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This page is a summary of: THE EFFECT OF MLEARNING AND WHATSAPP APPLICATION ON IMPROVING LEARNERS’ CRITIQUE WRITING SKILLS AND PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS LEARNING, November 2016, IATED Academy, S.L.,
DOI: 10.21125/iceri.2016.0246.
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