Online forum to develop efl writing

Abstract

Higher institutions had to effectively incorporate information and communication technologies in the classroom due to the pandemic. In this context, online forums became a communication channel, where debate could be encouraged and, in turn, its impact on the development of adequate written expression was analyzed. To accomplish this, the researcher determined the extent to which the students' writing improved after the intervention. She identified whether the difference between the means was statistically significant. She also determined what specific aspect of English writing improved after the intervention. The research group consisted of 51 students enrolled in the seventh semester at a public university in Guayaquil. The intervention process only lasted 14 sessions, which were spread over 14 Saturdays. This was a quantitative study with pre and post measurement. Its approach was applied, descriptive and with a quasi-experimental design. Data collection came from an adapted and validated rubric that assessed writing in the forums from the perspectives of format and organization, content and structure, grammar, language and vocabulary, fluency, and spelling. Quantitative analysis of the data served to generate descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that the difference between the means of the pretest (M=6.74, SD=1.32) and posttest (M=8.60, SD=1.01) was MD=-1.85, SD=1.29. The increase at the end of the intervention was 18.6%. The difference between the means was statistically significant because the two-tailed p-value was less than <0.0001. Aspects of writing that improved after the intervention were related to "content and structure" (M=1.69; SD=0.22) and format and organization (M=1.60; xii SD=0.21). Since the difference between the means (MD = -1.85, SD = 1.29) was statistically significant, the null hypothesis was rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. This decision was made under the significance level α = 0.05, effect size, d = 1.582621. It was concluded that the forums had a positive impact on the development of writing. These results could have implications for the use of active learning strategies and the development of English skills. It is recommended to carry out more research that addresses the use of forums to improve spelling, an important aspect in personal training and professional work.