The Effects of Collaborative Writing through Facebook on Pupils’ ESL Writing Apprehension

Audrey Shalini Ananthan, Dr. Nur Ehsan Mohd Said

The purpose of this study was to determine how using Facebook in collaborative writing effects ESL students’ apprehension towards writing. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with one class of 46 year four ESL students from an urban primary school who were chosen through purposive sampling. The students were later divided into two groups: controlandexperiment.Withina9-hourengagementsessionvia Facebook, the student were exposed to virtual collaborative writing exercises with their fellowclassmates.To gauge the level of apprehension among these students, a pre and post-test was conducted.The data were analyzed using inferential statistics as well as an analysis of the open-ended questions and interviews. The quantitative results showed that there were significant effects of using Facebook in collaborative writing on ESL students’ writing apprehension level, (M=6.27, SD= 11.80),t

(21) = 2.49, p<0.05. However, the qualitative analysis on the interviews and open-ended responses of the questionnaires revealed both positive and negative feedback. It was also found thatthestudentshadbecomemoreawareofthebenefitsinusing Facebook in collaborative writing and of the features of Facebook which had assisted them in their writingactivities.

https://doi.org/10.31871/IJNTR.5.5.5