E-mail and word processing in the ESL classroom: How the medium affects the message (original) (raw)
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Language Learning Technology, 2001
Computer-based media place new demands on language which can promote variations in language use (cf. Halliday, 1990). Electronic mail has assumed functions and formal features associated with spoken language as well as formal writing (Davis & Brewer, 1997; Maynor, 1994; Murray, 1996). This has implications for language instructors: If electronic mail does engender features of both written and spoken language, it is questionable that electronic mail writing will improve academic writing abilities. The present study attempts to provide insights into this issue. Non-native students in an intermediate pre-academic ESL course responded to writing prompts using electronic mail and word processing. Their writing was examined for (1) differences in use of cohesive features (Halliday, 1967; Halliday & Hasan, 1976), (2) length of text produced in each medium, and (3) differences in text-initial contextualization. Results indicate no obvious differences between students' electronic mail and word-processed writing. However, the electronic mail texts were significantly shorter than the word-processed texts, and text-initial contextualization was more prominent in the word-processed than in the electronic mail texts. The findings raise the question of whether electronic mail benefits students in terms of academic writing development.
A Study of the Role of Using E-mail in Improving High School Students’ EFL Writing Skill
International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 2012
The present study investigates the effect of e-mail on Iranian learners of English and focuses on teaching the writing skill via e-mail. More specifically, the study investigates (a) whether using email has any statistically significant effect on improving high school students' writing skill, and (b) whether the proficiency level has any relation with students' writing improvement through using e-mail.To this end, 150 high school Iranian students were selected randomly and divided into 3 proficiency levels, namely high, mid, and low, based on their performances on an Oxford Placement Test (OPT). The participants at every proficiency level were divided into 3 subgroups to receive 3 methods of instruction, namely traditional face-to-face, through using e-mail, and through both the traditional method and using e-mail. After 3 months of instruction, a posttest was administered and the results were submitted to ANOVA. The results obtained revealed that using e-mail had a statistically significant effect on improving students' writing skills. The Scheffe post hoc results showed that the group with the e-mail treatment performed almost the same as the other 2 groups at the high proficiency level; in other words, the group at the high level did not benefit much from using e-mail; however, thelow and intermediate proficiency level participants did benefit from it. The findings are finally discussed with regard to how email can be exploited as an educational aid by teachers and learners.
The Role of E-mail Activities in EFL Writing Classes
2012
Technological advances have greatly affected teaching and learning at different levels and consequently CALL is a research area that has received great interest recently. The present study aims at providing an overview of the role of e-mail activities in EFL writing classes. An assumption that is sometimes made by composition instructors is that the incorporation of e-mail writing exercises in curricula will necessarily have beneficial effects on students' academic composition abilities. However, if e-mail creates features of both written and spoken language, it is questionable that the e-mail writing will necessarily improve their academic writing abilities. In order to address this question, this study investigates whether student-produced writing in email and traditional pen-and-paper mood is similar or different with respect to factors like the length of text produced in each medium, and the type of structures used. Forty students majoring in English as foreign language in a...
E-MAIL: A TOOL FOR TEACHING WRITING
2003
Mel elektronik (e-mel) kini menjadi sejenis sistem komunikasi yang pantas dan efisien. Para pendidik sedar akan kepentingan e-mel sebagai suatu alat pengajaran bahasa yang berpotensi. Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk menunjukkan inovasi dalam pengajaran penulisan dalam Bahasa Inggeris melalui e-mel. Di samping itu, kajian ini bertujuan mempertingkatkan interaksi di antara guru dan pelajar serta menarik minat pelajar untuk menulis dalam bahasa kedua tanpa was-was. Kajian ini telah dilaksanakan selama lima minggu dengan melibatkan 89 mesej e-mel. Dengan keizinan pelajar, e-mel telah dimuat turun dan mesejnya diana lisa. Dapatan utama dalam kajian ini menunjukkan e-mel telah mengurangkan jarak interaksi di antara guru dan pelajar serta meningkatkan kekerapan menulis di antara pelajar. Beberapa cadangan diberi untuk menggalakkan penggunaan emel dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Inggeris.
Communicative Devices Used by EFL Students in E-Mail Writing
1996
A study investigated the communication strategies used by students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in electronic mail interactions with native speakers of English. Subjects were 22 university students in Taiwan paired with a like number of pre-service EFL teacher trainees in the United States. The discourse of 87 e-mail entries by the Taiwanese students was analyzed over a period of a year, focusing on communicative strategies (avoidance/reduction, achievement/compensatory, time-gaining/stalling devices) and interactive speech acts (questions and answers, statements and imperatives, discourse management). The mean entry length was 13 sentences. It was found that the EFL students used most of the communication strategies commonly found in oral communication, including approximation, literal translation, foreignizing, asking for help, using all-purpose words, using fillers, circumlocution, word coinage, and nonlinguistic means. The students showed active participation in the co...
The Impact of Using Email on Improving the Writing Skills Among Iranian Students
Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 2014
The need for the application of technology in education has been increased. One of the new approaches in technology is using email for learning a second or a foreign language. The present study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using email in improving writing skills among Iranian EFL students. The participants of the study were 42 preintermediate Iranian EFL students in an English language institute in Shiraz, Iran. The participants were randomly assigned into an experimental and a control group. Each group consisted of 21 participants. The treatment continued for three weeks and 3 sessions a week. The students in the experimental group used email for sending their assignments. These students were in contact with their teacher via email and asked writing questions. In contrast, the students in the control group taught writing without using the computer in traditional way. To be sure of homogeneity of the participants, a pre-test was administered before the treatment. After three weeks treatment, a post-test was administered to check the students' improvement in writing. The findings revealed that the students in in the experimental group performed significantly better than the students in the control group.
Utilising Email for Online Corrective Feedback in Academic Writing among ESL Undergraduates
3rd International Conference on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, 2013
It cannot be disputed that the internet has been a boon in the teaching and learning environment. As such, the focus of this study investigated the efficiency of using online corrective feedback (via e-mail) for academic writing classrooms compared to conventional corrective feedback methods. In order to examine if this innovative form of corrective feedback can be introduced into the ESL classroom, an experimental design was selected to compare a control and an experimental group of undergraduates pursuing the English for Academic Purposes course. A survey was carried out to determine how feasible the use of online corrective feedback is when utilised to aid students improve from the first draft to second draft of their writing. Analysis of data using statistical SPSS tools indicated that online corrective feedback saved time and improved participants' writing skills. The results of the study should help in determining the practicality of this form of online corrective feedback to be integrated into the academic writing classroom.
The Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Teaching ESL Writing Skills
Despite the existence of many studies showing positive effects of using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning process in general, the use of ICT in teaching writing skills in English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms is still not very encouraging. This study attempts to seek findings on the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing skills in Malaysian secondary schools. This paper just reports one part of the findings obtained from a big project which was conducted in Malaysian secondary schools in five areas of Malaysia. This study focuses solely on the data collected from four English teachers in a secondary school in Kuala Lumpur who were interviewed by the researcher. This study revealed that the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing was very low. Advantages of using ICT were reported to be attracting students' attention, facilitating students' learning process, helping to improve students' vocabulary and promoting meaningful learning. Disadvantages found included the difficult class control, distraction and the students' tendency to use short forms in their writing. It was also revealed that teachers are generally weak in managing problems and planning activities involving the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing. The results of this study are hoped to provide insights to the Ministry of Education in Malaysia to improve the low use of ICT in teaching ESL writing skills.
A Blended Learning Approach to Teaching Writing: Using E-mail in the ESL Classroom
Approaches that blend brick-and-mortar modes with face-to-face methods in language teaching are recently reshaping the educational landscape across various contexts. Anchored on the tenets of TPACK Framework (Koehler & Mishra, 2009) and Blended Learning Framework (Horn & Staker, 2014), this study explored the viability of using e-mail in facilitating topical discussions via e-mail exchanges among six ESL writing classes of 198 students in a private university in Manila, the Philippines during the first semester of the academic year 2014-2015. Students were first required to have their individual e-mail accounts; then, they were assigned with e-mail exchange partners whom they communicated with on a weekly basis for a total of five weeks. E-mail thread discussion topics ranged from personal to societal issues covering local, national and global concerns. Data from student reflections, interviews, survey and focus group discussions revealed that despite some motivational and technology-related limitations, using e-mail in the classroom may help develop students’ interest and confidence in writing, enhance their technological and social skills, develop learners’ autonomy, and improve students’ attitudes towards English language learning. Pedagogical insights and implications are provided for ESL (English as a second language) and EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers and researchers in the light of these findings.
International Journal of English Language Teaching, 2014
This is a rapid and intensive course devoted to improve the struggling students' writing skill at Sur University College in the Sultanate of Oman. It follows the Process-Approach to writing with the assistance of computer word processing program. In the sense, dealing with writing as a step-by-step process. Word processing was mainly used in the revision phase. It made the revision process easier. This course is highly relevant to ESL/EFL learners. It's really organized after we realized that the students were hesitated, shy and frustrated when they were required to write in English. It is an interactive and integrated course in which the learners, in addition to writing, were supposed to master some vocabulary as well as grammatical rules. The main objective of the course is to motivate the learners not only to copy but to be creative and confident when tackling the writing craft. In achieving our objective, we wanted to show how computer can be a useful writing tool to improve students' writing skills. It's a challenge in which the learners were needed to work on generating ideas, organization and mechanism. We were determined to orient the students to use the computer word processing program with the perspective that confidently they will enjoy this experience. Therefore, they got the opportunity to practice and edit their writing in order to improve grammar, spelling and punctuation.