The Effect of Using Wikis on Improving Palestinian 9th Graders' English Writing Skills and their Attitudes towards Writing

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the effect of using wikis on improving Palestinian ninth graders’ English writing skills and their attitudes towards writing. The targeted skills were writing an email from notes, ordering events into a paragraph as well as writing a report from notes. To achieve this aim, the researcher employed a representative sample of 39 EFL students studying at Bureij Prep. Girls School 'A' which is run by UNRWA in the Gaza Strip. It was divided into two groups: experimental group consisted of 20 students and control one consisted of 19 students. The two groups were equivalent in their previous learning, achievement in English language in general and achievement in English writing in particular. Regarding the instrumentations, the researcher used three tools: an observation card to explore students' performance in utilizing Wikis and practicing writing skills and activities, a questionnaire to reveal students' attitude towards using Wikis in teaching and learning writing skills and pre/ post writing test. Being used as a pre-test, the writing test was meant to prove groups equivalence. Besides, it was used as a post test to measure any possible differences between the target groups. The collected data were analyzed and treated statistically through the use of SPSS. The findings of the study revealed that there were significant differences in participants' performance before and after implementing wiki project in the favor of the post-performance. The findings also pointed toward the presence of significant differences between the attitudes of the experimental group before and after the experiment of utilizing wikis to develop their writing skills in the favor of after experiment. Moreover, the study findings revealed that there were significant differences between the mean scores attained by the experimental group and those by the control group in favor of the experimental group. This was due to the wiki technology. Additionally, implementing the effect size equation, the study revealed that wiki project had a large effect size favouring the experimental group. The study recommended that teachers are asked to use the wiki technology in teaching writing skills in order to develop and improve their students' ability in writing skills. Also, it suggested that further researches should be conducted on the effects of wikis on different English skills and other school subjects.