Effect of WhatsApp-based learning on improving Grade 9 students’ writing composition skills

Abstract

The current study explored the effect of using the mobile learning device ‘WhatsApp’ to enhance the writing composition skills of Grade 9 students in Jordanian schools. The present study adopted the experimental research design to compare between the writing composition skills of the control group and the experimental group. The control group comprised 30 students, whereas, the experimental group included 31 students. The experimental group was taught writing composition skills by using WhatsApp-based learning activities, while the control group studied writing composition skills through a conventional method. The elicitation of data was based on using two instruments. The first instrument was a writing composition test that served as a pretest and a posttest. The second instrument was a semi-structured interview of the experimental group’s views on using WhatsApp-based activities in learning writing composition skills. Data analysis was based on the use of paired samples T-Test and the independent samples T-Test. Descriptive statistics was used to account for the experimental group’s responses to the interview questions. The findings indicate better performance in writing composition test by the experimental group compared to the control group. The experimental group also showed positive views towards using WhatsApp activities in learning writing composition skills. The study recommends the integration of mobile learning device of WhatsApp into the teaching of English writing composition.