چکیده:
This paper focuses on the impact of an asynchronous online discussion forum on the development of students’ ability in and attitudes toward writing in English. To do this, 60 undergraduate students majoring in English were assigned to two experimental and control groups while receiving different types of feedback. Students in the experimental group were required to take part in an asynchronous forum by writing a five-paragraph essay, challenging their ideas and providing feedback based on a pre-designed feedback sheet, whereas students in the control group received traditional face-to-face feedback by the teacher. Analysis of the data obtained through a pre-test, a post-test, and a survey indicated that students’ writing improved significantly in the experimental group, on both lexis and grammar planes, as the results of engaging in replying to peers’ questions, involving in writing by exchanging feedback, and employing self-assessment strategies to revise their own work. Furthermore, they also expressed more positive attitudes toward writing. The study offers implications for L2 writing instruction in EFL contexts
خلاصه ماشینی:
Students in the experimental group were required to take part in an asynchronous forum by writing a five-paragraph essay, challenging their ideas and providing feedback based on a pre-designed feedback sheet, whereas students in the control group received traditional face-to-face feedback by the teacher.
As such, the main aim of the present study is to create an asynchronous online discussion forum environment to open up a new path in teaching writing, in contrast to the dominant traditional face-to-face approach of teaching writing in the Iranian English classes (Asoodar, Atai, Vaezi, & Marandi, 2014).
The asynchronous or synchronous online discussion forum offers students to share thoughts, ask questions and provide feedback, supporting interaction and building communities in online/offline learning environments (DeWert, Babinski, & Jones, 2003; Yang, Yeh & Wong, 2010).
Method The present study is a quasi-experimental study accompanied by pretest-posttest method and a survey to investigate the impact of the asynchronous online discussion forum through feedback provision to develop and improve students writing ability and attitudes within the 12-week session in comparison to the dominant traditional face-to-face teaching writing in Iran.
Testing the First Hypothesis The first research question of this study was to investigate the impact of practicing a five- paragraph essay writing in the asynchronous online discussion forum in comparison to the face-to-face traditional methodology-oriented on students‟ writing development.
77 presents the effectiveness of the asynchronous online discussion forum on students writing than that of face-to-face traditional group.