The Effect of using the Social Tool of Wikis on EFL Learners’ Writing Performance

Abstract

Due to the significance of writing for academic improvement and survival, there is an active interest today in new theoretical approaches to the study of written texts as well as approaches to the teaching writing that incorporate current theory and research findings (Brown, 2001). Erben, Ban, and Castañeda (2009) emphasize that using contemporary technologies afford us thousands of instructionally rich opportunities which might, otherwise, be missed not using such technologies. Wikis are thought to be useful in improving EFL students’ writing ability through the various features they provide for wiki members. Learners can benefit from the shared space to write, discuss, comment, edit, reflect, and evaluate (West & West, 2009) each other’s work for the attainment of the shared outcome of better writing ability. The present endeavor attempted to investigate if the use of wikis would have any effect on EFL learners’ writing performance. The study included two 16-member groups of EFL students attending the Advanced Writing course at JDKU who were randomly selected from a population of 60 EFL students. The wiki group, attending the language lab, acted as the experimental and the other group as the control group. The result of the study revealed that the wiki group outperformed the traditional writing class. Based on the obtained data dealt with in details in the study, it could be understood that the use of wikis would enable writing students to perform better.

Keywords: Wiki, Writing, EFL Students, Advanced Writing