Development of English Writing Skills through Blended Learning among ESL Learners in Malaysia

Abstract

Developing writing proficiency is complex as students need to master specific rules and acquire certain skills. This complexity often obstructs students’ interest and eventually affects their comprehension and performance in language learning. Research has highlighted the significance of English as a Second Language (ESL), particularly in the Malaysian context. This study, therefore, aims to evaluate the effectiveness of blended learning in developing English writing skills, particularly among ESL learners at a Polytechnic in Malaysia. The study adopted quasi-experimental analysis in which pre-test and post-test were used as data-gathering instruments. The data were gathered from a purposive sample of 60 ESL students separated into an experimental group and a control group. The data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test via the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings showed that blended learning is significantly effective in developing writing performance among ESL students in the selected institution. Further analysis revealed a slight improvement among students who learned through the traditional approach. This study highlights useful findings that could be useful in designing English curriculums, particularly in higher institutions. However, this experiment focuses on students’ performance, further research may explore instructors’ practices in Malaysian higher intuitions.

Blended Learning Strategies for Sustainable English as a Second Language Education: A Systematic Review

“…As depicted in Table 9, 3 articles mentioned a web-based system in an English language learning classroom. These three articles [35,38,62], have similar findings whereby the implementation of the web-based system in ESL language classrooms provides benefits to the students, such as control over their learning process. Moreover, [64] reported that CIDOS or the web-based system used gave good control over teaching and learning content and materials.…”

“…Nevertheless, only Whatsapp and Facebook were found to be discussed by the authors of the articles in this systematic review (Table 8). Six articles have discussed social media applications [55][56][57][62][63][64]. Whatsapp has been a useful tool for ESL learners especially in rehearsing speaking [56].…”

“…Similarly, the findings from [55] highlighted the use of scaffolding through Facebook to improve ESL students' writing skills. Some past studies did not actually focus on one specific type of social media tool [57,[62][63][64]. In addition, other previous studies focused on social media, reading skills [57], and writing skills [55].…”

“…Another type of technology-based instruction is virtual learning or online learning. A number of authors have discussed this in their articles [26,27,56,57,61,62,65,67,68]. Students' achievement, student engagement, self-regulation, and motivation were among the aspects focused on by the authors.…”

Investigation into Common Errors in English Writing among Non-Academic Staff at a Malaysian Public University

“…The nonexistence of theoretical background to conceptualize the contribution of errors to language acquisition resulted in the absence of any serious effort to explain or theorize errors from psychological perspectives. However, Corder (1974) published several articles that invigorated the importance of Error Analysis. Additionally, Corder employed a process of Error Analysis as follows.…”