Abstract
Teaching writing has always been a more challenging task for EFL teachers as a result of its innate structural complexities and the linguistic sophistication required to accomplish writing. The pandemic and the resultant online teaching has made it even more challenging. Motivating the students, making the online classes interesting and maintaining the efficacy of the offline classes are some of the daunting tasks that stare at the EFL teachers at this juncture. With a view to addressing these problems, UTAS-Salalah and Ibra jointly conducted a webinar i.e. Teaching Writing Using Internet Tools for the teachers. The online platforms and tools discussed during the webinar, the literature survey, and the participants' feedback form the core of this research paper. The literature survey deals with both the problems of teaching writing and the problems of teaching it online. Then, it also discusses various online tools suggested by other researchers to make teaching writing more effective and fruit-bearing. A feedback questionnaire with Likert scale has been used to measure the efficacy of the proposed tools. The findings appear to confirm the usefulness of the said tools in teaching writing from the teachers' point of view.
Highlights
1 The teaching fraternity has been summarily pushed into a new era of education i.e. the world of digital education
The outbreak of coronavirus has broadly initiated the rise of digital literacy and teaching is actively taking place over the online platform
Pursuing the globally trodden path, the University of Technology and Applied Sciences (UTAS) in Oman has started conducting virtual classes and the university has been using various online platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom and Moodle for the interaction between teachers and students depending on the needs of the students
Summary
Westwood (2008) states that in this age of information, writing is paper-based and utilizes other forms of substantial media such as multimedia platforms. In pursuit of effective methods and platforms to teach writing online, UTAS-Salalah and Ibra jointly conducted a webinar i.e. Teaching Writing Using Internet Tools for the teachers. The materials used in traditional teaching may not be suitable for online teaching, and it may be difficult to adapt well to the new learning environment for both instructors and students. Mundy-Henderson and Callie Martin (2020) have mentioned that the new format is different from the traditional writing materials and it went contrary to what students wanted or expected It is one of the main challenges of teaching writing online. 4. The Webinar on Teaching Writing Using Online Tools The English Language Centres of UTAS- Salalah and Ibra conducted a webinar entitled “Teaching Writing Skills Using Internet Tools” on 23 September 2020. Teachers were shown the practical use of several online tools and the tools are as follows: H5P-INTERACTIVE BOOK H5P- DICTATION TOOL H5P- FREE WRITING TOOL IND MAP, CONCEPT MAP, CHARACTER MAP
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