The Effectiveness of Two Writing Workshops Paper-Based versus Computer-Based in Developing Preparatory School Pupils’ Writing Performance

Abstract

T he present study aimed to compare the effect of applying the paper-based writing workshop to the computer-based one in teaching writing to second-year preparatory school pupils in Suez Governorate. Participants of the study included two 2nd year intact classes (n=50), from Old Suez Prep School for Girls divided into two equivalent groups: Experimental one (the paper-based, n=25), and experimental two (the computer-based, n=25). The two groups were tested using the pre and post writing performance tests before and after the experiment. The experiment lasted for three months during the second term of 2014-1015 academic year. During this period, the paper-based group was exposed to the paper-based writing workshop program while the computer-based one was exposed to the computer-based writing workshop program. Differences between the pupils’ means of scores on pre-test and post test were calculated for each group separately using Paired Samples T-Test. Significant differences were found between the pre-test and posttest of writing performance of the paper-based group whereas no significant differences were found between the pre-test and posttest of writing performance of the computer-based group. Independent Samples T-Test was used to calculate the differences between the mean gain scores of the paper-based group and that of the computer-based one on the pre test and the post test of writing performance. Significant differences existed between the students’ mean gain scores of the paper-based group and those of the computer-based one on the pre and post tests in favor of the paper-based group.