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ABSTRACT
WhatsApp is a neoteric instrument for writing skill amelioration. The present article attempts to pinpoint whether WhatsApp as neoteric implementation in smart phones has a significant impact on writing vocabulary, word choice and voice of undergraduate EFL Jordanian students. For the purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study, data are collected utilizing a pretest posttest design utilizing a sample of 20 EFL undergraduate female students in English Language and Literature Department in Irbid University College at Al Balq'a Applied University in Jordan. A criterion is exploited to score a writing sample from each student before and after the experiment, and significance is measured via, the Friedman, Wilcoxon, and Kruskal-Wallis tests. In this action research, the participants are demanded to send their reflexive suspensions on various themes to their group which was created via WhatsApp. The participants interact well to the argumentations via their dialogue journaling. They consider it as if they were entertaining rather than learning ; however, at the end of the treatment, the participants savvy more about the writing tasks of one another and their utilization of vocabulary is improved. This sense of pleasure permits for the participants to utilize WhatsApp electronic dialogue journaling as an instrument for learning. The findings imply a significant difference between the overall writing scores of the pretest and posttest of the participants who used journaling. Additionally, test of individual item scores shows that there are statistically significant developments in vocabulary choice and voice as two pivotal writing characteristics. The study can promote a favorable educational change by assisting teachers grasp the possible merits of WhatsApp electronic dialogue journaling to develop the vocabulary word choice and voice writing skills of their students.
Keywords: WhatsApp, EFL students, ameliorating, writing, vocabulary, choice, voice
INTRODUCTION
Digital communication among groups of students and between students and instructors has become popular during the last decade via various channels: Email, SMS, Facebook groups, Twitter, and recently WhatsApp. Each one of these instruments has various characteristics that influence its suitability for learning purposes (Calvo, Arbiol and Iglesias 2014). Consequently, methodologists began to utilize these technologies in their instruction. Meanwhile, these tools can be used to teach the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing).
Writing is a complicated skill, and as students...