The Impacts of Technology-based Communication on EFL Students’ Writing

Digital techniques play a significant role in stimulating EFL students’ collaboration during the Covid-19 pandemic. The shift from face-to-face interaction to technology-based communication is regarded to foster language learning, especially writing classes. An action research design was employed to explore the influences of technology-based communication on either students' writing performances or their perceptions towards the new teaching method application. Data triangulation analyzed from three types of collecting instruments in terms of testing, questionnaire, and reflective journal indicates that the integration of Paragraph Punch, ProWritingAid, and LMS web-based platform boosts a more collaborative learning environment among online-engaging participants. The calculated mean scores indicated there was a decrease in students' difficulties regarding cognitive, emotional, and socio-cultural aspects after the intervention. Besides, it was respectively measured a potential trend on online collaborative group's writing performance concerning the task response, coherence & cohesion or the idea for writing development. Nevertheless, there was no significance in promoting students' lexical resources plus grammatical range and accuracy. The results also conveyed participants’ optimistic feelings on technology-based communication, their higher self-confidence in accordance with positive attitudes towards writing lessons thanks to their awareness of their promoting critical thinking as well as error identification.