Integrating MS Word into an EFL Pre-service Setting to Enhance Students’ Academic Writing: A Qualitative Study
حوزههای تخصصی:
Incorporating technology into the process of writing in an EFL setting can aid educators to create an engaging learning environment and learners to explore various strategies of developing their writing skills. This study was set up to investigate the experiences of 28 pre-service EFL teachers in an MS Word integrated writing course at Farhangian University. Participants were selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews administered upon completing the course, and triangulated via focused group discussions moderated by an expert in academic writing. Content analysis of the interviews revealed that students expressed favoring an MS Word integrated approach with regard to writing skills improvement (through features such as spell check, grammar suggestions, thesaurus tools, etc.) as well as utilizing feedback mechanisms in the Review menu (via track changes feature and editing facilities, proofing, and comments), and the References menu (via Manage sources and Insert citation features). Participants also expressed preferring the on-screen editing activities performed in the classroom compared with their previously held conventional writing sessions. Implications regarding how MS Word can be incorporated into teacher education curricula to improve both their academic writing skills and teaching writing through technology-based instruction are discussed.