The Effect of Technology-based Building Background Information on Iranian EFL Learners' Second Language Writing

Abstract

The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of technology-based building background information on Iranian EFL learners' second language writing ability concerning their gender. To do so, sixty advanced EFL learners studying English conversation in Iran-Mehr Language Institute (ILI), in Tehran were selected based on the result of their performance on a piloted and validated version of paper-based TOEFL. The participants, in two control and experimental groups, received a pretest of writing, the designed treatment, and a posttest of writing. The study enjoyed a quasi- experimental design and the data collected were put into SPSS version 21 for the purpose of running an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to compare the male and female experimental and control groups’ means on the posttest of writing while controlling for possible effects of their entry writing knowledge as measured through the pretest. The results of data analysis firstly revealed that providing background information via e-mail by the teacher and writing e-mail by the students highly affected Iranian EFL learners’ writing ability and secondly, showed that providing background information via e-mail by the teacher and writing e-mail by the students doesn’t have any significant effect on writing ability of the learners regarding their gender. Therefore, technology-based development of background information can be considered successful in helping learners improve their second language writing skill. The Findings have pedagogical implications for language teachers to make the learners more aware of what they are dealing with.