Development of e-learning Courseware to Enhance English Writing Skills during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to develop e-learning courseware to support English writing skills of undergraduate students, 2) to study students’ writing ability after using the e-learning courseware and the use of e-learning courseware by teachers and students, and 3) to study their satisfaction with the e-learning courseware. By means of random sampling, the sample was 233 undergraduate students and six teachers from six universities. The research tools were the e-learning courseware supporting English writing skills, the pre-test and post-test, and the e-learning courseware satisfaction questionnaire and in-depth interview questions. A pair simple t-test was used to assess the significance between students' pre-test and post-test results. Descriptive statistics (mean and SD) were generated from the participants' responses to a questionnaire to investigate their attitudes toward the e-learning courseware. Meanwhile, descriptive analysis was performed to investigate how the participants use the e-learning courseware. The findings revealed that the e-learning courseware was significantly effective and had a significant influence on English writing skill, as evidenced by the mean score of the post-test total score of 16.04 with a standard deviation of 1.95, which was significantly higher than the pre-test total score (a mean score of 11.21 with a standard deviation of 1.76) at t = 87.63, p < 0.05. Additionally, the data indicated that all teachers strongly liked the e-learning courseware in all aspects: content, teaching and learning, and the design of the teaching and learning system with an average score of 3.84. According to the ratings from the students, the e-learning courseware received high ratings for both its content and design system, with an average score of 3.86.