THE EFFECT OF USING WHATSAPP ON EFL STUDENTS' MEDICAL ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Vol.8, Issue 1, 2022, pp. 29-42 Full text
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.22.1.2
Web of Science: 000831107500002
Authors:
Saud Alenezi
Elias Bensalem https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0150-6375
Affiliation: Northern Border University, Arar, Saudi Arabia
Contributor roles
Conceptualization, Investigation, Validation, Supervision, Project Administration, Data Curation, Formal Analysis: S.A. (lead);
Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing: S.A, E.B. (equal)
Abstract
The role of social networking mobile applications such as WhatsApp in enhancing second language vocabulary learning among English language learners continues to be a subject of interest for many scholars. The current study aimed at examining medical English vocabulary learning among undergraduate students using WhatsApp compared to learning vocabulary via Blackboard platform during the Covid-19 pandemic. To this end, 108 medical students (51 males, 57 females) enrolled in a first semester English for a specific English course participated in the study. A quasi-experimental design was adopted for two groups. Fifty-three students were assigned to the WhatsApp group and 55 students were assigned to the Blackboard group. Data were collected using pretest-posttest design. Results of t-test scores revealed no significant difference between the WhatsApp and Blackboard groups on a vocabulary test. Results of survey that gauged students' perception of the use of WhatsApp as a platform for learning new vocabulary showed positive perceptions since participants thought that WhatsApp enhanced their learning experience.
Keywords: English for specific purpose, Mobile-assisted language learning, vocabulary learning, WhatsApp
Article history:
Submitted: 10 November 2021
Reviewed: 15 February 2022
Accepted: 17 February 2022
Published: 30 June 2022
Citation (APA):
Alenezi, S. & Bensalem, E. (2022). The Effect of Using Whatsapp on EFL Students' Medical English Vocabulary Learning During the Covid-19 Pandemic. English Studies at NBU, 8(1), 29-42. https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.22.1.2
Copyright © 2022 Saud Alenezi and Elias Bensalem
This open access article is published and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. If you want to use the work commercially, you must first get the authors' permission.
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Handling Editor: Boris Naimushin
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