Investigating the Impact of Messenger to Support Descriptive Essay Writing in Terms of Content and Vocabulary at Tertiary Level: A Mixed Method Study

Abstract

The study aims to investigate the effectiveness of Messenger based text chatting to support descriptive essay writing. The study employed a mixed method to investigate the potential of Messenger as an addendum to traditional pedagogy. The participants were 60 students selected through convenience sampling. Employing Messenger, the experimental group (N = 30) was exposed to online text-based chatting. However, the control group (N =30) did receive only traditional lectures. The findings of this mixed method study highlighted: (a) the participants in the intervention group outperformed their counterparts regarding descriptive essay writing, (b) the participants in the treatment group displayed a positive attitude towards the use of Messenger, and (c) text chatting helped foster online interaction that supported the learning of descriptive essay writing. Pedagogical implications focus on the potential of Messenger based text chatting contexts as useful platforms for active collaborative learning of writing and other skills.