Abstract
Learners' Attitudes towards a Writing Software
Cohesive ties between sentences are considered an indicator of how we understand messages in texts (Abushihab, 2008, 2010; Halliday & Hasan, 1976, p. 4, as cited in Xi, 2010). Hence, the awareness of lexical cohesion is expected to support L2 learners in relating ideas in a meaningful way while writing. Thinking of an innovative way to bring such awareness to AFL students became an urge. Computer Aided Language Learning proved to be of great importance to foreign language learners when based on pedagogical backgrounds (Essam, 2010; Khan, 2001). Many researchers indicated that writing can be enhanced through CALL (Chapelle, Spencer, and Louw 2008), while others found that some students might have negative attitude towards using it in writing (Yoon and Hirvela, 2004). Accordingly, it has become necessary to look into AFL students’ attitude towards using software as a tool in language writing. A study was therefore constructed to look into learners’ attitudes towards using in-house software for supporting successful usage of connectors.
In light of the above, the three main questions tackled in this paper are:
1- What is AFL students’ attitude toward the in-house Writing software?
2- Did the software increase students’ motivation towards writing production?
3- Did the software reduce students’ anxiety during text production?
In order to answer the aforementioned questions, a random sample of 30 AFL students learning Arabic in the AUC used the software in their writing tasks. Students’ attitude, motivation, and anxiety regarding the software were elicited using both questionnaire and open ended questions.
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