Use of Medium platform in teaching EFL writing, academic self-efficacy, and undergraduate students’ perceptions

Abstract

In an era where digital platforms have become ubiquitous, it is necessary to integrate digital teaching tools in education to help students learn. There have been many digital teaching tools reported in research on the teaching of English; however, the use of Medium platform to teach students write an argumentative essay in English is scarcely reported. This study investigates the application of Medium platform in the teaching of argumentative writing to undergraduate EFL students, the contribution of academic self-efficacy, and the students’ perception of Medium platform application. In the treatment, the students were asked to use Medium platform to learn how to write argumentative essays. Following the completion of the teaching, the students’ writing achievement was tested and compared across academic self-efficacy. Finally, the students were asked to respond to a 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire. The students’ scores of the posttest were compared to their scores before the treatment. Analysis of t-test indicated that there was a significant difference between the students’ argumentative writing achievement before and after the treatment (p < 0.05). Comparisons of students’ scores across academic self-efficacy levels showed that there was no significant difference between the argumentative writing achievement of the students with high and low levels of academic self-efficacy. Analysis of the students’ perceptions revealed that the students had positive responses to the use of Medium platform in the teaching of argumentative writing. The findings imply that Medium platform is a versatile tool that can accommodate diverse learners in terms of academic self-efficacy in writing instruction.