The new educational paradigm in COVID era: Can Blackboard replace physical teaching in EFL writing classrooms?

This study investigates the effectiveness of Blackboard in promoting EFL students’ writing performance in the Department of English Language and Translation at Qassim University. The data were collected for two periods: before (spring 2019) and after (spring 2020) the spread of COVID-19 virus. The study analyzed the students’ final grades in three different levels of writing courses. The results were collected and analyzed across the two different teaching approaches (face-to-face and Blackboard) to evaluate the two learning experiences and to highlight suggestions for enhancing students’ and teachers’ experience in online learning in the future. This study enlisted two groups of undergraduate male and female Saudi students who had applied for English language courses at Qassim University. Ethical approval was obtained (issued on, Sep. 25, 2020) from the deanship of scientific affairs to the head of the departments and the students. Students were also assured that their information would be only used for the study and that they were not required to disclose their identity in any way. Verbal consent of the participants was obtained because the ethics committee at the Qassim University approves verbal consent. Moreover, it is very difficult to get written consent from 833 participants. Still, as the study did not ask indulge the participants in interview, observation or questionnaire, it is enough to get permission from the University ethics committee. The consent letter states " This research meets the high ethical and scientific standards expected by society, and the participants have informed the Committee that they have no problem with the outcomes of the research work being published". The first group comprised students who took Writing 1, 2, and 3 prior to the pandemic, and the second group were those who took the same courses after the pandemic. The participants were assigned to take these three compulsory writing courses in the first three semesters after joining the program. The study sample thus included a total of 833 participants (287 males and 546 females). The students had prior experience with Blackboard as a learning tool. All freshman students, in traditional and pandemic times, are introduced to the most important features of Blackboard at the beginning of each semester. Additionally, three general courses were taught completely online during the first semester after students’ full enrolment in the program.