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.

本研究以卡西姆大学（Qassim University）英语语言与翻译系的英语作为外语（English as a Foreign Language, EFL）学生为研究对象，探讨黑板平台（Blackboard）对提升其写作表现的成效。研究数据分为两个阶段收集：新冠病毒（COVID-19）疫情扩散前（2019年春季）与扩散后（2020年春季）。本研究分析了三门不同层级写作课程的学生期末成绩，通过对比面对面授课与黑板平台授课两种教学模式的结果，评估两类学习体验，并为未来优化师生在线学习体验提出建议。本研究招募了申请就读卡西姆大学英语课程的沙特籍本科男女学生两组。研究已获得科研事务处（deanship of scientific affairs）于2020年9月25日签发的伦理审批，审批范围覆盖各系负责人与学生。研究向学生保证，其个人信息仅用于本研究，且无需以任何方式公开身份。由于卡西姆大学伦理委员会批准采用口头知情同意形式，且833名参与者难以逐一获取书面同意，故本研究获取了参与者的口头知情同意。此外，本研究未让参与者参与访谈、观察或问卷调查环节，仅需获得大学伦理委员会的许可即可。知情同意书载明："本研究符合社会期待的高伦理与科学标准，参与者已告知委员会，其对研究成果的公开发布无异议。"第一组为疫情前修读写作1、2、3课程的学生，第二组为疫情后修读相同课程的学生。参与者在入学后的前三个学期均需修读这三门必修写作课程。最终研究样本共包含833名参与者（男性287名，女性546名）。所有学生此前均有使用黑板平台作为学习工具的经验：无论是疫情前还是疫情期间，全体大一学生会在每学期开学时学习黑板平台的核心功能。此外，学生正式入学后的第一学期，有三门通识课程完全采用线上授课模式。