A Social Learning Program Facilitated by Facebook for Developing Some Creative Writing Skills and Motivation to Learn English Among Secondary-One Students

                           كلية التربية

        إدارة: البحوث والنشر العلمي ( المجلة العلمية)

                       =======

A Social Learning Program Facilitated by Facebook for Developing Some Creative Writing Skills and Motivation to Learn English Among Secondary-One Students

By

Ibrahim Badry Marwany Ibrahim

Senior Teacher of English at Al-Shahid Hussein A. Abdul-Raouf

Co-education Secondary School in Al-Maabda

himons2020@gmail.com

Dr Mahmoud M. S. Abdallah        Dr Rehab A. E. Abdel-Gawad

Associate Professor of Curriculum &                           Assistant professor of Curriculum &

English Teaching Methods,                                              English Teaching Methods

Faculty of Education, Assiut University                  Faculty of Education, Assiut University

}     المجلد التاسع والثلاثون– العدد السادس - يونيو2023م {

http://www.aun.edu.eg/faculty_education/arabic

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of using a social learning programme facilitated by Facebook to develop some creative writing skills and motivation to learn English among secondary-one school students. Seventy students in secondary-one grade were chosen as the study participants and were divided randomly into two matched groups (a control group and an experimental one). The researcher adopted the two-group quasi-experimental design. A creative writing pre-post test was administered to the participants of both study groups to assess students’ development in the specified creative writing skills before and after the experimental treatment. A motivation scale was administered to the experimental group participants before the experimental treatment, and it was re-administered to the participants of both the study groups after the experimental treatment to assess the programme's effectiveness in enhancing the students’ motivation to learn English. The data collection process included both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The results were analysed, and the outcomes were demonstrated.  The findings of the study assured that there were statistically significant differences at the (0.05) level between the mean scores of the two research groups in the pre-post administration of the creative writing skills test and the motivation scale in favour of the post-testing in the experimental group. The study revealed that using activities based on Social Learning Theory (SLT) that were facilitated by Facebook proved to be effective and have considerable contributions to developing English creative writing skills of secondary-one school students. Future research should focus on integrating Social Learning Theory and the virtual educational environment of Facebook in the English language content and curriculum. Research should also be conducted to investigate the use of Social Learning and Facebook in other language skills (i.e., listening, reading, and speaking).

Keywords: Social Learning, Facebook, Creative Writing and Motivation.

المستخلص

هدف البحث الحالى إلى إستقصاء مدى فاعلية استخدام برنامج للتعلم الاجتماعي الميسر بواسطة شبكة التواصل الأجتماعى  Facebook لتطوير بعض مهارات الكتابة الإبداعية و الدافعية لتعلم اللغة الإنجليزية بين طلاب المرحلة الثانوية. سبعون طالبًا و طالبة من طلاب الصف الأول الثانوي تم اختيارهم كمشاركين في الدراسة وقسموا بالتساوي إلى مجموعتين إحداهما تجريبية و الأخرى ضابطة.  إعتمد الباحث التصميم شبه التجريبي ذي المجموعتين. قام الباحث بتطبيق اختبار قبلى-بعدى لمهارات الكتابة الإبداعية على المشاركين في مجموعتي الدراسة لتقييم مدى تطور مستوى الطلاب في  بعض مهارات الكتابة الإبداعية قبل وبعد المعالجة التجريبية , و قام أيضا بتطبيق مقياس للدافعية لتعلم اللغة الإنجليزية على المشاركين في المجموعة التجريبية قبل المعالجة التجريبية، ثم قام بإعادة تطبيقه على  المشاركين في مجموعتي الدراسة بعد المعالجة  التجريبية لقياس مدى فعالية البرنامج في تعزيز دافعية الطلاب لتعلم اللغة الإنجليزية. تضمنت عملية جمع البيانات وسائل كمية ونوعية و قد تم تحليل النتائج وعرضت النتائج.  توصلت الدراسة الحالية إلى أنه هناك فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية (عند مستوى الدلالة 0.05) بين متوسطي درجات مجموعتي البحث في التطبيق القبلى و البعدي لإختبار مهارات الكتابة الإبداعية وكذلك مقياس الدافعية لصالح الإختبار البعدي فى المجموعية التجريبية للبحث , و خلصت الدراسة الحالية إلى أن استخدام الأنشطة القائمة على نظرية التعلم الاجتماعي (SLT) والتي تم تسييرها بواسطة Facebook قد أثبتت فعاليتها و كان لها أثرا كبيرا في تطوير مهارات الكتابة الإبداعية باللغة الإنجليزية لطلاب الصف الأول الثانوى. بناءاً عليه توصى الدراسة الحالية بضرورة توظيف نظرية التعلم الاجتماعي والبيئة التعليمية الافتراضية للفيسبوك في المحتوى و المناهج التعليمية للغة الإنجليزية , وكذلك توصى بضرورة إجراء المزيد من البحوث التربوية المستقبلية القائمة على استقصاء فعالية استخدام التعلم الاجتماعي وFacebook  في المهارات الأخرى للغة الإنجليزية، أي الإستماع            والقراءة والتحدث.

الكلمات المفتاحية: التعلم الاجتماعي ، شبكة التواصل الإجتماعى Facebook ، الكتابة            الإبداعية ، الدافعية.

Introduction

Language is considered one of the most substantial elements of education and literacy.  It is one’s means of transferring his or her thoughts, ideas and feelings into concrete understandable words that reveal his or her personality. It enables the person to express what he or she thinks and what he or she wants others to understand about him or her in certain situations.

Writing provides a means for students to produce new information in their own words. Learning how to write is important for students as it enables them to express their thoughts, knowledge and feelings efficiently. The more students master the writing process, the more they are likely to be able to express themselves efficiently (Smith, 2005; Ozbek, 2006; &Creswell, 2008).

According to Banat (2007), writing might be categorized into two types: creative writing and functional writing. In creative writing tasks, individuals can convey to others what they have got in their minds in an attractive literary style. This involves many styles such as writing short stories, composing poems and plays and writing down essays. However, the main goal of functional writing is to convey a direct and specific message to particular readers.

Vandervert (2011) states that creativity includes four main components: fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. Fluency is the capability to produce lots of ideas; flexibility is the capability to imagine and produce ideas of various types. Originality is the ability to create uncommon and new ideas; finally, elaboration is the capability to decorate and expand existing ideas with more details.

In this regard, Priedīte and Olehlova (2016, p.4) refer to the purpose of creative writing as both entertaining and sharing human experiences, like love or loss. Writers attempt to get at a truth about humanity through poetics and storytelling. In other words, creative writing is any form of writing which is written with the creativity of mind such as fiction writing, poetry writing and creative nonfictional writing whose purpose is to express something, whether (e.g., feelings, thoughts, or emotions).

Bandura and Walters, in 1963 and further detailed in 1977, outlined key tenets of Social Learning Theory. They stated that learning is not purely behavioural; rather, it is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context. It can occur by observing behaviour and its consequences (vicarious reinforcement). Moreover, learning involves making observations, extracting information from those observations, and making decisions about performance (observational learning or modelling). Thus, learning can occur without an observable change in behaviour. Therefore, reinforcement plays a role in learning but is not entirely responsible for its occurrence (Bandura, 196 3; 1977).

In this regard, Tadayon (2012, p. 8) states that Social Learning Theory integrates both the behavioural and cognitive theories of learning in order to provide a comprehensive model that could account for the wide range of learning experiences that occur in the real world. Accordingly, the learner is not a passive recipient of information. Cognition, environment, and behaviour all mutually influence each other (reciprocal determinism).

Richard (1996, p. 235) argues that when students are writing, motivation can come from numerous sources in second and foreign language classes. Experiences with music, poetry, storytelling, drama, role play, and affective activities often provide motivation and can lead to some exciting and very relevant topics. In language learning contexts, motivation is a thing that can increase students’ determination and interest in learning.

In this regard, Gardener (1985, p. 47) points out that an integrative-oriented learner would likely have a stronger desire to learn the language, have more positive attitudes towards the learning situation, and be more likely to expend more effort in learning the language. In other words, a highly motivated language learner is likely to strive to learn the language and enjoy that.

Accordingly, using traditional methods in teaching English is no longer desired and it is less motivating to students nowadays who are addicted to technology and its virtual environment. More specifically, young learners of nowadays are fond of social networking sites which have introduced to them a virtual world in which they can share their thoughts and opinions about all life aspects. Thus, they can use these websites to learn English more effectively.

Several studies (e.g. McEachern, 2011; Raspopovic, Cvetanovic, Medan, & Ljubojevic, 2017; Mnkandla & Minnaar, 2017; Chang & Lu, 2018) have indicated that social media technologies have fundamentally changed the way that social interaction occurs within our world. Consequently, using social networking sites, such as Facebook, in teaching English courses can be quite beneficial and motivating for learners as long as the instructors manage and use these websites properly.

Based on reviewing the related studies, the researcher seeks to use a social learning programme that is facilitated by Facebook to develop some creative writing skills of secondary-one school students and to enhance their motivation to learn English.

Statement of the Problem

From the researcher’s experience in the field of teaching English to secondary school students, he has noticed that the students have problems with English creative writing skills. They usually cannot express their emotions, thoughts, opinions, and ideas in original, fluent, flexible, and elaborated literary forms. They also lack the motivation to learn to write well through the teaching methods followed.

To ascertain the existence of the problem, the researcher administrated a test of creative writing skills to 50 secondary-one students represented in writing a short story of about 150 words at least. The test aimed at checking the students’ ability to generate more creative ideas from a simple given idea. The results were disappointing to some extent. Thirty students failed to generate new ideas from the given one. Fifteen students generated weak ideas irrelevant to the topic. However, only five students could generate some ideas that somehow reveal creativity. Accordingly, the researcher made sure that many students need to develop English creative writing skills.

   To stand on the reasons for this problem, the researcher administered a survey about creative writing skills teaching to 30 secondary school teachers in Assuit governorate schools. He observed that many teachers do not show enough interest in teaching creative writing skills due to a lack of time or due to not being interested in teaching creative writing skills. Seventeen teachers stated that they did not give a desired interest in teaching creative writing skills since they are not mostly required in the official exams that students take. Nine teachers pointed out that the time of the lesson does not allow for giving additional creative writing activities. Four teachers assured the researcher that they were not interested in teaching creative writing skills since students are mostly required to master only functional writing skills.

To sum up, the problem of the research could be stated as follows:

Many secondary-one students lack some creative writing skills due to not receiving sufficient training inside the classroom. Also, they do not have the passion to learn these skills since they are mostly required to write simple short essays in the final examinations. In addition, students lack the motivation to learn English through traditional methods. Therefore, the researcher found it motivating to teach them English and improve their creative writing skills by using a social learning programme facilitated by Facebook to develop their creative writing skills and enhance their language learning motivation.

Questions of the Study

The study tries to answer the following question: 

1-What is the effectiveness of a programme based on Social Learning facilitated by Facebook in developing secondary-one students’ creative writing skills?

2- To what extent will a program based on Social Learning facilitated by Facebook enhance secondary-one students’ language learning motivation?

Definitions of Terms

Creative Writing

Richard &Schmidt (2002, p. 131) define creative writing as “types of writing such as fiction, drama and poetry that reflect the writer’s originality, imagination, feelings and which do not describe factual events”.

   Seargeant & Greenwell (2012, p.3) define creative writing as a slightly different type of activity to most of the writing when we engage in daily. It is the one which draws on the imagination of the writer, and which uses structures and strategies to engage the imagination of a reader.

   For the purpose of the research, the researcher defines creative writing as: the secondary-one students’ ability to generate more fluent, flexible and elaborated ideas from a simple idea and relate them in a unique sequence to express their thoughts, feelings, ideas and attitudes towards a particular topic in a more attractive literary style.

Motivation to Learn English

Motivation has been defined as an “internal state that activates, guides, and maintains behavior” (Green, 2002, p. 989) while Johnstone (1999, p. 146), considers motivation as “a stimulant for achieving a            specific target”.

For the purpose of the research, the researcher defines motivation English to learn as: the inner power that makes secondary-one students eager to learn English more willingly and thus achieve remarkable progress in writing various types of creative writing literary forms.

Social Learning

Social Learning is increasingly cited as an essential component of sustainable natural resource management and the promotion of desirable behavioural change (Muro & Jeffrey, 2008, p. 28).

Hoppitt &Laland (2013, p. 3) define Social Learning as learning that is facilitated by observation of, or interaction with, another individual or            its products.

For the purpose of the research, the researcher defines Social Learning as the secondary-one students’ interaction that happens among them while using social networking websites represented in the Facebook application to develop some creative writing skills and enhance their motivation to              learn English.

Facebook

Facebook is an online social networking platform that was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and can be used for academic purposes to improve learners' writing skills (Rosen, 2011).

For the purpose of the research, the researcher defines Facebook as an interactive online social networking platform that enables secondary-one students to post news, videos and pictures about a particular topic and interact with it through sharing and typing comments which could lead to the development in their creative writing skills and enhance their motivation to learn English.

Objectives of the Study

This research study aims at:

• Developing the secondary-one students’ creative writing skills by using a program based on Social Learning facilitated by Facebook.
• Developing the secondary-one students’ motivation to learn English by using a program based on Social Learning facilitated by Facebook.

Significance of the Study

The present research study is expected to be significant in many ways:

• It may serve to provide a theoretical framework for social learning and the use of Facebook in the development of English language learning in general and the development of creative writing skills in particular;
• students can be assisted in developing positive attitudes towards social learning and improve their English creative writing;
• it may serve to urge English language teachers to use Social Learning facilitated by Facebook strategies and techniques to help students to improve their writing in general and creative writing in particular and other language skills as well;
• it may help curriculum designers to shed more light on modifying, organizing and enriching the English language curriculum with more creative writing skills activities;
• it may help to draw parents’ attention to encouraging their children to learn English outside school and to use the Facebook application in a more useful way and benefit from technology in their learning;
• it may serve to provide a theoretical framework for social learning and use of Facebook in the development of English language learning in general and the development of creative writing skills, in particular;
• students can be assisted in developing positive attitudes towards social learning and improving their English creative writing;
• it may serve to urge English language teachers to use Social Learning facilitated by Facebook strategies and techniques to help students to improve their writing in general and creative writing in particular and other language skills as well;
• it may help curriculum designers to shed more light on modifying, organizing and enriching  the English language curriculum with more creative writing skills activities; and
• it may help to draw parents’ attention to encouraging their children to learn English outside school and to use the Facebook application in a more useful way and benefit from technology in their learning.

Delimitation of the Study

The present study was delimited to:

• Two groups, an experimental and a control group (35 students in each), of secondary-one school students from Al-Shahid Hussein A. Abdul-Raouf Mixed Secondary School in Al-Maabda, Abnub, Assuit;
• some creative writing skills (i.e., fluency, originality, elaboration, and flexibility); and

Instruments and Materials of the Study

The researcher prepared the following instruments and materials:

1. A creative writing skills and sub-skills checklist
2. A social learning program facilitated by Facebook, which consisted of the following components:

• A Teacher's Guide
• A Student’s Book

3. A creative writing pre-post test
4. A motivation scale

Procedures of the Study

To achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher followed the following steps:

1. Identifying students' needs (i.e., the creative writing skills that they need to develop) by administering a survey to some teachers specialized in TEFL;
2. reviewing some literature dealing with creative writing skills;
3. preparing a creative writing skills and sub-skills checklist and judging its validity by consulting a group of jury members specialized in TEFL;
4. reviewing some literature dealing with social learning theory and its implementations in teaching creative writing;
5. reviewing some literature dealing with Facebook and its implementations in teaching creative writing;
6. reviewing some literature dealing with preparing motivation scales;
7. preparing a motivation scale towards learning English and creative writing and judging its validity by consulting a group of jury members specialized in TEFL and Educational Psychology;
8. developing the framework of the suggested program;
9. checking the validity of the framework by submitting it to some jury members specialized in TEFL;
10. building up the program in the light of the final form of the framework;
11. checking the validity of the program by submitting it to some jury members specialized in TEFL;
12. constructing the creative writing skills pre-post test;
13. judging the validity of the test by consulting some jury members specialized in TEFL;
14. conducting the pilot study before administering the program (30 students who were not included in the research groups);
15. recording the results of the pilot study and computing the correlation and reliability of each of the research instruments (i.e., the creative writing list, the creative writing pre-post test, and the motivation scale) using the appropriate statistical methods;
16. conducting any necessary changes or modification in the light of the notes recorded during the pilot study;
17. selecting the two research groups, 35 students of secondary-one school students in each group;
18. administering the motivation scale to the experimental group before the start of the program;
19. pre-testing the research groups using the English creative writing test;
20. starting the experimentation and administering the program to the research groups;
21. post-testing the research groups to evaluate the effect of the program;
22. administering the motivation scale to the experimental and the control group at the end of the program;
23. collecting data obtained and analyzing them statistically by using the appropriate statistical procedures (e.g., mean scores, t-test, eta-squared, and Cohen’s D);
24. analyzing the results obtained and interpreting them in the light of the research objectives and questions; and
25. making recommendations and suggestions considering the research results.

Participants of Study

Seventy students were selected from among the secondary-one school students and distributed evenly into two groups (control and experimental). They were both male and female students enrolled in Al-shahid Hussein Ali Abdul-Raouf mixed Secondary School in Al-maabda. The participants’ ages ranged between 15 - 16 years old. They had common denominators: (1) the same home village; (2) the same linguistic background; and (3) similar socio-economic background.

Design of study

For the purpose the present research, the quasi-experimental design was used to identify the effectiveness of employing the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook as an intervention for developing creative writing of first-year secondary school students in Al-shahid Hussein Ali Abdul-Raouf mixed Secondary School in Al-maabda, Abnub educational directorate, Assiut Governorate.

To measure the effectiveness of the research program on developing secondary-one school students’ English creative writing skills, a pre-post-test was administered to the two research groups. The participants of each group were first pretested using the creative writing test. Participants of the control group were taught the content of the designed program using the commonly used methods while teaching the same content to the participants of the experimental group using the social learning facilitated by Facebook methods. Then, the participants of each group were post-tested using the same creative writing test.

Only the participants of the experimental group were pretested using the motivation scale before administering the programme. Both the participants of the control group and the experimental group were post-tested using the same motivation scale after teaching the programme, to measure the effect of the programme on the experimental group in increasing their motivation to learn English creative writing compared to the participants of the control group.

The Creative Writing Skills Pre-Post Test

A creative writing skills pre-post test was administered to the participants of the two research study groups.  The test consisted of five questions that measure the four creative writing components: fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration among secondary-one school students. The total score of the creative writing skills pre-post test was 100 marks (Twenty marks for each of the five questions). Questions were marked by three raters according to a key answer checklist provided by             the researcher.

• Objectives of the Test

The main objective of the creative writing skills pre-post test was to evaluate the effect of the social learning facilitated by the Facebook program in developing secondary-one students' some creative writing skills. The pre-post test was designed to identify: (a) the students’ performance levels in creative writing; and (b) the range of development that could be achieved after administering the suggested program.

• Construction of the Test

To construct the test, the researcher went through the following procedures:

1. Reviewing literature related to the construction of writing tests;
2. identifying the skills that need to be tested;
3. preparing a rubric to assess the elements related to the test;
4. writing the first draft of the test;
5. submitting the test to jury members to ensure the validity of the test, suitability for the creative writing skills and sub-skills, accuracy of items and suggestions for improving it;
6. conducting the necessary modifications to the test according to the jury members' feedback; and
7. checking the validity and reliability of the test.

• Validity of the Test

To ensure the validity of the test content, a panel of a jury of TEFL and EFL professionals were consulted. They were asked to evaluate the items' linguistic articulation, clarity, applicability to the subjects, and the extent to which they measured the objectives. The jury agreed that the test was both relevant and applicable. And they confirmed the test's applicability to the research's goals. Another aspect that assessed the test's validity was internal consistency. The correlation between the test items and the overall score was significant at the 0.05 level

• Reliability of the Test

The reliability of the test was determined by the test-retest method and Cronbach's Alpha. The researcher piloted the test and part of the program to a group of secondary-one school students (n=30) in Al-shahid Hussein Ali Abdul-Raouf mixed Secondary School in Al-maabda. The test was administered again to the same group after 15 days. The correlations between the examinees’ scores in both the first and second administration of the test were computed using the SPSS program. The reliability of the test was computed and proved to be reliable at (0.01) and significant at the level of 0.05, (r=.817), which means the test was reliable and valid for administration.

• Instructions for the Test

 Test instructions were written in a simple, easy-to-understand and clear English Language. They contained information about the purpose of the test and the time allotted for completing it. The test was designed according to a rubric for assessing the elements of creative writing. A key answer checklist was provided to be used as a reference for the test raters.

Data Analysis

The data analysis reveals the outcomes regarding the study questions. Having administered the instruments of the study, quantitative and qualitative data were collected and discussed. The researcher depended mainly on comparing the mean scores of the participants using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test. The "T" value was used because the number of participants was 35 students in each group, the control group and the experimental group, and it was a suitable statistical form for the            current research. 

Results

The present research study tried to answer the following two questions:

1-What is the effectiveness of a programme based on Social Learning facilitated by Facebook in developing some English creative writing skills among secondary-one students?

2- To what extent will a programme based on Social Learning facilitated by Facebook enhance secondary-one students’ language learning motivation?

To answer the first question, the researcher followed the following procedures:

1. Administering the Independent-Sample T-Test to compare between the means of the two groups in the light of the pre-test scores to examine the equivalence between the research two groups. Table 1 shows the results.

Table 1

The Independent-Sample T-Test for the English creative writing              skills Pre-test

As shown in Table 1 the t-value in each question of the pre-test and the total scores of the English creative writing performance pre-test is not significant at the level of 0.05. Accordingly, there are no significant differences between the means of the control group and the experimental group in the pre-test. Consequently, the two groups were statistically homogeneous and equivalent. In the light of the results of Table 1, Figure 4 illustrates these results.

Figure 4

The differences in the mean scores of the creative writing skills pre-test between the control and the experimental group

1. Administering the Independent-Samples T-Test to compare between the means of the two groups in the light of the post-test scores (see the results shown in Table 2).

Table 2

Independent-Sample T-Test for the English creative writing                        skills Post-test

Table 2 shows the mean of scores and the standard deviations between the control group and the experimental group in the English creative writing post-test. It indicates that the t-value at the degree of freedom 68 is high 16.1 and significant at the level of 0.05. Accordingly, there is a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the English creative writing post-test in favour of the experimental group.

The participants of the experimental group, who were taught English creative writing skills using the social learning-based programme facilitated by Facebook, got higher mean scores 67.98 than those of the control group 50.7 who were taught the content of the programme using the commonly used teaching methods. Therefore, the programme is statistically effective in teaching English creative writing skills. Figure 5 illustrates the results shown in Table 2.

Figure 5

The differences in the mean scores of the creative writing skills post-test between the control and the experimental group

- Results of the effect size of the research programme on the English creative writing skills

To measure the effectiveness of using the programme in developing secondary-one school students' English creative writing skills, the subjects' scores on the post-administration of the English creative writing test to the research groups, were calculated by using: (1) the mean of scores; (2) standard deviation; (3) T-test value; and (4) eta-squared (h2) (see Table 3).

Table 3

The effect size of the research programme on the students’ English creative writing skills

Table 3 shows that the effect size is high for each question of the English creative writing post-test of the research groups. The results show that using Eta-squared (h2), the effect size for all questions was 0.87, 0.60, 0.58, 0.43, and 0.55. In total, it was 0.79, which is higher than 0.14. This means that the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook was effective in developing the English creative writing skills of secondary-one school students.

-Results of the effect size of the research programme concerning the pre-post administration of the English creative writing test to the experimental group

To measure the effectiveness of using the programme in developing secondary-one school students' English creative writing skills, the participants’ scores on both the pre-and post-administration of the research tools to the experimental group were calculated using: (1) the mean of scores; (2) standard deviation; (3) T-test value; (4) eta-squared (h2); and (5) Cohen’s D (see Table 4).

Table 4

The effect size of the research programme on the English creative writing skills of the experimental group

Table 4 shows that the effect size is high for each question of the English creative writing performance pre-post test. The results show that using Eta-squared (h2), the effect size for all questions was 0.95, 0.92, 0.95, 0.94, and 0.92). In total, it was 0.97, which is higher than 0.14.

Comparing the results to Cohen’s D (i.e., 4.47, 3.58, 4.42, 3.96, and 3.49., in total 6.17), the results are considered highly effective, since each result is higher than 0.14.

Additionally, comparing the results of each English creative writing skill with the total of the English creative writing skills scores on the pre-post administration of the English creative writing performance test to the experimental group, the participants significantly improved their English creative writing skills (see Table 5).

Table 5

Paired-Samples T Test (Experimental group skills pre-post testing)

Results in Table 5 show that the mean scores of the participants of the experimental group in the post-testing of each English creative writing skill are higher than those of the pretesting mean scores; in total the mean scores of the participants of the experimental group in the post-testing of English creative writing skills was 67.9 which is higher than the pretesting mean scores, which was 28.53. The t-value in total is 36.512 and significant at the level of 0.05.

Figure 6 shows the difference between the pretesting and the post-testing of the English creative writing skills.

Figure 6

The differences in the mean scores between the pretesting and the post-testing of the English creative writing skills of the Experimental group

Moreover, Table 5 shows that the effect size is high for each skill of the English creative writing pre-post test. The results show that using Eta-squared (h2), the effect size for each skill was 0.92, 0.95, 0.95 and 0.94), in total 0.97 which is higher than 0.14. Also, comparing the results to Cohen’s D for each skill (i.e., 3.48, 4.30, 4.43, and 3.97, in total 6.17), the results are considered highly effective since each result is higher than 0.14.

From the previously mentioned results, it can be concluded that the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook is effective in developing the English creative writing skills of secondary-one school students.

To answer the second question, the researcher followed the following procedures:

1- Administering the Paired-Samples T-Test to compare between the mean scores gained by the participants of the experimental group in the pre- and post-administration of the motivation scale. Table 6 shows             the results.

Table 6

Motivation scale Paired Samples T Test of the experimental group participants

Referring to Table 6 and comparing the results obtained, the participants of the experimental group achieved a highly significant degree of improvement in favour of post-administration of the motivation scale. The mean scores of the participants of the experimental group on the post-administration of the motivation scale in each domain of the motivation scale were significantly higher than those of the pre-administration of the motivation scale. The total mean score on the post-administration of the motivation scale was 109.28, which was higher than that of the pre-administration of the motivation scale 69.45. Figure 7 illustrates the difference between the pretesting and the post-testing of the motivation scale concerning the participants of the experimental group.

Figure 7

The difference in the mean scores of the participants of the experimental group between the pre and post-administration of the motivation scale

   Furthermore, Table 6 indicates that the "t" value in the total score of 17.067 is significant at the 0.05 level. Therefore, there is a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the mean scores of the experimental group in the pre-and post-administration of the motivation scale in favour of the post-administration.

2- Administering the motivation scale to the control group at the end of the programme (post-administration only) to measure the difference in the mean scores of the participants of the control group compared to the mean scores of the participants of the experimental group. Table 7 shows the results.

Table 7

The mean scores of the participants of the control group and the participants of the experimental group in the post-administration of the motivation scale

Table 7 shows the mean of scores and the standard deviations between the control group and the experimental one in the post-administration of the motivation scale. It indicates that the t-value at the degree of freedom (68) is statistically high (31.798) and significant at the level (0.05). Accordingly, there is a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the post-administration of the motivation scale in favour of the                 experimental group.

The participants of the experimental group, who were taught using a social learning programme facilitated by Facebook, got higher mean scores of 109.28 than those of the control group 59.85 who were taught the content of the programme using the commonly used teaching methods. Therefore, the programme is statistically effective in enhancing secondary-one school students’ motivation to learn English. Figure 8 illustrates the results obtained in Table 7

Figure 8

The difference in the mean scores between the participants of the experimental group and the control group in the post-administration of the motivation scale

• The effect size of the research programme concerning the pre-post administration of the motivation scale to the experimental group

To measure the effect size of the Social Learning facilitated programme by Facebook to enhance secondary-one students’ language learning motivation on the experimental group in the motivation scale, the researcher used the Eta-squared equation and Cohen’s D as shown             in Table 8.

Table 8

The effect size of the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook to enhance secondary-one students’ language learning motivation on the experimental group

Table 8 shows the effect size of the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook to enhance secondary-one students’ language learning motivation on the participants of the experimental groups’ achievement in the post-administration of the motivation scale. Results show that the effect size (Eta-squared) in total was 0.89, which is high since it is larger than 0.14. Cohen's D was in total 3.96, which is considered to be highly effective at 0.8.

• Results of the effect size of the research programme concerning the post-administration of the motivation scale to the research experimental group and the control one

To measure the effectiveness of using the programme in enhancing secondary-one school students' motivation to learn English, the subjects' scores on the post-administration of the motivation scale to the research groups, were calculated by using: (1) mean of scores; (2) standard deviation; (3) T-test value; and (4) eta-squared (h2) (see Table 9).

Table 9

The effect size of the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook to enhance secondary-one students’ language learning motivation on the experimental group compared to the control group

   Table 9 shows that the effect size is high for each main domain of the motivation scale of the research groups. The results show that using Eta-squared (h2), the effect size for all domains was 0.86, 0.82 and 0.82. In total, it was 0.93, which is larger than 0.14. This means that the Social Learning facilitated by Facebook is effective in enhancing secondary-one school students’ motivation to learn English.

Discussion of the Results

The findings of the present research study are positive and motivating as they show statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the control and the experimental group participants on the post-administration of the creative writing test in favour of the experimental group. Additionally, obtained results show statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group participants on the pre-post administration of the creative writing skills favouring the post-administration. The results also show statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group participants on the pre-post administration of the motivation scale favouring the                post-administration.

The presented results indicate that the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook had a significant effect on the development of the creative writing skills and sub-skills of secondary-one school students. After analysing the obtained data, the researcher found that the participants of the experimental group achieved a mean score of 67.98 on the post-administration of the creative writing test which was higher than the mean score of the participants of the control group 50.70. Furthermore, the participants of the experimental group achieved a mean score of 67.98 on the post-administration of the creative writing test which was higher than the mean score of 28.70 they had got on the pre-administration of the creative writing test. The same results were found on the post-administration of each skill of the creative writing skills, with higher mean scores on the post-administration of the creative writing test in favour of the experimental group.

Before administering the programme, the participants of the experimental group’s mean scores in the creative writing skills pre-test were unsatisfactory. After they had been trained through the programme, they developed their creative writing performance. The highly satisfactory results of the 't' value of 36.5 and the effect size value Eta-squared of 0.97 and Cohen’s D of 6.17 indicate the development in the participants' creative writing. It can be concluded that the activities, techniques, and methods used in the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook were effective in developing the students’ creative writing skills.

These findings answered the second question of the research, which investigated the effectiveness of the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook in developing some English creative skills and sub-skills.

The presented results also indicate that the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook had a significant effect on the enhancement of secondary-one school students’ motivation to learn English. The participants of the experimental group achieved a mean score of 109.28 on the post-administration of the motivation scale which was higher than the mean score of 69.45 they had got on the pre-administration of the scale. The highly satisfactory results of the 't' value of 17.067 and the effect size value (Eta-squared) of 0.89 and Cohen’s D of 3.96 indicate the increase in the participants' motivation to learn English.

These findings answered the third question of the research, which investigated the effectiveness of the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook on enhancing secondary-one school students’ motivation to learn English.

The results of the present study proved that the social learning programme facilitated by Facebook helped to develop secondary-one school students' creative writing skills and their motivation to learn English. The programme activities stimulated students to interact freely and communicatively using the target language.

Prior to their interaction with Facebook, students’ ideas seemed very fragmented and disjointed, their sentences were simple with a few details. They lacked the flexible transition from one idea to another. Their ideas for short stories were repeated and recited from old ones. They lacked writing about their feelings and thoughts in an expressive way.

However, after receiving the appropriate training through the programme and while using Facebook, students felt it is easier to verify the words they are unaware of or unsure about. They had the opportunity to replace any misused words to create a better writing flow. The Facebook virtual environment motivated students to think of a variety of ideas about the targeted subject, elaborate on any existing ideas and join ideas together in a flexible style to express their thoughts. They spent quality time interacting with the Facebook writings: posts, comments, and replies. On the other hand, their counterparts in the control group, who were taught creative writing skills using the commonly used methods, their creative writing seemed to be weak with a few creative ideas. They lacked the integration between each other to accomplish the writing tasks.

Conclusion

To sum up, the study provided significant data on the use of a social learning program facilitated by Facebook. The program proved to be effective in developing the students’ creative writing skills and sub-skills. It made students more active and motivated to write creatively. The program improved students' creative writing skills which may contribute to students' interactions in the writing process since they became more involved in creative writing situations and discussions through the Facebook platform. Also, the program provided students with systematic procedures that helped them with different abilities to learn creative writing skills and the strategies they need to write more meaningful creative texts. Moreover, the program enhanced the students’ motivation to learn English and use it more willingly to interact with each other through their comments, replies, and posts on the Facebook group with much care to correct word choice, spelling, and sentence formation and structure, and a more expressive style. The findings of the present research can be both theoretically and practically significant for EFL curriculum designers, researchers, textbook developers,                     and teachers.

Recommendations of the Study

Considering the results and findings of the present study, the researcher states the following recommendations:

a-Recommendations related to students

• Sufficient time should be devoted to students' practice of creative writing tasks.
• Students should be involved in extra activities and writing tasks that stimulate their creativity in writing tasks.
• Students should be provided with a relaxing, effective, and interactive environment that fosters interaction and helps them to develop their creative writing skills.

b-Recommendations related to teachers

• Creative writing practices should be frequently viewed by EFL teachers and instant feedback should be given in time.
• Every teacher is encouraged to have his/her own Facebook platform where he\she can put the course he\she is teaching, the activities, and the creative writing tasks, so students can interact thoroughly: sharing posts, commenting, giving, and receiving feedback.
• The time allocated to teaching creative writing per week should be increased.
• Social learning principles should be employed and implemented in teaching creative writing so that students can learn and acquire creative writing skills from each other.
• Teachers should motivate their students to get eagerly involved in creative writing tasks.

c-Recommendations related to courses designers and supervisors

• EFL curricula designers should consider the new trend for the integration of information technology and modern technological innovations within the educational environment while designing English curricula.
• Much care should be given to integrating social learning principles in teaching strategies while designing writing activities within English textbooks.
• Formal training of EFL writing instructors should include programs that are based on using social media, especially Facebook, in writing classrooms to develop secondary school students’ creative writing skills.
• More creative writing tasks and activities should be taken into consideration while designing new English curricula for secondary school students.
• Assessing creative writing should be a continuous evaluation not just in exams.

Suggestions for Further Research

Based on the results and findings of the current research study, the researcher suggests the following for further future studies:

• Investigating the effect of a suggested program based on social learning principles in teaching reading skills.
• Investigating the effectiveness of using blogs, wikis, or other types of social networking sites in developing secondary school students' creative writing.
• Investigating the effectiveness of using Facebook on developing secondary students' reading and speaking skills.
• Conducting more studies to examine the effectiveness of various methodologies in developing secondary school students’ creative writing skills and subskills.
• Conducting more studies to develop students' motivation towards other language skills (i.e., listening, speaking, and reading).

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