Enhancing descriptive writing of secondary school students through digital lesson contents in Zanzibar

Abstract

This study aimed to find out whether there was a significant difference in descriptive writing enhancement among secondary school students who were taught through digital lesson contents (DLCs) or not. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test through single group design was used for the study. One hundred twenty (120) students from three selected secondary schools were drawn using a purposive sampling technique. First, they were given a pre-test, and then teachers used DLCs for teaching descriptive writing within one month. After that, students were given post-tests to determine the variation of the two test scores. A mixed method approach was applied to focus group discussions and student achievement tests. The data of students’ tests were analysed by inferential statistics using a t-test with the help of SPSS program version 25. However, data from focus group discussions were analysed thematically. The findings revealed that the performance of the students improved after the use of DLCs for teaching and learning descriptive writing. There is a decrease in the proportion of students with low marks (<2) from the pre-test to the post-test, while there is an increase in the proportion of students with high marks (2--5) from the pre-test to the post-test. The findings from participants revealed that DLCs had an impact on raising the students’ interest and motivation as well as improving students’ descriptive writing ability. The study concludes that using DLCs for teaching and learning is a catalyst because it supports and motivates students to achieve sufficient ability in descriptive writing. Based on the findings, the study recommends that effective availability of instructional materials such as computers, projectors and smart TVs should be highly considered for secondary schools to improve the quality of education.