Digital Sticky Notes and Synchronous Learning: A Hybrid Approach to Enhance EFL Students' Engagement and English Writing Skills

Abstract

Appropriate strategies are currently highly demanded to assist EFL students in enhancing their English writing skills, especially in Zoom lectures. However, the development of various Web 2.0 tools in recent years has further enriched teaching and influenced the learning mode. To that end, this study investigated the perceptions of EFL students towards the impact of digital sticky notes on enhancing their engagement levels and English writing skills. To reach this goal, the researchers used a quantitative approach to investigate EFL students' perspectives towards the role of using digital sticky notes to improve their engagement level in English synchronous lectures and writing skills. The results emphasise that using colourful digital sticky notes enhances interactivity and helps students identify their errors, fix them and avoid repeating them in subsequent activities. In addition, the study found no significant differences in student perceptions based on years of study, major specialisation, prior online learning experience or familiarity with digital tools. Considering these results, the researchers recommend educators to design activities that facilitate peer feedback and self-assessment using digital sticky notes and investigate the best practices for integrating digital sticky notes into different EFL learning contexts.