THE EFFECT OF DIGITAL WRITING APPLICATIONS ON 9TH-GRADE STUDENTS’ WRITING ATTITUDES
Abstract
This study examined the effect of digital writing activities on 9th-grade students’ attitudes toward writing and described the characteristics of student products created in digital environments. The
study used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. In the quantitative phase, a quasiexperimental pretest-posttest control-group design was used; in the qualitative phase, student
products were examined using document and content analyses. The participants were 59 ninthgrade
students studying at a science high school in Türkiye, with 30 students in the experimental group and 29 students in the control group. The experimental group completed a five-week digital writing program that included e-story, e-poem, e-fairy tale, e-essay, and e-mail writing activities. The “Paper-to-Digital Writing Attitude Scale” was used to measure students’ attitudes toward writing in paper-based and digital environments; therefore, the quantitative results were interpreted in relation to writing attitude rather than as a direct measurement of creativity or self-confidence. Quantitative data were analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk normality test, independent samples t-test, and paired samples t-test. The qualitative data, consisting of 28 student products, were analyzed using genre-specific writing categories and digital literacy indicators. The findings showed that the experimental and control groups were comparable at the pretest stage (p = .429). The experimental group showed a significant increase after the intervention (p = .013), whereas the control group showed no significant change (p = .988). The qualitative findings indicated that students generally produced texts with strong thematic coherence, emotional expression, and message clarity, while technical accuracy, narrative technique, and critical monitoring of digital tool use needed further development. The results suggest that systematically planned digital writing activities can support students’ writing attitudes and enrich their written products when combined with explicit guidance on genre conventions, language accuracy, and critical digital literacy.
Keywords
Digital Writing, E-writing, Digital Tools
Supporting Institution
No financial support was received from any institution or organization for this research.
Project Number
This study was not produced from any project
Ethical Statement
This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles governing research involving human participants. Prior to the data collection process, ethical approval was obtained from the Social Sciences and Humanities Ethics Committee of Adıyaman University. The application form was received by the Ethics Committee on 26 March 2026, and the study was unanimously approved as ethically appropriate with the decision dated 14 April 2026 and numbered 90. Participation in the study was based on voluntariness, and informed consent was obtained from the participants and, where necessary, from their legal guardians. The participants were informed about the purpose of the study, the confidentiality of the data, the protection of their personal information, and their right to withdraw from the study at any stage without providing any reason. All data obtained during the research process were anonymized and used solely for scientific research purposes.
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