Web-based Cognitive Writing Instruction (WeCWI): A Theoretical-and-Pedagogical e-Framework for Language Development through Technology

An invention, innovation and design (IID) project entitled Web-based Cognitive Writing Instruction (WeCWI): A Theoretical-and-Pedagogical e-Framework for Language Development through Technology was showcased in Penang Invention, Innovation and Design 2014 on 3-4 December 2014 at the Banquet Hall, Hotel UiTM (Penang), Malaysia.

This project was led by Boon Yih Mah with his team members including Irfan Naufal Umar, Voon Foo, Thomas Chow, Rushita Ismail, and Rasaya Marimuthu. This project highlights on the origin, anatomy, and contributions of WeCWI towards language development through technology. The abstract of the project is shown as follows:

Writing is the hardest language skill, which is also the most challenging skill for second language (L2) learners to master among students from secondary to tertiary education. Based on the nine L2 writing challenges caused by the system, instructor, and learner or “SIL” (Mah, Irfan Naufal Umar, & Thomas Chow, 2013), a critical review has been done on the learner’s perspective, which involved the undergraduates from the largest university in Malaysia in terms of size and student enrolment. The undergraduates were found scarce in literacy skills, language proficiency, critical thinking, information literacy, and committed to interlanguage errors and L2 writing anxiety. These problems had led them to unemployment after graduation due to their poor command of English. To define a solution based on the seven identified perspectives of poor writing skill, a theoretical-and-pedagogical e-framework “Web-based Cognitive Writing Instruction (WeCWI)” was developed as a set of theoretical and pedagogical guidelines to design a web-based instruction (WBI). Since the Internet use goes increasingly mobile, its injection into this framework has brought “interactivity” as the biggest gain for WeCWI as a hybrid e-framework. WeCWI consolidates between instructional design and language development to enhance learner’s writing performance and critical thinking.