| Students in the developing nation of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) experience life in a remote part of the world, with substandard schools, intermittent or nonexistent electricity, rapid cultural change, and the necessity to study in English, a foreign language to them. Lack of English reading and writing skills is one main cause of students' failure to pass college entrance tests. The objective of this quantitative research was to investigate the impact of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) as measured by the English writing achievement of junior students (N = 40) at a small high school. The theoretical framework of the study was second language acquisition theory, which is both cognitive and sociocultural. The guiding question explored the difference in English writing achievement between students who used CALL for English writing and students who did not. For this causal comparative study, descriptive and inferential statistics (means, standard deviation, and t tests) were employed in analysis. The study was limited in sample size and findings showed no significant improvement in writing achievement for the students who used CALL. Future research with larger sample sizes and a number of schools might yield significant findings. This research study contributes to positive social change as it was the first such research carried out in this island nation. It focused attention on a major problem in education and provided a foundation for further research to find ways to improve writing achievement, which, in turn, may lead to more college-educated students, a higher education level for the society, and a positive impact on the economy and lifestyle of Micronesians. |
