لخّصلي

A Grade 9 English teacher in an Omani government school reported homework-related issues that prevented her from achieving her targeted lessons’ objectives. The students were not doing their homework. In addition, the students were attending class without preparing for the lessons, or worse, without reading the lessons. Consequently, understanding the lessons took a longer amount of time than expected, which impeded the course delivery. According to the syllabus, teachers are required to cover each lesson within a 40-minute session. Due to the lack of student involvement in their English studies at home, the students did not have enough time to practice the language in class as most of the time was spent on understanding the topics. Furthermore, the large number of students per class added to the teacher’s burden. Therefore, the teacher sought to enhance the students’ involvement in the course material and homework outside of class in order to maximise class time for more significant language practice. The fact that her students were using the WhatsApp social network motivated her to implement a blended learning solution to her problem. This positively affected the teacher’s lesson time management and her achievement of the learning outcomes because she could finish the lessons as planned.
Widespread use of WhatsApp all around the world, and particularly in Oman, encourages teachers to use it as part of their teaching. According to the WhatsApp website, the number of WhatsApp users has reached one billion. Similarly, the large number of students who reportedly use WhatsApp in the literature (https://www.whatsapp.com/about/, 2017) justifies the exploration of this social network in English teaching in Oman. This study investigated the personal efforts of a teacher who integrated WhatsApp into her teaching of Grade 9 students in an Omani school to communicate with students outside of classroom time. The teacher implemented WhatsApp in her courses with the aim of providing a chance for students to practice English and overcome problems related to their homework. For instance, among the issues, students would forget to do their homework, copied others’ work and had other people do their homework. Therefore, the teacher thought of a solution that would enhance the learning environment. In this case, setting up a class WhatsApp group was expected to increase awareness and participation as the more students accessed the group, the more opportunities they would have to practice the language. In addition, it was believed that the more students would be exposed to the language, the more quickly they would learn.

The purpose of this study is to explore the use of WhatsApp in Grade 9 in an Omani government school, how WhatsApp can improve the students’ English and what the difficulties and limitations of using WhatsApp in teaching English are. The findings will create an opportunity to conduct more targeted research about the use of WhatsApp in Omani schools. From Sumya’s perspective, WhatsApp was the solution for her students’ problems learning English. For example, Al Hamdani (2013) found that technology helped with students’ homework issues.
WhatsApp was selected by the teacher to be used as part of her English teaching course because most students had mobile phones and used WhatsApp. Additionally, the teacher was only teaching Grade 9.
This study aims to achieve some specific objectives. First, the study aims to explore the use of WhatsApp and students’ involvement in their English course outside the class from a teacher’s perspective. Moreover, each new method teachers use has both negative and positive aspects. Accordingly, the study also aims to identify the advantages and disadvantages of using WhatsApp in teaching English. Finally, the study aims to explore the difficulties and limitations of using WhatsApp in teaching the language. These objectives are listed below.
• RO1: To explore how using WhatsApp can improve the teaching and learning experience from a teacher’s perspective
• RO2: To identify the advantages and disadvantages of using WhatsApp in teaching
• RO3: To identify the challenges of implementing WhatsApp as experienced by a teacher using WhatsApp
The current research explores the implementation of WhatsApp with Grade 9 students from the perspective of the teacher. It is hoped that it contributes to in-depth knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of using WhatsApp in Omani government schools to enhance students’ involvement in their studies while at home. Furthermore, it will provide a deeper understanding of the teacher’s perceptions of the benefits and challenges of enhancing students’ participation, classroom management, homework and learning outcomes in terms of students’ language proficiency after using WhatsApp in teaching English.
The study aims to add a better understanding of using WhatsApp in teaching and learning in the Omani context. The researcher also hopes to encourage teachers and to raise their awareness of the possibility of using WhatsApp in general, specifically in teaching language. It would be premature for the study to be generalised to all Omani schools because only one case is being studied. The research hopes to inspire and motivate researchers to study the topic in further depth in other Omani contexts and with different levels of students.
This research presents a chance to investigate a change from the traditional homework model to using WhatsApp. Furthermore, the study is an opportunity to investigate the use of WhatsApp in Grade 9 in an Omani school as well as blended learning using the WhatsApp application. Additionally, the study aims to introduce the use of WhatsApp in learning, with its advantages and disadvantages, as it creates a chance for other researchers to dig deeper into this area in public schools in Oman. The use of WhatsApp has helped monitor students’ learning outside the classroom as they do not have access to their phones during school. The result of the study is from the teacher’s perspective, rather than the students’. Furthermore, students in Omani governmental schools have merely 40 minutes to study English in class, which is not enough time to learn it or for each student to practice the language. In general, WhatsApp was used to involve students in doing homework and studying outside of class. It allowed students to become more exposed to English and to develop their learning experience.
The researcher did not explore the use of WhatsApp as students are not allowed to bring their phones to school. The researcher did not measure learning and proficiency improvements from the qualitative and narrative approach.
Roller (2017) discusses Piaget's constructivism theory, in which a teacher’s role is to be an assistant who inspires students to be active in learning and thinking critically. The theory proposes that experiences are the basis of constructing knowledge and meaning. The theory was first introduced in psychology. It explains how people acquire knowledge. This study is related to the constructivist theory of learning. m
First, Berge and Muilenburg (2013) describe m-learning as the use of mobile devices for learning as they are used for friendly communication and playing games. The idea of using mobile devices for learning has gained popularity for several reasons. For example, it provides an easy way to reach anyone wherever they are. This provides teachers with varied, effective and quick opportunities to reach and teach their students. Moreover, this was what the teacher benefited from using WhatsApp in teaching English. The same was suggested by Jongpil, Sangno, Steven and Song (2012), who identified three features. According to these authors, mobile phones (1) can be taken anywhere; (2) have the ability to access the Internet as well as any information anytime and anywhere; and (3) can be used to store and gather information, such as videos and photos.
Cavus and Ibrahim (2009) found a relationship among informal learning, constructive learning and m-learning. Students were described as asking one another for help in their learning. Subsequently, they could surf the Internet for information. This help was described as informal and ubiquitous. Constructive learning is based on learning from others’ knowledge and ideas. It helps to develop learners’ theories, ideas and learning in general. It encourages learners, motivates them and raises their confidence.
Al Hamdani (2013) describes the interaction between the learner or learners and other people. According to the constructivist perspective, knowledge is gained and then constructed until it is integrated into the learner’s previous knowledge and experience. Piaget (2013) states that constructivism is a factor in developing and constructing new concepts, ideas and thoughts. It could also help improve problem solving and the sharing and negotiation of opinions and perspectives on teaching and learning.
A significant amount of research, such as that conducted by Amry (2014), Alsaleem (2013) and Salem (2013), has been conducted on using WhatsApp to address different language skills and elements, including, for example, reading, writing and vocabulary.
Amry (2014) experimented with 30 university students. In his experiment, a group of 15 students received e-learning instructions, whereas 15 students received face-to-face teaching. The researcher conducted a t-test to compare the results. He found that the experimental group showed a definite difference compared to the control group at 0.05 alpha. The experimental group explained that using WhatsApp allowed them to share knowledge efficiently and to collaborate with one another. The study did not focus on a specific language skill. A printed screenshot of a conversation in the chat showed that students used Arabic (the mother tongue) in the group discussion. They were supposed to use English in the group chat, rather than using their mother tongue. The research suggests that the use of the mother tongue was due to the unclear instructions of the teacher. Furthermore, this can occur if the teacher is careless towards such issues. The use of the mother tongue helped students understand what was discussed more simply in the teaching. Using the mother tongue helped better acknowledge the topic than for students in face-to-face classes. Moreover, WhatsApp made students feel comfortable and free, which encouraged them to participate in the chat group. Furthermore, Bansal and Joshi (2014) found that students learn more collaboratively when using WhatsApp in learning. Collaborative learning occurs more when students have more time to do activities and search for the answers.
Alsaleem (2013) studied the effect of using WhatsApp in learning English writing and vocabulary, the perspective of the writer and word choice. The study involved 30 Saudi Arabian undergraduate students who were learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The researcher conducted the study with a pre-test and post-test design. The pre-test and post-test subjects were alike regarding difficulty and interest. The treatment involved different message writing tasks on WhatsApp. The study showed that there was development in the participants’ writing skills. This improvement was mainly observed in vocabulary use and personal voice expression or perspective. It can be hypothesised that WhatsApp may have an influence on students due to specific features that can be used in the application. For example, the built-in dictionary suggests the most common words used in writing and gives users some prediction about upcoming words as they are programmed. In other words, being exposed to words may help students remember those words. Additionally, auto correction features of smartphones provide the correct spelling of words, which can help students write the words correctly in the future.
Using a familiar and widely used program in learning usually has a positive impact on students. However, it does not always provide the expected results. The abbreviation that is widely used around the world has a negative effect. Salem (2013) studied the impact of WhatsApp and Blackberry Messenger (BBM) on learning English in Kuwait. The sample of the experiment included 211 participants, who were divided into two groups. The study found that WhatsApp and BBM had a negative impact on formal writing due to the use of shortcuts, which affected participants’ spelling ability. A similar disadvantage was found with Sumya, the test subject of the present study.
Another study was conducted in Ghana tertiary institutions by Yeboah (2014). Fifty students participated in the study, and 500 questionnaires were administered to students from the same institutions. It aimed to determine the impact of WhatsApp usage on students’ performance. The results of this study were interesting. The research found that the use of WhatsApp negatively affected students’ spelling due to the use of acronyms and informal language. Furthermore, the construction of students’ sentences was very weak. Students’ attention during the lectures was also poor. Students may have focused on other chat groups and conversations while they were using WhatsApp, rather than actually learning while in the class. These difficulties in dealing with students similarly occurred with Sumya in the present study. Students sometimes dislike the topics they study as they are uninterested in them. Teachers must attract students’ attention to make them participate and listen to their teachers.
Students have different personalities. However, they almost all feel anxious when they stand in front of their friends. Students’ self-confidence disappears during speaking activities as they are afraid of making mistakes. For instance, Han and Kiskin (2016) examined the effect of WhatsApp activities on the speaking anxiety of 39 undergraduate students. They noted that ‘WhatsApp experiences significantly impacted the students’ language acquisition by lowering EFL speaking anxiety”’(2016, p. 29). Based on their result, it can be stated that WhatsApp provides an environment to learners that reduces negative factors, such as anxiety. As a result, some speaking problems, such as stuttering, were also reduced, which further contributed to reducing anxiety. Consequently, students felt comfortable and participated more. This correlates with the present study, where Sumya talked about non-participation in the class and providing time to think about each activity.
The time between the question and the answer reflects the quality and the number of responses the teacher receives from students. In regular classes, teachers cannot give students a long time to think about a question because time is limited, meaning students may not learn anything in that class. However, WhatsApp can give students this time and provide the chance for multiple answers from them. For example, Barhoumi (2015) explored the effectiveness of using WhatsApp messenger to increase participation. An experiment with a control group (39 students) and an experimental group (39 students) was conducted. He found that WhatsApp is a suitable means to use in a blended course strategy. Exchanging ideas and thoughts among students is essential in learning. Conveniently, the conversation’s threads are shown instantly as its transcripts and turns are recorded, even when the students participate at the same time. This is impossible in face-to-face communication due to the necessity of turn-taking. On the other hand, it is impossible to listen to more than one student at the same time. These advantages were echoed in the current study.
Furthermore, Plana, Escofet, Figueras, Gimeno, Appel and Hopkins (2013) investigated the impact of WhatsApp on improving learners’ reading skills. The study was conducted in Catalonia with 95 university students. The implementation showed that it was challenging to have all the participants in one group, so they divided them into groups of 10 students. There were some limitations related to the study. The use of a short message system (SMS) also made up a part of the study. The findings showed that students and teachers paid more money in this study. Therefore, financial issues should be considered as some families might not be able to afford the cost. Furthermore, some students were too slow to respond to the teachers as doing so is time consuming. Additionally, teachers could not be forced to teach after working during class time because they had other duties. Finally, due to the significant number of students in the study, it was challenging to manage their responses individually. This study reflects some limitations that were also faced in the current study. In Oman, not all families allow their children to have mobile phones. Even for the families that allow them, children usually have a specific time they are allowed to use their mobile phones. On the other hand, most houses have an Internet connection, and some parents also allow their children to have group chats with their friends. In general, using WhatsApp is not always expensive. The study by Rambe and Bere (2013) found that family is a major challenge in using WhatsApp in learning.
WhatsApp has advantages, as with all other programs. Bouhnik and Deshen (2014) researched the use of WhatsApp in learning between teachers and students. The researchers conducted quantitative research and explored classroom communication between the faculty and learners. They conducted interviews with the teachers and students. The study mentions three types of advantages. First are the technical advantages, including, for instance, the availability of the application, ease of use and low financial cost. Second, the educational advantages were significant; for example, it creates a pleasant learning atmosphere. Finally, there were educational advantages, such as the ability to continue teaching and learning after classroom time.
A research was conducted on fourth-year teachers at Sohar University in Oman by Al Hamadani (2013). He applied practice activities over 4–8 weeks to study the possibility of using mobile devices to enhance teaching and learning. These activities targeted the use of cognitive skills through interaction with e-learning materials. He found that student teachers used WhatsApp to support and collaborate with one another. Learners need more time to apply what they learn, especially languages. The more learners use the language, the more they acquire it. Additionally, WhatsApp offers the opportunity for learners to ask what they do not understand in regular classes.

Al Shekaili (2016) investigated the use of WhatsApp by lecturers at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. He explored the use of four skills, including reading, writing, listening and speaking. He found that some teachers did not use WhatsApp at all. The majority of the teachers were not using WhatsApp widely in their teaching. These teachers suggested that the Language Centre (which is responsible for the English course at SQU) introduce the application to motivate the teachers to become interested in using it. The positive results of this study may also be used to encourage educators to use WhatsApp in teaching language in Omani schools. Teachers should be aware of new methods and creative ways of teaching. Various teaching methods help teachers acknowledge students’ strengths and weaknesses in learning and provide solutions to overcome learning problems.
In Oman, females and males tend to be separated from one another due to religious issues. As a result, anxiety between them can occur. Students do not feel comfortable even with the same gender. However, WhatsApp provides an environment that makes everyone comfortable and feel free to participate. Moreover, students have time to check their answers and information from different resources. Justin (2016) conducted a study in Oman in which she looked at the use of WhatsApp to enhance the reading and writing skills of students at the undergraduate level. English language exams depend on students’ reading and writing skills, which were very weak. Students were anxious, and the researchers attempted to find a way to reduce the learners’ anxiety, which was the aim of the study. Two groups of boys and girls participated in the study. The teacher communicated with them for a limited amount of time. Questionnaires were used in the study. The results showed that students were interested in using technology. They responded more to technology than to traditional classes. Females felt shy about participating in the class if they were mixed with male students. Therefore, they made use of the affordance of the online environment of WhatsApp to participate more. This interest in using technology was also found with Sumya and the students in Grade 9 in the current study.
Finally, Sarrab, Al Shibli and Badursha (2016) studied the factors behind the adoption of mobile learning in the Omani higher education context. A total number of 806 participants from 17 different higher education institutions in Oman participated in this study. The researchers used a questionnaire to collect the data. Results showed that some of the factors affecting the adoption of mobile learning included ease of use, usefulness and enjoyment. These factors reflect the widespread use of mobile applications in Oman and around the world, which is consistent with the technology acceptance model (TAM) from Venkatesh, Morris, Davis and Davis (2003). These factors should encourage teachers to use WhatsApp in teaching English. Students may go back to notes and participation written in the group chat in the future. Additionally, mobile phones are carried with students and are more comfortable to carry than notes and books. Even the English curriculum is available in a PDF version, which is easy to share in WhatsApp.
Some WhatsApp features help enhance language learning. For instance, WhatsApp can ensure that the receiver has received the message and can see it. Other technology applications do not provide this feature. For example, Bouhnik and Deshen (2014) divide the advantages into two types: technical and educational. One technical advantage is that WhatsApp has a low cost. WhatsApp is a free application. It does not cost any money, but one has to subscribe to Internet service. Additionally, it is available and can be installed on any device, such as a mobile phone, laptop or desktop computer. Immediacy is another advantage of WhatsApp. The user’s messages are sent and received directly, although this depends on the Internet speed the user has. Finally, it is simple to operate. Using WhatsApp is not complicated. Moreover, there are some educational advantages. For example, it provides a pleasant educational environment as students love dealing with these devices and such applications. On the other hand, the researchers acknowledge certain disadvantages of WhatsApp. For example, they mention that irrelevant messages were received by the students. Some students send messages that were not related to the experiment and did not follow the rules. Furthermore, some users felt that the application was not a formal communication channel.
The use of WhatsApp shifts the learning process from being teacher-centred to being student-centred. Butt (2014) investigated students’ views in Australia using WhatsApp in language learning. The study showed positive views from students. Students decided the time to do the activity, and the study time was flexible. Additionally, students are technology lovers. They love using mobile phones and talking to their friends.
Teachers’ insights about WhatsApp should be studied to gain information about using this method of teaching English. Basal (2015) studied this area. The researcher aimed to introduce WhatsApp use for 47 English teachers in Turkey. The result showed that teachers believed that flipped classrooms are an essential part of the learning process and are complementary to traditional leaning. Additionally, four benefits were found from using WhatsApp, including overcoming regular classroom limitations and increasing participation in the classroom. Students begin learning in regular classrooms with a background about the lesson. They are ready to answer all questions and activities teachers will teach in the class.
The influence of using WhatsApp inspired researchers to conduct more studies about it. Learners benefit from using technology in learning. Studies have shown that learners are more motivated in using WhatsApp in learning. For example, Chen (2017) investigated enhancing English learners using WhatsApp. Forty-eight English language students participated in the study. The researchers used the LINE application in the study. The result showed that using WhatsApp improved students’ motivation. Additionally, students’ idiomatic knowledge improved, and the instructional objectives of the class were achieved. In this study, students enjoyed the new learning process. They had enough time to do the entire activity and worked collaboratively in the application. Moreover, students love using widespread applications in general. Almekhlafy and Alzubi (2016) found that WhatsApp increased students’ motivation in learning English, which was the result of the Chen (2017) study.
WhatsApp provides excellent opportunities for learners to improve their collaborative skills and relations with one another. An experiment done by Ibrahim, Hafiz and Idris (2015) studied the psychometric competence of a measure of WhatsApp use and students’ perceived academic performance. The researchers concluded that WhatsApp enhances the relationships between students. Additionally, WhatsApp motivates students and improves their learning. It also develops students’ collaborative abilities. The researchers found that compared to other social networks, WhatsApp is more private than other social media, such as Twitter and Facebook. Moreover, there were other advantages found by these researchers, such as the widespread use among students and the quick transfer of materials.
In relation to improving English, satisfaction is an essential key in learning English. Nitza and Roman (2016) conducted a study on students’ academic achievement and success in learning English using WhatsApp. The researcher found that students’ achievement level raised when they were satisfied. Students created a pleasant learning atmosphere. This resulted in collaboration between the students. Students reviewed the course materials while they were discussing and communicating. Students could also practice dialogue with one another.
Another study on collaborative learning using social media was that of Lam (2015). Lam’s similar findings include some other advantages that can be found in WhatsApp compared to other social media. First, it has a voice recording function that allows users to record a voice in case teachers, for example, use WhatsApp in speaking. It is also fast and convenient, allowing approximatley 250 people to be added in one chat group. WhatsApp voice recording is a unique feature that helps improve speaking skills and can be used not only with regular students but also with students with health issues, such as sight problems.
Introducing new methods of learning encourages students to learn more. Implementing technology with learning provides more learning resources. Nalliveettil and Alenazi (2016) investigated the impact of mobile phones on learning English. Fifty-two undergraduate students participated in the research. The researcher found that students used mobile phones to communicate with their friends and do tasks related to writing skills. Students were pleased to use WhatsApp in their learning. Their positive attitude towards using technology helped them enhance their English. Additionally, activities and tasks were very easy for them. For example, they were editing messages to communicate with their friends for a specific purpose.
Teachers always encourage students to be active and centred in class. Sometimes students do not have the time to achieve this aim. Jafre, Mizan and Abidin (2017) investigated improving students’ communication skills. The researchers aimed to improve students’ performance in group discussions. The researchers achieved the aim, and students had enough time to discuss what they were asked to. Some students did not achieve the object of the research due to their lack of interest in using mobile phones. Some students also lacked self-confidence. Time made a large difference between the class and the group chat. Students could practice recording what they wanted to say before sending it in the class, when they did not have this time in the class, which helped improve their communication skills.
Time management is a critical element in a successful class. Teachers plan to finish the lesson at the end of the class. Cetinkaya (2017) experimented with the use of WhatsApp in teaching and learning English. The researcher found that WhatsApp helped him to manage his teaching time. Students could also manage their learning time and could finish the required activities during class time. Obviously, WhatsApp helped the researcher convince students to revise and read in the course before each class. Students attended the class with background knowledge about the topic they were studying.
Furthermore, a study by Sutikno, Handayani, Stiawan Riyadi and Subroto (2016) had a similar aim as the current study in terms of the reason the teacher preferred to use WhatsApp, rather than other social media. They studied instant messenger applications and found WhatsApp to be the best for several reasons. First, WhatsApp is the easiest in terms of the user base. It can quickly research user contacts when the user installs the application, so it is not necessary to search for other users. Second, WhatsApp provides a web-based service that allows users to use laptops or desktop computers to use the application and share files from these devices.
On the other hand, the previous studies detailed in the above sections found several disadvantages. For example, Plana, Escofet, Figueras, Gimeno, Appel and Hopkins (2013) found that dealing with a significant number in one group is difficult. Additionally, some students were slow in responding to the teacher, which made it time consuming to wait for each response. It was challenging to manage the massive number of participants if responding to each one. Furthermore, Yeboah (2014) found that students’ spelling was affected adversely. Students used abbreviations and informal language, which affected their construction of sentences.
Students’ mobile addiction is a family challenge. Parents care about their children’s future and want the best for them. A disadvantage like this could affect a teacher’s ambition to enhance teaching and learning. Ishtaiwa, Khaled and Dukmak (2015) found that parents disagree with their children using mobile phones. Mobile addiction can be solved by controlling mobile phone using time. As a result, parents, with time, could agree and see better results in their children’s grades. Kibona and Mgaya (2015) investigated smartphones’ effect on students’ performance. The researcher found that students’ grades had been affected negatively.

On Ling’s (2016) previous study, students were bothered by the number of messages they received and the time they needed to check the application. Teachers should allot specific times for using WhatsApp because students have other courses to study for. Some messages were also not related to learning and were outside the task they should be doing. Furthermore, they spent more time on WhatsApp, which affected their other courses and their spelling. The effect on spelling was due to the use of emoticons rather than words.