Effectiveness of a Proposed Program for Using Smartphones in Developing the Skills of Functional Expression among First-Year Secondary Students in Sana'a City

Abstract

The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a proposed program to use smartphones by first-year secondary students in Sana'a city to develop their skills of functional expression. To achieve this objective, the semi-experimental method was adopted with a sample of (60) first-year secondary students who were selected by the purposive sampling method. The sample was divided into two groups (control and experimental), taking into consideration their homogeneity. The experimental group was introduced to the proposed program, while the control group was taught in the traditional method. The research instruments included a list of functional expression skills and a test of the same skills. The study results revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups in the overall results of the post-test in favor of the experimental group. There were also statistically significant differences between the pre- and post-test results in favor of the experimental group. This confirmed that the proposed program
had an impact on the development of students’ skills of functional expression. In light of the results, the study stressed the need to utilize smartphone applications in teaching Arabic courses and other courses. It was also recommended to introduce mobile applications-based teaching and learning, as this would boost the performance of high school students.