The Effect of Wordwall on Descriptive Writing Skills at SMP Islam Bustanul Ulum Pakusari

Abstract

Writing is one of the essential language skills that enables students to communicate ideas effectively in written form. However, many junior high school students experience difficulties in writing descriptive texts because of limited vocabulary, lack of motivation, and low engagement during the learning process. This study aimed to examine the effect of Wordwall as game-based media on students' writing skills in descriptive texts. This study employed a quantitative approach using a quasi-experimental design with a post-test only control group design. The participants consisted of 64 seventh-grade students of SMP Islam Bustanul Ulum Pakusari, divided into an experimental class and a control class through purposive sampling. Data were collected using a writing test and analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Shapiro-Wilk normality test, Levene's Test of Homogeneity, and an independent samples t-test with IBM SPSS Statistics version 26. The findings revealed that the experimental class achieved a higher mean score (77.03) than the control class (66.41). The independent samples t-test showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) with a large effect size (Cohen's d = 0.88), indicating that Wordwall had a significant positive effect on students' writing skills in descriptive texts. These findings suggest that Wordwall can serve as an effective game-based learning medium to enhance students' writing achievement and support the implementation of interactive English language instruction.