The effect of face-to –face and online argumentative writing education on the writing skills and writing anxieties of teacher candidates

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of face-to-face and online argumentative writing education upon the argumentative writing skills and writing anxieties of teacher candidates. Pre-experimental model was employed for this study. The group of participants of the study consisted of 179 teacher candidates currently studying at Abant İzzet Baysal University. These participants consisted of 94 students in the first group: experimental group 1 (face to face education) and 85 in the second group (online education). Within the context of the research, a six-week training program of argumentative writing was delivered to all participants. The data were collected using the "Argumentative Writing Rubric" developed by Çakmak (2013) and the "Writing Anxiety Scale" developed by Daly and Miller (2013) adopted for use in Turkish by Zorbaz (2010). On completion of the research it was concluded that the levels of teaching candidates in creating argumentative texts had increased after training delivered both in face-to-face and in online environments. It was seen that following delivery of the training that there was a statistically significant increase both in terms of the fundamental elements of argumentative writing and with regard to the secondary elements of argumentative composition. When the results were examined with respect to the participant groups, it was found that the group that had received face-to-face training were more successful than the group that had received online training with respect to the development of fundamental writing skills. However, when the two groups were contrasted from the perspective of the development of secondary writing skills, there was seen to be no significant difference. In the research, it was found that there was an increase, albeit small, among those teacher trainees who had received argumentative writing training in terms of levels of writing anxiety following completion of the training (period). It is thought that the increase in writing anxiety that occurred following the argumentative writing education was thought to emanate from an increased awareness of the topic (on the part of certain candidates). On examination of this situation with regard to gender, it was established that there existed no significant difference statistically between the teacher candidates in the face- to-face and online participant groups. In this regard,it was established that (acquisition) argumentative writing education did not constitute a significant difference with regard to the writing anxiety of teaching candidates when considered in terms of gender. In the study, it was also observed that those teacher candidates preparing for preschool were considered to be inadequate in terms of their ability to create argumentative texts. After the completion of face-to-face and online argumentative writing education almost all candidates were observed to be successful in the writing of argumentative texts. It is therefore suggested that a program in applied writing education be provided with view to developing the argumentative writing skills of candidates responsible for students' writing education during their pre-service training. In addition, online platforms that are used frequently in daily lives should not be ignored as a means of developing writing skills. It is also suggested that both during basic training/education programs and in the period that follows greater space should be allocated to argumentative writing both in terms of curricula that include more argumentative writing activities within lessons and with regard to argumentative writing in online contexts. Key words: Writing, argumentative writing, writing anxiety, online writing, writing education.