Didactic materials and their influence on writing skills in high school students

Resumo

Didactic materials are essential resources for developing students’ language skills, especially in writing. The research aims to analyze the influence of didactic materials on writing skills in high school students. A mixed method, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, was employed to design and analyze the results of the study. As data collection techniques, interviews were applied to English teachers, and surveys were administered to high school students and educators. The study sample consisted of sixty-three third-year high school students from two parallel (A and B), and four English teachers, who were selected using convenience sampling (non-probabilistic method). The research context was conducted in a public educational institution in Flavio Alfaro, Manabí. The main results show that didactic materials are innovative tools that significantly impacting language teaching. They enhance students’ writing skills, enrich teachers' pedagogical strategies and assessment methods, and foster learner autonomy and motivation. Furthermore, it concluded that teachers and students prefer digital didactic materials over traditional ones, as they consider them to be more attractive, particularly useful, and effective for developing their language skills. These valuable findings contribute to language education by encouraging educators to improve their teaching methods and strategies by incorporating these pedagogical resources into their classes.