الفهرس 
Background and ProblemOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Writing is an important skill for English as a foreign or second language. For several educationalists, writing is the most important skill to master. Through strengthening writing skill, EFL/ESL learners will make greater development and progress in all academic areas.
Moreover, much of the literature enlightened the benefits of constructivism theory for improving students’ learning. Among them are the following benefits:
• Fathalla (2009) stresses the effectiveness of the three patterns of constructive educational activities: mental operations, experimental assumption and hands-on in developing achievement and creative thinking. The statistical analysis proved that there were statistically significant differences at 0.01 level between the average grades of students who studied the unit of the research according to the three constructive patterns and those who studied the same unit according to rational method in the total grade for the achievement test and in the total grade for the creative thinking test in the post-administration. The results showed that the effect order of the three patterns of constructive educational activities in developing the target learners’ creative thinking was as follows: hands-on, mental operations and experimental assumption.
• According to Tobin (2000), constructivism can be implemented to any activity setting, and it can be relevant to any social setting. Moreover, it can develop any learning context.
• Wilkinson, Hattie, Parr, Townsend, Thrupp, Lauder and Robinson (2000) emphasis that constructivism theory gives students opportunities to work together through engaging them in collaborative tasks and activities. Furthermore, they mention that there is evidence of higher-level cognitive processes, improved learning outcomes and increased interest when peer collaboration is effectively facilitated.
As stated above, research into constructivism theory has suggested that using constructivism theory can improve students’ learning. Therefore, there was a need to develop second year Business Administration department students’ business technical writing skills by using the constructivism theory.
Statement of the Problem
The current research problem can be identified in the students’ poor mastery of some business technical writing skills that should be developed in Canadian International College. This might be because of the traditional methods of teaching adopted by most EFL instructors. Therefore, the current study attempts to develop the essential business technical writing skills for Business Administration students in Canadian International College by applying a proposed program that based on the constructivism theory.
Research Questions
As the current study attempted to address this problem, especially in Business Administration faculties, it sought to find an answer to the following main question:
• What is the effectiveness of a suggested program based on the constructivism theory to develop Business Administration students’ technical writing skills in Canadian International College?
To answer the above main question, the following sub-questions were also answered:
1. What are the required technical writing skills for business administration students?
2. What are the constructivism theory strategies and activities that can be used to develop business administration students’ technical writing skills?
3. What are the principles on which a constructivism theory based program can be designed for improving business administration students’ technical writing skills?
5.4 Hypotheses of the Study
The following are the hypotheses of the current study:
1. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group students on the pre and post measurement of the writing skills test as a whole in favor of the post measurement.
2. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group students on the pre and post measurement of developing content skill in favor of the post measurement.
3. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group students on the pre and post measurement of developing inquiry based learning skill in favor of the post measurement.
4. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group students on the pre and post measurement of developing problem solving skill in favor of the post measurement.
5. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group students on the pre and post measurement of developing mechanics skill in favor of the post measurement.
6. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group students on the pre and post measurement of developing formatting skill in favor of the post measurement.
7. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group students on the pre and post measurement of developing organization skill in favor of the post measurement.
8. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group students on the pre and post measurement of developing style skill in favor of the post measurement.
Instruments of the Study
The current study made use of the following tools:
1. A list of business technical writing skills appropriate for the Business Administration students to be approved by a jury.
2. A list of strategies of the constructivism theory to develop business technical writing skills to be approved by a jury.
3. A pre/post test that is suitable for the aim of the study to be approved by a jury.
4. A business technical writing analytical rubric.
5. A proposed program.
Research Procedures
To answer the research questions, the researcher followed the following steps:
• Determining the principles upon which a constructivism theory based program that can be designed for developing business administration students’ business technical writing skills. This was done through:
• Reviewing previous related studies and literature to constructivism theory.
• Reviewing the literature and previous related studies to business technical writing skills.
• Preparing a list of the appropriate business technical writing skills for business administration students.
• Determining the status of the business administration students’ technical writing skills. This was done through:
• Designing a business technical writing skills test based on the previously prepared list.
• Selecting a group of business administration students randomly.
• Pre administering the previously designed business technical writing skills test to the selected group.
• Designing the proposed program through:
• Identifying the aims of the program.
• Choosing the content of the program.
• Selecting the strategies and activities based on the constructivism theory that can enhance students’ business technical writing skills.
• Determining assessment methods for the program.
• Determining the effect of the program through:
• Administering the proposed program to the experimental group.
• Post administering the business technical writing skills test.
• Interpreting and discussing the results quantitatively and qualitatively.
• Presenting suggestions and recommendations.