Effects of TBI on Students' Essay Writing Performance and Engagement

This study attempted to investigate the effects of TBI on students' essay writing performance and their writing engagement, and again to examine the mediating effects of writing engagement between the causal relationship of TBI and essay writing performance. The study was conducted on Grade-11 students of Ediget Feleg Secondary School in Gondar City, Ethiopia. The design employed in the study was quasi-experimental, taking randomly two intact groups as control and experimental, with 56 and 58 students in each, respectively. The experimental group students were taught using the TBI approach as intervention, whereas the control group students were taught, employing the conventional (PPP) approach. Writing test was used to collect the writing performance data, whereas questionnaire was employed to collect data about students' writing engagement. Independent samples t-test, Chi square, and Structural Equation Model were used to analyze the data. And it was found that direct significant difference came true between the control and experimental group students' essay writing performance posttest scores, favoring experimental group participants, i.e., (B = 1.581 CR = 5.190 (>±1.96), p < .05). And, it happened that there was significant effect of TBI on engagement, favoring experimental group participants, showing results (β = .543, CR = 4.757 (>±1.96), p < .05). Still, results (β = .345, CR = 2.103(>±1.96), p < .05) reveal that TBI had positive effect on experimental group participants' writing performance posttest score through writing engagement. The TBI, therefore, has a positive effect, directly and indirectly /through writing engagement, on students' writing performance. The implication is that writing engagement plays a partial mediation role in the causal relationship between TBI and Essay writing performance.