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There are three areas addressed to direct the plan and implementation of this survey as main objectives: the faculty members' feelings and impression on applying Skype site as a media to teaching and learning academic writing process, the weak and strong points of the Skype site application during the teaching and learning academic writing, and the faculty members' perceptions toward using Skype site as a supporting tool for course delivery based on selected variables The study was a descriptive quantitative-qualitative research which a general survey model was used in. The survey questionnaires consist of 30 statements, devised in five categories based on Premise Base and Conducive Assumptions to clarify the Skype-based educational utilities and application. The interview item was also applied to explore if the participants affirmed the media-based approach augments their learning of academic English writing process or not. Results related faculty members' perceptions toward using Skype site as a supporting tool for course delivery based on selected variables: their specialization, year of teaching, and past experience with Skype explored that there were no statistically significant differences at (α = 0.05) in the use of Skype units due to faculty members majors. There are statistically significant differences at (α = 0.05) in the use of Skype units due to the year of teaching variable, in favors of, the third and fourth year faculty members. The result also, revealed that there are statistically significant differences at (α = 0.05) in the use of Skype units due to the past experience with Skype variable, in favors of faculty members with no Skype use experience. Also, the calculated mean and Standard Deviations in six areas each having five statements arranged from the highest to the lowest ranking indicate the participants' impressions to Skype-based blended model in teaching academic writing. Skype media as an educational media is a beneficial medium to be applied to deliver academic writing materials and support learning. Faculty members not having enough time to participate in classes feel comfortable with the use of the Skype-based methodology in academic writing. They participating in the course expressed their acceptance of this media in learning academic writing. Skype-based teaching could become a very effective educational medium for learning academic English writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the existing extensive curricula of English for Dental Purposes (EDP) courses and absence of enough weekly hours to cover them in Iran, there is a limited insufficient exposure to English to improve students' English communication skills to the levels necessary for their future career. Therefore, there have been needs to appraise the present teaching approaches and reform the configuration and context of EDP classes to yield highest profit for their students. The study was designed to address issues central to the perception and expectations of students in regard the use and the impact of the social medium, WhatsApp. As part of this impression, a spectrum of procedures has been depicted to employ this cross-platform messaging application. This research was conducted among 70 2nd year dentistry students at Kashan University of Medical Sciences, in a course called English for Dental Purposes (EDP). The descriptive research project employing a qualitative and quasiexperimental study was chosen to collect data using a valid and reliable pretestposttest design. Two groups 35 subjects were randomly selected via simple random sampling. The control group was taught by conventional method, while the experimental group was taught through the proposed whatsApp assisted language learning approach in a blended way. A paired t-test was utilized to compare the results of each group and an independent sample t-test was utilized to compare the results in control and experimental group. The f-ratio value is 7.88138; the t-value is 2.80738. The p-value is .006512 and the result is significant at p < .01. Therefore, there are good reasons to think WhatsApp-based method of teaching EDP as a more effective approach than the face to face method. The Likert scale questionnaire descriptively analyzed via SPSS 16.00 version revealed experimental group had generally positive attitudes towards Apps-based teaching of academic materials. This media helps students get to be more capacitated in EDP, advances the class learning of English for Dental Purposes, enhances students' knowledge more satisfactorily, motivates them to gain a positive impact and willingness in their class activities and had resulted in more continuity in study and selfconfidence. So, it deserves considering the incorporation of the new application i.e. WhatsApp effectively in the curriculum of EDP pedagogies as an educational means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]