Learning Gains in Research Proposal Writing with a Project-Based Interactive E-Book: A Quasi-Experimental Study in Two Indonesian Undergraduate Programmes

Scientific writing remains a persistent difficulty for Indonesian undergraduates, and the Indonesian language teaching materials currently in use neither embed project-based learning (PjBL) nor exploit interactive digital formats. This study examined whether students receiving a combined PjBL–interactive e-book intervention demonstrated greater gains in research proposal writing than students receiving conventional instruction. The e-book, developed through the ADDIE model and organized as five weekly project cycles culminating in a mini research proposal, was first evaluated by content, media, and language experts and then by lecturers and students in a limited pilot. Learning outcomes were compared using a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control-group design with 138 students taking the compulsory Indonesian language course in two study programmes at two universities. Writing performance was scored with an analytic rubric comprising five aspects and twelve weighted sub-indicators derived from an established framework for proposal construction. Students who learned with the e-book outperformed their peers in conventional instruction on the posttest and on normalized gain. The between-group difference was large, remained similar after adjustment for pretest scores and in sensitivity analyses accounting for class clustering, and was of comparable magnitude in both disciplinary contexts. Because the intervention combines a project syntax with an interactive digital format, the design evaluates the combined instructional package; the independent contribution of the pedagogy and the medium cannot be separated and is not claimed here.