The use of digital technology in classroom teaching has significantly increased over time, in order to provide easy access to high-quality learning materials and improve quality of teaching and learning in general. There is a need, particularly for teachers in the developing countries to understand its effect on learners and to further enrich students' learning experience. However, didactic methods to teach writing essays are still prevalent and widely practiced. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of digital media devices such as smart phones and tablets, as an instructional tool to guide students in their essay writing tasks. Using a pre-test and post-test control design, a three-week digital devices intervention program to write essays was carried out. This mixed method study randomly assigned a total of 17 students each in experimental and control group. The data collected were analysed using qualitative and quantitative analyses of students' pre and post-test written essays before and after the intervention. The results of focus group discussion showed that use of technology led to an improved quality in writing essays. Further the findings from quantitative analyses revealed twenty percent increase in post-test scores as compared to pre-test scores. The overall effect size (d = 0.7) was indicative of a large effect size. Statistically positive moderate relationships were also observed between students' gender and living arrangements. Based on these findings, the ability of students to write essays seems to have improved in the experimental group, and thus the use of digital devices is seen to have promoted student collaboration, participation and improvement in the quality of student writing.