Leveraging Interactivities on Social Networking Sites for EFL Learning

Abstract

Social Networking Sites (SNS) have a high penetration rate among adolescents who are considered as the Net Generation. Many studies have shown that SNS can increase students' motivation to learn. Therefore, more and more instructors are trying to incorporate SNS into their delivery channels in order to better their student's learning outcomes. However, whether or not SNS effectively help students elevate their EFL learning performance still needs further investigation. This study plans to explore how EFL learners perceive SNS. A Facebook-based community of practice (CoP) was engineered by a group of English majors where English was the only language used. The study reports on a 3-month action research that monitored the EFL learners' engagements in Facebook's community of interest. The participants were forty-three English majors (N = 43), freshmen from a university in southern Taiwan, who have been actively using Facebook for more than a year. The results of the study presented an interesting aspect of the students' engagements in the activities, which were greatly influenced by the nature of the instructional activities and the feedbacks posted by their peers. Furthermore, results of an AHP analysis pointed out that these EFL students preferred involvement in instructional activities via the Facebook platform. They valued the criterion of interactivities on Facebook, with the greatest weight obtained from an AHP.

The Nature of the Facebook Group Learning Environment: Insights from University Students

“…Sun (2010) and Yunus, Salehi & Chenzi (2012) noted that foreign language learners often become more motivated and engaged in tasks focused on writing because of the extended exposure of their writing output. On the other hand, research also shows that students' motivation to learn English either was not visibly affected (Simpson, 2012) or vanished after the novelty faded (Hsu, 2013).…”

“…This assumption is in line with Simpson (2012) and Small (2014) who agreed that social networking sites enable EFL learners to be more self-confident and relaxed while they use the target language, since such electronically-mediated communication can suppress the inhibiting factors of direct, inter-personal communication. Hsu (2013) concluded that the environment was perceived as "pressurefree", because the EFL learning process took place in a closed Facebook group with a limited number of members.…”

Iranian Teachers’ Attitude towards Using Social Media and Technology to Increase Interaction amongst Students inside or outside the Classroom

“…In addition, Shih (2011) pinpoints that the theory of constructivism could also serve as the basis for social media use in education, as its application allows pedagogy designs with meaningful social interaction and community sharing. In ELT contexts, sociocultural theory has also been related to the use of social media in the instruction process, for example by Hsu (2013). In his explanation, Hsu maintains that this theory prescribes learners to be well exposed to the speakers of English and their community of practice, and that meaningful interaction with them is an essential factor in language learning.…”

Communication dimension of a Facebook group: first-hand experience from an EAP class

“…Although Facebook is usually bound with personal life, leisure time, and informality, different authors researched the use of this tool in formal, academic settings. They studied its application in different higher education contexts and focused on various aspects such as motivation (Kabilan, Ahmad & Abidin 2010, Simpson 2012, Tűrkmen 2012, Hsu 2013, student involvement (Pascopella & Richardson 2009, Sun 2010, Yunus et al 2012, Kao & Craigie 2014), e-learning (Stewart 2009, Tűrkmen 2012, social learning (Kabilan, Ahmad & Abidin 2010, Razak, Saeed & Zulkifli 2013, autonomous learning (Laire, Casteleyn & Mottart 2012, Tűrkmen 2012, Yunus et al 2012, Datko 2018a), or communication (Al-Shehri 2011, Simpson 2012, Small 2014.…”