using a Facebook Closed Group to improve Efl Students’ Writing

Abstract

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>This study investigates how social media, in this case Facebook, can be incorporated in ELT through e-dialogue journal writing shared in a Facebook closed group. Fifteen EFL students participated in this case study. They were second, third, and fourth year students of English Education Department of a university in Bandung, who voluntarily joined a Facebook closed group for about four months and contributed their journal entries. The content of the students’ journals and responses in this closed group were analyzed to identify the nature of the students’ journals, the patterns of interaction, and their responses to e-journaling through Facebook. The findings indicate that the students responded positively to this activity and perceived improvement in their writing especially in vocabulary and grammar. The power of learning and sharing from others is also emphasized. </span></p></div></div></div>

Theorising for Innovation: Implications for English Language Teacher Education

“…The findings of the study (Rodliyah, 2016) did not describe the participants' contexts, nor did they show how the study sought to enhance students' experiences in those contexts. In the discussion section, the researcher constructs links between her own findings and other studies.…”

“…For this purpose, the authors selected two research reports that showed to engage contrasting approaches to the concept of innovation and its relevance to students' learning. In the study by Rodliyah (2016), it is argued, the researcher attributes innovation value to an online communication platform, and its relevance to students' learning is described in terms that are not clearly linked to the concept of success. Arbitrary concepts are given positive value, with no framework being offered to validate this assessment.…”

“…The study by Rodliyah (2016) serves as the first example to be examined. The examination follows the questions above.…”

“…The study (Rodliyah, 2016) emerged from the understanding that the Facebook platform could provide students with opportunities to encounter and use formal and informal language to express different language functions. The study sought to examine the language that the students used on a classroom Facebook page and identify strategies that students believed helped them express themselves (p. 86).…”

“…The researcher (Rodliyah, 2016) did not specify why the method of data collection and data analysis, that were being used, were relevant. The researcher did acknowledge previous studies that praised Facebook for a number of features, such as immediacy of contact with teachers or the opportunity to learn to use social media (p. 83).…”