AN EVALUATION OF THE ROLE OF USING FACEBOOK ON LANGUAGE LEARNING AMONG EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Year 2017, Volume: 3 Issue: 5, 1 - 24, 21.06.2017

Mohammed Salih Ahmed Al-jaf

Abstract

 

Nowadays, social networking sites are becoming popular throughout
the world and have been quite popular among various age group users
particularly the young users but small number of researches have been done,
especially in Iraq, on how much these websites can contribute to language
learning and teaching though they seem to offer plenty of opportunities. This
study provides insight into EFL students’ opinions and attitudes of
participating in activities through Facebook for language learning. Therefore,
the study aims at examining students’ views
about the online learning atmosphere after having an eight-week course
using Facebook, and to find the role of Facebook
in language learning. In addition, the study discusses the overall
effects and possible uses for Facebook in the field of second language (L2)
learning and teaching. Forty-six students at the English Department, School of
Languages from University of Garmian in the academic year (2015-2016)
participated as the sample in this study. They were third year University
students in northern Iraq, who voluntarily joined a closed Facebook group. This
study used a one-group pretest-posttest design to examine its hypotheses. A
questionnaire form using a 5-point Likert scale was used for both tests with
research tasks based on any tasks and lessons to improve English language
skills. The results indicated that there is a significant difference between
participants' attitudes before and after the course and it showed positive
attitudes toward most activities for language learning following the completion
of the study compared to prior opinions. In the pre-test, the majority of
participants considered Facebook to be generally useful because through this
network, they can communicate and share knowledge. After the online course,
most students indicated that, Facebook has high possibilities for being used as
an effective formal educational tool. Furthermore, the posttest revealed that
students’ positive attitudes toward the usefulness of social networks increased
under the influence of research tasks and activities. Finally, this study
confirmed that every participant considered Facebook to be highly effective and
potential educational tool, especially for improving language knowledge and
performance in various online activities.

Keywords

social networking, social media, Facebook, Facebook group

References

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