SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ANDCRITICAL LANGUAGE LEARNING,

A SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCE?ANDY HALVORSEN

ICT Course

Paula Rojas & Diana Ceballos

2013

WHAT’S THE CHAPTER ABOUT?

This chapter addresses the possibilities of integrating SNSs (social networking sites) and CLL (critical language learning)for the purpose of enhancing language proficiency among Japanese English learners.

ASSUMPTIONS

The growth of CMC (computer mediated communication) allowed for SNSs to become popular and this phenomena inspired teachers across the globe to think of it as a tool for educational purposes.

ASSUMPTIONS

As a result of this process, new technologies contributed to the development of CALL (computer assisted language learning) taking into account behaviorist, communicative and integrative aspects of learning.

ASSUMPTIONS

In the field of CALL, Web 2.0 becomes a popular concept that holds all the applications that allow users to take advantage of the variety of possibilities offered by internet to interact with each other.

SNSS: SOCIAL NETWORKING PHENOMENON

As as result of CMC (computer mediated communication), social networking has spread through sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Mixi, which allows users to create and recreate their own identities (p. 240)

SNSS AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL

Because SNSs givesusers the possibility to:

Interact with each other by chatting, blogging, messaging, and file-sharing.

Build peer groups based on others’ recommendations

Educators started considering the possibilities to include these applications in their agendas.

SNSS’ BENEFITS FOR LANGUAGE LEARNERS

1. Learner motivation2. Collaborative

learning environments

3. Social constructivist approaches to education

4. Critical language learning

A CASE STUDY INTEGRATING SNSS TO CLL

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Can the MySpace SNS function effectively as a platform for second language learning and acquisition by Japanese university students?

2. How would their use of MySpace throughout the semester impact and relate to the issues of learner autonomy, identity formation, student empowerment and critical literacy in the two groups?

3. What factors seem to impact the students’ interest, or lack thereof, in the process of using MySpace for second language learning?

A CASE STUDY INTEGRATING SNSS TO CLL

PARTICIPANTS 27 Japanese students learning

English (14 female and 13 male) from two separate courses

TIME They spent 14 weeks using

MySpace SNS in and out of the classroom.

CHARACTERISTICS Students had mixed English

proficiency ranging from high beginner to upper intermediate.

Six out of the 27 students reported being “good” or “very good” with computers; seven students reported having “very poor” computer skills.

METHOD Students were scaffolded

on the use of the basics of MySpace platform.

Discussions were held as to the potential of MySpace to students’ improvement of English.

Explanations were given as to how to use the page’s tools.

The remaining time was spent on training students on how to blog and use Audacity software for adding sound to the pages.

DATA COLLECTION Students were required

to write comments on both their blogs and their peers’ on a regular bases.

They were asked to create audio files by choosing the content and topic of the files.

At the end of the project, a questionnaire along with some interviews were carried out by the students.

HOW CLL WAS EVIDENCED ALONG THE PROJECT?

IDENTITY FORMATION

Through the project, students were able to: Develop a sense of

ownership of the second language

Portray their personalities along the pages as they used the tools to customize them.

The lack of computer skills did not prevent students from learning about the others’ identities.

HOW CLL WAS EVIDENCED ALONG THE PROJECT?

COLLABORATION AND STUDENT EMPOWERMENT Peer support was

evidenced in the project face to face in the classroom and through the website.

Students were able to take the role of educator of their classmates de-emphasizing the role of their instructor.

A strong sense of community was built within the group as they devoloped the project together.

HOW CLL WAS EVIDENCED ALONG THE PROJECT?

LEARNER AUTONOMY Autonomy was questioned

along the work for students had to be guided with computer literacy skills. However, they reported to enjoy the semi-autonomous nature of the work (p.249).

Autonomy was evidenced in students’ awareness of language learning and acquisition processes along with their own roles as learners.

CONCLUSIONS This research study intends to

lay the grounds for future research in the area of SNS’s

The project empowered students to express themselves in a variety of meaningful ways.

The study left remaining questions as to the degree of autonomy that students really reached through the project.

The students level of motivation in the learning of the target language was high as they were able to interact with native speakers throughout the process.