twitter for language learning: the learners' view
TRANSCRIPT
Language learners on Twitter: practices and beliefs
Fernando Rosell-Aguilar @FRosellAguilar
Senior Lecturer in Spanish / Open Media FellowSchool of Languages and Applied Linguistics, The Open University
Overview
• Twitter for language learning• Research questions• Results• Conclusion
Twitter for language learning• Exposure to language and culture• Following accounts in target language• Tweeting in target language• Forming community with other learners• News• Word of the day• Links to resources• Useful infographics• And much more!
Research on Twitter for LL• Language Learning quickly identified as a subject
area that could be enhanced by the use of Twitter (Dickens, 2008).
• Borau et al (2009): on Twitter language learners can access exposure to the target language and also learn to express their thoughts in the target language.
• Hattem (2014): Twitter can be a useful medium for comprehensible input, comprehensible output, and meaningful interaction.
• Newgarden (2009): potential of Twitter for language learning is about engagement and participation in communities of language users.
Research on Twitter for LL• Ullrich et al. (2008): 94% of their students (based in China) believed their
English had improved with the help of Twitter.
• Antenos-Conforti (2009): the introduction of Twitter into his course helped the students develop a sense of community and encouraged participation, creating a virtual extension of his classroom.
• Jiménez-Muñoz (2014): use of Twitter to promote communication among students and tutor – student, engage students in target language use and get involved in more sophisticated use of the language as well as error correction. He found an increase in both the quantity and quality of interactions in the target language among his students.
• Lomicka & Lord (2012): study with US students of French + French students of English. Participants quickly formed a collaborative community that enabled them to learn, share and reflect. The students reported that they had learnt more about French culture than in previous courses, gained confidence, improved their reading skills and learnt from each others’ tweets.
Research questions
• Participant profile• User practices (how often they use Twitter, how,
using what devices, in what language)• Beliefs about how helpful Twitter is as a tool to
contribute to their language learning experience.
Most studies small-scale, carried out by teachers researching own initiatives. No studies of learners' own independent use. This study looks into:
Methods
• 30 questions: multiple choice and open-ended• 4 languages• Delivered on Twitter• From February 2016• 401 responses
• Italian = 5• French = 26• English = 289• Spanish = 81
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Conclusions:• Participant profile: variety of ages (49% between 25-
44), gender (64% female), formal (31.4%) and informal (68.6%) learners. Learning a variety of languages.
• Their practices: 75.1% use Twitter once a day or more. Happy to receive input but less so to produce it
• Beliefs about how helpful Twitter is as a tool to contribute to their language learning experience: very positive. Mostly vocabulary and cultural information. Some concerns.
• Results indicate that Twitter is a helpful tool for language learning and engagement with the culture and speakers of the target language.
