To examine students’ perceptions of how Facebook helps them in the writing process.
The final chapter of this research gives a brief review of the respondents’ profiles and reviews the results obtained from the present study. Also, there are Pedagogical implications of the current research study provided to give a better understanding of the use of Facebook in teaching the writing skills of English as a foreign language (EFL). It also tries to examine students’ perceptions towards the use of Facebook at Philadelphia University in Jordan and to investigate whether students’ demographic background (gender, age, and academic major) correlates with the performance and perception of the use of Facebook, in Jordanian EFL context. This chapter ends with making some recommendations for future research works, and it provides some concluding remarks to the entire study. The present research aimed at achieving the following objectives:
- To examine students’ perceptions of how Facebook helps them in the writing process.
- To identify whether there are anystatistical differences in students’ perceptions of using Facebook according to students’ demographic background (gender, age, and academic major).
- To investigate the effectiveness of using Facebook in the teaching of writing skills, whether there are statistical differencesbetween students who use Facebook in learning taught or those learn using traditional teaching methods.
- To identify whether there are anystatistical differences in students’ perceptions of using Facebook according to students’ group (control-experimental).
5.2 Background of the Participants
A total of 333 students participated in this study, with 131 male students and 200 female students. Random selection of students from three faculties at Philadelphia University (Agriculture, Pharmacology, and Engineering) was made. Most of the respondents were studied English as a foreign language (EFL). Besides, most of the respondents stated that they never received explicit instruction on using Facebook in improving teaching writing, while some of them indicated that they had experiences in using the Facebook application through special classes conducted for that purpose.
To collect data, eleven students were randomly selected to participate in the semi-structured interview sessions, with five male students and six female students. The students belonged to the faculty of agriculture (3 students), faculty of Pharmacology (4 students), and the faculty of engineering (3 students). Most of the respondents were studied English as a foreign language (EFL). Also, most of the respondents said that they never received explicit instruction on using Facebook in improving teaching writing.
The participants of the experimental design were 60 students, 30 in the control group and 30 in the experimental group. The students belonged to the three faculties (Agriculture =20, Pharmacology =20, and Engineering =20) at Philadelphia University in Amman, Jordan. Most of the respondents were studying English as a foreign language (EFL). There were 30 female students and 30 male students in this experiment; the age range of the participants was between 18 and 33 years.
5.3 Review of the Findings
According to objective number one in the current research, to identify students feeling, attitudes, and perceptions towards the use of Facebook in teaching writing performance. The analysis revealed that Facebook is an excellent platform for activities in teaching a foreign language.
In relationship to objective number two, the students’ perceptions of using Facebook according to students’ demographic background (gender, age, and academic major). The result revealed that there is no statistically significant difference in differences in students’ perceptions of using Facebook according to the demographic background (gender, age) while there are differences in students’ perceptions of using Facebook, according to Academic Major.
Regarding objective number three in writing ability scores between students taught using Facebook and those using traditional teaching methods. The result revealed that there are statistically significant differences in student’s grades on writing ability scores between control group and experimental group. It indicated that these differences were in favor of the experimental group. However, The post-test proved a significant improvement in the performance of the students of the experimental group, which taught using Facebook; therefore, the study concluded that the teaching using the use of Facebook has a high level of effectiveness in teaching writing performance.
Relating to objective four on students’ perceptions of using Facebook according to students’ group (control-experimental). The result indicated that there are apparent differences in students’ attitudes. ONE WAY ANOVA was used to find out if there are any differences in students’ perceptions of using Facebook in the groups (Between Groups and Within Groups), and also the result revealed that that there is statistically significant difference in differences in students perceptions of using Facebook between groups and within groups.
5.4 Discussion of Major Findings
5.4.1 Discussions of the Research Question (1)
What are the students’ perceptions of the use of Facebook in the writing process?
Research on this question showed that there were positive perceptions for using Facebook on improving the students’ writing skills. The total number of the questionnaire for the quantitative data was 333; it provides a description of the students’ perception towards the use of Facebook in the writing process. Besides, significant variations in the frequency of the students’ attitudes towards the use of Facebook in the writing process according to gender, age, and academic major. The findings revealed that using new and different enthusiastic techniques had a positive effect on improving the students’ writing skills. This progress could also mean that students participating, sharing ideas, opinions, and comments through Facebook had better results and a more active role than students in large classes, sitting passively in rows, receiving and not having the chance to produce.
The results indicated that the attitudes of individuals towards Facebook in teaching in the post-questionnaire were higher than pre, and the results indicated that the trends of students in the experimental group (taught using Facebook) were more oriented to Facebook teaching than students in the control group (taught using conventional methods). The results showed that EFL Students have a positive attitude and perception towards Facebook learning. The study revealed that EFL Students think that Facebook makes their English Language look cool, modern, and international. Classmates’ comments help me to develop their writing skills. Facebook helps them to practice the English words and structure that they have learned. Learning to write text with Facebook media more effectively compared to paper media ordinary. Facebook increases the chance of writing English. Commenting on Friends’ posts on Facebook develop their writing. Facebook improves their writing to be more effective in communication. Writing in Facebook enhanced their English writing skill. Facebook helps students use English grammar correctly when they write. Facebook makes students realize that their writing needs to be improved in the use of Facebook in teaching the writing skills of English as a foreign language (EFL). The study also revealed that Facebook has a significant effect on the writing skills of English. The results proved that there were statistically significant differences in student’s grades of writing ability scores between the control group and the experimental group; the study indicates that these differences were in favor of the experimental group. This result consistent with Mazman (2010) study, which concludes that the results revealed that have a significant positive influence on the adoption of Facebook and Madge, Meek, Wellens, and Hooley (2009), which discovered that there is a correlation between the use of Facebook and motivation.
The findings from this research study on the use of technology that writing has increased interaction amongst the peers is in agreement with Leeuwen and Gabriel’s research (2007). In my research finding, the use of Facebook and blogs has become an important platform and means of day-to-day writing. This is also, demonstrated by National Commission (2006), in the statement “use of blogs and wikis have increasingly provided an expanded motivation to write.”
The study confirmed the assumption that Facebook, when used as a writing platform, has significant writing benefits for students which aligns to the Carlos et al. (2015), Çelik, Çevik, & Haslaman (2014); Reid (2011) and Drouin (2011) findings that it can be used successfully in an education context. However, there is the pedagogical implication, particularly emphasizing on peer interactions. To solve this, teachers should prompt students to further probe into the issue discussed instead of giving definite answers and pointing out a list of errors made by their peers. Explaining further, the students should be encouraged to solve, interpret, and discuss constructively on answers provided.
Amongst the SNSs available for students in the Jordan Universities Face book remains to be the most popular. This is well reflected in other findings with Similar research in separate contexts and different parts of the world for example, Akyıldız & Argan, 2012; Hrastinski & Aghaee, 2012; Ruleman, 2012. Facebook has become part of Jordan students, consuming a considerable amount of time on day-to-day bases. Most of the students sampled log on Facebook daily, several times in a day, spending 15-60 minutes on each visit. Different purposes influence the creation of Facebook accounts with Jordan students. However, the most consistent in line with the empirical findings by Hussain et al., (2012); Moradabadi et al., (2012); Nassar et al., (2013) being social and entertainment purposes.
The majority sampled students (95.5%) questioned with the perception towards the use of Facebook in academics considered it to be a suitable method. They believed it was a convenience and of benefit. From previous research by Al Doghmi et al. (2013), there was an indication of Jordanian students willingly to utilizing Facebook features such as interactive discussion sharing thus, increasing flexibility in course content delivery. Though the study also found out that undergraduate students preferred to use Facebook in academics in limited ways, which suited delivery on administrative matters such as queries, lecture note and notices. This goes along in consistence with findings by Al-Atabi & Younis, 2010; Eteokleous, Ktoridou, Stavrides, & Michaelidis, 2012, where students had an overall favorable attitude towards designing course-specific Facebook groups. Despite utilizing Facebook for group purposes, they also recognized the other benefits and positive influence it has on their academic performance, barrier-breaking amongst students, sharing of knowledge and information, teamwork improvement, and feedback facilitation. Besides, students felt that participation in the course-specific should be voluntary, which brought the impression student think that it is a free space that should not have any restriction in whichever way. In the view, the students had low support in the creation of separate Facebook accounts from the academic accounts, suggests the student consider learning as an integral part of their social lives, which should not be isolated by the different Facebook accounts.
According to levy, (2007) Facebook helps teachers in teaching students reading and writing skills and Mubarak’s, et. al., (2011) indicating that using Facebook in the education process helps students develop language skills amongst themselves and activating the positivity in active participation with their classmate.
In conclusion, the findings of this study are in line with previous empirical studies of Eteokleous et al., (2012); Hamat & Embi, (2012) on the growing tendency on Facebook use for academic purposes. The finding also contradicted with previous results by Hrastinski & Aghaee, (2012); Haytko & Parker, (2012) with low favorable attitudes toward the use of Facebook in academics. The two emphasized that altitude and actual utilization of Facebook by students was content dependent. In the context of Jordan students, Facebook is being used for both social and academic purposes. The students are motivated and willing to use Facebook in their learning experience. They also accommodate the formal use of it in a non-restrictive manner. The students uphold freedom in the course of using it for learning. The academic institution should utilize such opportunities to improve the students’ academics. The reason for this is Facebook and other SNSs, if applied in learning processes could improve students’ social and learning skills. However, there is a need to balance the formality of academic encounters and freedom of self-expression, the platform provides. Thus, Facebook feasibility is an efficient and exciting means of communication between students or with teachers, which could be used under certain precautions to support an academic community through formal or informal ways.
From the findings of this study, it is proved that the the use of Facebook from respondents who agreed to use it, enhanced their writing performance. One of the popular features of Facebook being, enabling a specific group to communicate with members. A Facebook group has several special functions, which are not available on a homepage. The members can share video presentations and, in turn, be able to comment on their posts. The teacher may apply Facebook to improve the written feedback skill; this is because, in the traditional classroom, students are not able to produce immediate spoken feedback fully. The presenter is faced with time constraints, a large number of students, and a lack of motivation by students (Maarof et al., 2011: 29). Thus, the teacher may apply the Facebook group as a discussion group to sort these issues and improve the students’ written feedback skills.
Lastly, the study also agreed with “The Effectiveness of Facebook Groups of Teaching and Improving writing; Students‟ Perceptions” was conducted by Yunus and Salehi (2012).”It was investigating students’ perceptions of Facebook groups’ effectiveness in teaching and writing skills. The research design was a mixed survey method. The respondents were forty-three third-year students from the faculty of the Education University of Kebangsaan Malaysia who were completing a bachelor’s degree in Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL). This study also proved that Facebook groups are useful tools for improving students’ skills in writing, especially the brainstorming process.
The findings of this study are also in agreement with the results mentioned by the previous studies as regards investigating FB as an online English language-learning environment and students’ perceptions towards this learning model for instance, (Alhomod & Shafi, 2012; Blattner & Fiori, 2009; Fiori, 2009; Kabilan et al., 2010; Liu, 2010; Madge, Meek, Wellens, &Hooley, 2009; Mahmud & Ching, 2012; Mills, 2009).
5.4.2 Discussions of the Research Question (2)
Are there any significant statistical differences in the students’ perceptions of using Facebook according to students’ demographic background (gender, age, and academic major)?
The hypothesis states that; “There are no statistically significant differences in students’ perceptions of using Facebook according to students’ demographic background (gender, age).
The results showed that there is no statistically significant difference in students’ perceptions of using Facebook according to the demographic background (gender, age). This confirmed the existence of a consensus among the sample of the study on the importance of using Facebook in education, and this result confirms the importance of Facebook in the teaching of English for English as a foreign language (EFL)
There are differences in student’s perceptions of using Facebook according to Academic major. The researcher thinks that the reason for that result is that education through Facebook raises the level of education to some specialties more than others because of its content, which is more appropriate in the application of social networking site Facebook.
In this study, students demonstrate Facebook as an essential and positive learning tool. This perception helped them to break space-time and have pleasant experiences. The students also described Facebook as convenient, friendly to use, convenient, easy to use, and fun. This was consistent with findings by Omar, Embi, and Yunus (2012), who found out that students perceived Facebook as good, useful, comfortable, convenient, exciting, and enjoyable.
The study confirmed further that it helped in the improvement of their writing skills. Bringing positive learning outcomes such as the building of grammar and vocabulary (Hiew, 2012; Kabilan et al., 2010; Omar et al., 2012; Shih, 2011; Wu et al., 2011; Yunus & Salehi, 2012; Yunus, Salehi & Chenzi, 2012). Besides, the participants agreed that the platform enabled the delivery of information instantly. This included course updates and additional academic materials posted by group members. Thus, playing a vital role in facilitating the learning process by sharing relevant English knowledge.
The findings in this study were in agreement with research by The results of this study agreed with the investigation by Hargittai (2008).it had a study sample size of 1060 students. The findings were 88% of the participants used social network sites, Facebook is the most popular amongst the students. This was approximately four in five students using it, with over half of them using it.
The study demonstrates the significant reasons the students used the platform was because it was cost-friendly, and they could engage in multiple chats with a friend at the same time. This was in alignment with Marion and Omotayo (2011) assertion stating, “Facebook is a marvelous way to meet friends and keep up on what they are doing. Once you add a friend to your Facebook friend list, you will always know when they are adding things to their blog or updating their profile”. Other several studies were in line with this study and are as follows;
The study goes along with Reynol Junco’s (2011) study, which concluded there was no significance between genders in the usage of Facebook. The study had 1893 students as participants from Lock Haven University in the USA. A questionnaire was the tool used in the survey.
This study also agreed with a survey carried out by Muge Akyildiz (2012). The respondents in that study were 1300 students at Anadolu University in Turkey; the instrument used in this study was Questionnaire. The findings revealed that there were no significant differences between genders.
Petrović, et al. (2012) study on impact Facebook on achievement it has on the Environmental Quality System cycle in Belgrade, Serbia. The sample size constituted 44 females and 24 males adding to 68 participants’ final year students in the faculty of Organization sciences. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The results indicated Facebook increased the students’ productivity and environmental knowledge, enhancing their achievement levels. There was no significant difference in gender
This study agreed with the results of the survey conducted by Abu Shanab (2013), revealing that there was no significance between gender. The participants of this study are 206 students from Yarmouk University in Jordan, the instruments used in this survey was a questionnaire.
Akyildiz (2012) study similarly agreed to this study using a questionnaire to collect data. It had 1300 students as participants from Anadolu University, Turkey. It concluded that there was no significant difference between genders.
The findings of this study agreed with a survey by Melor Md. Yunus (2011). The participants in that study were 43 students in UKM University, Malaysia, the instrument used in this study was Questionnaire. The findings revealed that there were no significant statistical differences between gender.
The findings of this study agreed with a study conducted by Neil Selwyn (2009), a qualitative analysis of Facebook’s wall activity of 909 undergraduate students in a UK university. The findings showed that There were no significant differences in terms of general or education-related Facebook activity by students’ gender, year of study, or assessment marks. In other words, the use of Facebook was consistent across the student sample regardless of age, stage, gender, or academic performance.
Almashaqbeh (2014) conducted a study in Jordan investigating higher-education students’ attitudes towards using Facebook as a platform for education enhancement. It consisted of 49 students from AL-bayt University, Jordan. The results indicated there was no significant difference in academic majors’ use of Facebook.
This study Agrees with the research conducted in Jordan by Thawabih (2015). The instruments used were a questionnaire of 415 students at Tafilah University in Jordan. The findings revealed that there were no significant differences in the use of Facebook units due to students’ academic majors.
Also, this study agreed with a survey conducted by Kamnoestin (2014). it was conducted by using qualitative research methods to explore EFL college students’ writing behavior on the Facebook platform and understand the perspectives of students involved in using Facebook. The data collection methods were observation and interviews. The sample consisted of 60 students at Seton Hall University, USA. The study used the meeting as an instrument to achieve the objectives. The results showed that there were no significant differences in the use of Facebook due to the Academic Major.
Suthiwartnarueput & Wasanasomsithi (2012) carried out a study on Facebook use as a platform for participation in discussions on grammar and writing. Data were collected from student discussion boards with concern on explanations on grammar with the inclusion of their scores in three phases. Most of the posts had sentence structures meaning of words, speech parts, and relative clauses. For this study, the most critical finding was that the participants had an interest in utilizing Facebook as a method of instructing English.
This study also agrees with Al-Atabi and Younis (2010) findings. This entailed the creation of a course-specific Facebook group for a module introduced to the first-year students at a Malaysian university .from this study, 80% of the 66 sampled students were confirmed to like using Facebook for academics and considered it a useful experience. The experimental group steadily grew through the semester, and about 90% of them joined the group by the end of the semester in comparison with only 60 % who participated in the start year.
Another study by Liu (2010) found out that 47% of 221 students from an online survey from American communications and business schools were in preference to course-specific groups with no membership requirements. Thirty-six percent preferred short-term contemporary topics. With 27% joining groups with protected membership. The sample group was a mixture of both undergraduate and graduate. From her findings, she noted that future integration of technology into education should be focused on student preferences other than school preferences to actualize maximum efficiency.
Lastly, the other study in line with the survey carried out Eren (2012) “Students’ Attitudes towards Using Social Networking in Foreign Language Classes: A Facebook Example.” This aimed at investigating the attitudes of students toward the use of social networking sites, particularly Facebook, in language classes. This was carried out university of Gaziantep, Turkey. Participants were 48 undergraduate students enrolled in a one-year compulsory English preparatory course. Data was collected using a Likert-type questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings were that the participants had a positive attitude in using Facebook to supplement the classroom language lessons. It also noted that the classroom lessons for language formed the backbone for language education.
5.4.3 Discussions of the Research Question (3)
Are there any significant statistical differences in writing ability scores between students who are taught using Facebook and those who are taught using traditional teaching methods?
The first hypothesis states that: H0 “There are no statistically significant differences in writing ability scores between students who are taught using Facebook and those who are taught in traditional method.
After data analysis, it was found that: H1” There are statistically significant differences in writing ability scores between students who are taught using Facebook and those who are taught in traditional method. To test this hypothesis, means and standard deviation of the scores for pre and posttest for the experimental group were calculated. That the mean of all paragraphs in posttest is greater than the mean of all paragraph in pre-test . This result means that there are statistically significant differences between the pre-test and posttest in writing ability scores between students who are taught using Facebook and those who are taught in traditional method.
The researcher concludes that there are significant statistical differences between the results of the pre-test and post-test on all paragraphs. This result indicates that teaching paragraph writing skills through using Facebook developed students’ writing skills especially for writing paragraphs. This result agreed with the results of Alias et al (2013) who used Facebook based-learning to enhance creativity and proved its effectiveness, Melor Yunus & Hadi Salehi (2012) who found out the students’ perceptions on the effectiveness of Facebook (FB) groups for teaching and improving writing, also it agreed with Valenzuela (2008) who proved the effect of social network site (Facebook) on college students’ social capital to fulfill the promise of civic journalism: to spark attitudes and behaviors that enhance public life and civic action, and Moon (2011) who proved the impact of Facebook use on undergraduate academic performance.
With regard to positive aspect this study found that Facebook helped to improve students’ writing skills. This study confirmed that the use of Facebook could lead to positive learning outcomes, such as improved students’ writing skills including grammar and vocabulary (Hiew, 2012; Kabilan et al., 2010; Omar et al., 2012; Shih, 2011; Wu et al., 2011; Yunus & Salehi, 2012; Yunus, Salehi & Chenzi, 2012). Many participants in this study agreed that they benefited from using Facebook in that they received useful information instantaneously, including course updates and additional materials that were posted by their friends. Therefore, Facebook served as an efficient means to facilitate learning process by providing important English knowledge.
Furthermore, the findings of this study proved that the majority of students reported that Facebook did not impede their academic writing. Students’ academic writing performance supports this finding that the use of Facebook helps them in increasing their academic writing. In addition, the findings of the present and previous studies clarify the efficiency of Facebook as a means for language learning. In the present study, the mentioned positive effects resulted from the opportunities to have writing discussions on Facebook. The present study found that most of the students had discussions about sentence structure on Facebook, and this is possibly one of the reasons that helped them improve their writing paragraph competence. This is because sentence structure is an important part of effective writing, and it is also one of the additional criteria essential for the development of academic writing skills (Saunders & Scialfa, 2003).
This result is consistent with Melor Md. Yunus and Hadi Salehi (2011) which showed that most respondents learn new vocabulary from reading the comments of others in the Facebook group, and the spell-check feature helps reduce their spelling errors. In addition, the ideas or opinions of peers help them in getting a better idea for writing and they find it easier to complete their essays after participating in the Facebook group discussion.
Therefore, Facebook is a Web 2.0 technology that should be promoted and used as an online community for students (English skills) to discuss their English writing difficulties. Facebook gives them various options for discussions with the teacher or other users. Facebook allowed them to study at their convenience. They could chat and leave messages or even post their pieces of writing on Facebook for the teacher and other Facebook friends to check them beforehand.
This result is also consistent with Ibrahim’s (2013) study, whose findings revealed that that there was an obvious effect of using Facebook on improving the students’ writing skills. The result, additionally, goes with Blattner and Lomicka (2012) who found that the students viewed participation positively in online collaborative experiences especially when Facebook was implemented in ways that promoted communication, collaboration, and student-centered activities that facilitated student learning and encouraged high academic achievement. Facebook; therefore, allowed students to easily collaborate on projects and enhanced the communicative engagement of language learners, and increased their confidence as well as their enthusiasm for the subject matter. The result also agrees with Shih (2011) whose study showed that students who participated in the Facebook group were able to improve English writing skills and knowledge not only from the in-class instruction but also from cooperative learning and that Facebook -integrated instruction significantly enhanced students’ interest and motivation to communicate with others using the site.
Moreover, based on the results, Facebook, as a means for language learning, effectively enhanced the writing abilities of the EFL students. The students had a higher mean score in the post-test. Facebook also built positive attitudes of students in language learning. Facebook group seemed to lead to the English writing improvement.
The students’ writing competence was enhanced after the six-week period when they were given opportunities to use Facebook for discussions. A larger number of students chose the correct items in the grammar part of the post-test.
The students wrote better by using more meaningful contents within a well-organized paragraph in the post-test. Other than such improvement, the students also had positive attitudes toward this social networking site. In their opinion, Facebook was an alternative and up-to-date learning tool which was easily accessible. It provided convenience and more choices for students to study the aspects of writing, thus developing their writing competence. They overcame their shyness and dared to ask people questions on Facebook. They could leave messages for the teacher or other Facebook users. They could practice their English writing before they took the writing test. Additionally, these findings are congruent with previous studies showing that Facebook is an effective medium for language teaching and learning (Mills, 2011; Schwartz, 2009; Solomon & Schrum, 2007). Shih (2011) reported that the students improved in paragraph organizations, content, vocabulary, spelling, and grammar after receiving Facebook integrated blended learning. The students claimed that Facebook not only facilitated peer assessment but also motivated them to participate more in their language learning. Al-Shehri (2011) found that Facebook built a positive language learning atmosphere and developed the abilities to synthesize ideas and facts from various sources of information.
The findings of the study are consistent with the opinion of some researchers who believe that Facebook groups allow students the opportunity to apply the instruction they receive in the classroom in a practical manner outside of the classroom, thereby enhancing their writing skills. ‘FB groups’ provide ample opportunities for students to practice and improve their writing skills. Given the pressure of responding to friends’ posts, users are compelled to further develop their writing skills (Kabilan et al., 2010, p. 181).
Finding of this study are consistent with White (2009) who indicated that comments from other people receiving on a Facebook group can reduce the amount of mistakes on students’ writing so those comments can be used as guides for improving learning.
Instead of a physical classroom, a Facebook group, an online discussion group, can be used as a virtual classroom in improving speaking. Posting videos on a Facebook group provides students with opportunities to learn from each other through feedback. After receiving comments and advice from other people on a Facebook group, students are able to apply knowledge to improve their language skills (Suthiwartnarueput & Wasanasomsithi, 2012) as well as their presentation skills. Besides, been noticed by other people can raise students’ awareness of improving their writing.
In conclusion, the current study revealed that the Facebook group, in favor of experimental group results in the posttest after implementing Facebook showed an increase in their performance in the main skills of writing, namely (topic sentence, supporting sentences, concluding sentence, unity, coherence, order, and completeness). Furthermore, the results of the posttest showed that 100% of the students succeeded after using the Facebook and no one failed, whereas 90% of the students failed in the pre-test before conducting the Facebook. These results emphasize the significant effect of Facebook on developing the students’ writing skills and ability.
5.4.4 Discussions of the Research Question (4)
Are there any statistical differences in students’ perceptions of using Facebook according to students’ group (control-experimental)?
The hypothesis states that, “there are statistically significant differences in students’ perceptions of using Facebook between groups and within groups. The data analysis of the standardized questionnaire revealed that “there are statistically significant differences in students’ perceptions of using Facebook due to the group, in favor of the experimental group.”
Concerning the qualitative data analysis from the semi-structured interview, the participants recorded better stances of their attitudes towards improving their writing after being involved in the Facebook writing activities. The students’ responses show how Facebook helped to develop their writing ability and enabled them to view and edit their writing easily. The students also reported that Facebook enriched their writing content and structure. This means that participants have positive attitudes towards writing through Facebook and would like to use it in the study of other English language skills.
In response to the items of Questionnaire which students received at the end of using Facebook according to the students who were assigned in the experimental group, students could write activities in English through utilizing social media particularly Facebook. This finding agree with Crook, et al, (2008) who found that Social media tools provide learners with new opportunity to become independent in their study and research. Social media encourages a wider range of expressive capacity and Solis (2008) agreed that Social media comprises of activities that involve socializing and networking online through words, pictures and videos.
In addition, the findings of the Questionnaire’s items strongly confirmed that students prefer to write and work well in groups through the Facebook group. These findings agree with Dunn (2012) who realizes that more emphasis must be placed on learning with technology in particular Facebook, and Odell (2011) who found that Social media has several effects on academic work. It also has a positive impact on students’ sense of themselves in the community. On other hand, students’ can motivate to be more active and enrich students’ knowledge to write through Facebook group. These findings agree with Zepke and Leach (2010) who suggested that motivation and student disposition will influence their ability to engage in interactive learning, where the line between online learning and socialization is blurred and Tynes (2007) who emphasized that online discussion direct teenagers into self- learning and create opportunities for them to develop critical thinking and argumentation skills.
Facebook groups found it easy to connect with specific sets of people, like family, teammates or teachers and instructors. Groups are dedicated spaces where members can share updates, photos or documents and messages. McCarthy (2010) maintained that the primary features of Facebook, including “wall”, “info”, “blog”, “friends”, “like”, “unlike”, “comment”, “poke”, “send message”, “share photos”, “links”, and “video” provide users with a variety of means to communicate and interact with each other and to make new friends all over the world. In particular, the “share status” feature plays an important role in Facebook activities. People can almost instantly discuss and share all types of information and knowledge through the share status function.
This result might be attributed to the fact that the experimental group was given many opportunities to collaborate with their classmates using the Facebook group and as a result, participated in the various activities including posts, comments, and discussions. Such view agrees with that of Walsh (2012) who maintained that Facebook group is a great way to distribute learning content and create a central place for communication for a course or class and also agrees with Wong (2011) who found that Facebook could enhance communication and collaborative learning between learners. Both learners and tutors can share their experiences and can record their conversations or produce their own oral essays and file them or share them with others. The result is also consistent with Miyasone (2007) who found that cooperative learning could improve students’ communication, friendship, trust, interaction, active learning, and learning attitudes and that Facebook-integrated blended learning approach can assist students’ English learning organization , grammar, structure, content, vocabulary, and spelling.
Overall, it was obvious that students who use Facebook platform performed better than the non-participating students since they benefited from a variety of posts and activities uploaded onto the Facebook group for 8 weeks. Later on, these activities were commendable and carried over into face-to-face discussions to provide students with more opportunities to practice the communicative functions of English. In class, as a consequence, students were interacting like never before and seemed more comfortable with each other due to the Facebook group interactions. Furthermore, students were able to work at their own pace and also liked the fact that they were able to choose what they wanted to talk about making the activity more autonomous and better learner -centered. It seems then that students felt more confident to express their opinions in a more comfortable online environment compared to face-to-face classroom discussions. Thus, students showed more readiness to reflect, act, learn from each other, and construct meaningful knowledge and skills through collaborative learning Facebook interaction. Such result seems to agree with that of Wong et al. (2013) who concluded that the students in their study were inclined to utilize social networking for performing many learning tasks and designing some learning activities based on social networking which promoted online community and enhanced collaborative learning amongst students. Such claim tends to go with Promnitz-Hayashi (2011) who concluded that many of the more introverted students became more motivated in class and were actually talking more with their classmates and that students began to express more opinions and give extended reasoning in not only their face-to-face interactions but also in their written class-work as a result of participating in a Facebook group. This confirmed Ruiz (2011) whose results found a direct relationship between site use and out- of-class sociability and that the more time a student spent on Facebook, the more likely that student was to be involved with extracurricular activities.
As a result of this variety of topics, themes and activities, in terms of quality and quantity, students showed impressive collaboration to the extent that they were attracted to the Facebook group so as to read the posts and comments, answer questions, post their views, agree or disagree with other’s posts whilst periodical formative feedback was provided continuously by the instructor /the admin. Such impressive collaboration and effective participation seem to be in agreement with Cvijikj and Florian’s (2011) point of view who found that the moderator posts affected the user interaction in terms of number of comments and likes, and interaction duration for the domain of a sponsored Facebook brand page.
Consequently, it is interesting to observe the extent of students’ commitment and participation throughout the Facebook group life. Different strategies were used by the admin for the sake of encouraging students to participate including praising, thanking, prompting them with new and increasingly more complex questions, and so on. In some cases, when some students for one reason or another showed less interaction and preferred just to read the posts or the comments or even using the “like” or emoticon instead of participating, the instructor used to intervene by inserting a question, a comment or a more suitable post used as an incentive to enhance participation and involvement amongst learners. However, using the “like” icon and emoticons on Facebook group seemed to be effective to stimulate students’ motivation and participation and, thus, enhanced the group members’ friendships or interpersonal relationships. Such trend seems to agree with Miyasone (2007) who found that the “like” icon on Facebook could moderately stimulate the students’ learning motivation for English writing.
The results of this study are in agreement with Kabilan et al.’s (2010) study which showed that the students learned new sentences or new writing structures when they saw friends share feelings and ideas and when they commented on each other’s comments (Shih, (2011), and Yunus et al. (2012).
In addition, the students learned grammar and improved their writing skills by (1) reading the comments and posts from their peers; (2) being able to identify their own and their friends’ writing mistakes and correct them; (3) discussing incorrect grammar with Facebook friends; and (4) by responding to classmates’ comments and post.
Based on the results of the present study, the enhancement of the students’ grammatical and writing competence resulting from various functions of Facebook allow the students to discuss, negotiate, collaborate, and share their thoughts with the teacher, their friends, or even other Facebook users. From this perspective, it can be said that such a learning process is related to Social Constructivist Theory. According to this theory, Facebook itself can play the role of a community of practice where students can discuss their English grammar and writing difficulties with the teacher or other users. During this process, the teacher or other users can act as more knowledgeable people scaffolding the students to step from their actual stage of development (the position where they can master the task by themselves) to their potential stage of development (the position where they construct new knowledge after having some negotiation, collaboration, and assistance from more knowledgeable people) (Lambert & Walker, 1996). Consequently, they can construct new knowledge. In other words, the students can enhance their grammatical and writing competence from the assistance of other people through Facebook.
Therefore, Facebook is a Web 2.0 of technology that should be promoted and used as an online community for students to discuss their English grammar and writing difficulties. Facebook gives them various options for discussions with the teacher or other users. Facebook allowed them to study at their convenience. They could chat and leave messages or even post their pieces of writing on Facebook for the teacher and other Facebook friends to check them beforehand. Concerning grammar instruction, the results of the correlation analysis revealed that the students’ scores in the grammar parts were correlated with their scores in the writing parts. This suggests that their grammatical competence contributed to their writing competence. Thus grammar should be promoted in the teaching of writing.
In addition, the results of the study are consistent with Kabilan et al. (2010), Shih (2011), and Yunus et al. (2012) that students learned new sentences or new writing structures when they saw friends share feelings and ideas, and when they commented on each other’s comments. Students learned grammar and improved their writing skills by (1) reading the comments and posts from their peers; (2) being able to identify their own and their friends’ writing mistakes and correct them; (3) discussing incorrect grammar with Facebook friends; and (4) by responding to classmates’ comments and post.
Moreover, this study is in harmony with Kabilan et al.’s (2010) study, who stated that ‘‘from the perspective of incidental learning, learning of English in FB is feasible. This is because the technologies that support FB and features that characterize FB are able to engage students in meaningful language-based activities, even though their initial intention of joining FB is to socialize. If planned appropriately as part of an educational project, the same technologies and features of FB would be able to facilitate and produce effectual and meaningful learning of English within an online community of English language learners’’ (p.7). Thus, Kabilan et al. (2010) support the idea that Facebook and its features can be used as an educational tool in order to engage the learners of English in an online community.
The study findings are in agreement with Mill (2009) who discovered that language learning with Facebook was effective as virtual social activities help students develop better verbal communication competencies in the real life.
Moreover, Shih (2011) used Facebook as the platform to perform peer evaluation. The results indicated that peer evaluations at Facebook significantly improved student’s learning interest and learning motivation. These positive results all supported that social interactions via Facebook affect the outcomes of language learning.
The findings of this study are also consistent with a study offered by Petrović et al. (2012), who implemented a course- specific Facebook group experiment on a sample of 68 final year students attending a specific course at one Serbian university. According to Petrović et al. (2012), a majority of the participants (97.7%) considered that the use of Facebook groups had significantly increased their knowledge; about ninety five percent of them were more motivated to participate in the process of learning. Despite the interesting findings of the four previous studies, they all suffered the limitations associated with experimental designs, such as non-generalizability and inability to control certain factors in real life context.
This study is in agreement with Kayri and Çakır (2010) who conducted a three-month study with a focus on a study group that consisted of 58 Turkish students coming from two different universities. The analysis of their semi-experimental approach revealed positive students’ attitudes towards educational use of Facebook groups.
This result is consistent with Graige’s (2012) which showed an increase in positive attitudes toward most activities for language learning following the completion of the study compared to prior perceptions. Atef Odeh AbuSaleek (2015) which showed that students had a positive attitude and perceptions towards this learning model. Nicole E. Hurt and Gregory S. Moss (2011) showed that many students seem to view Facebook as a useful educational tool. Hanan Ahmed Alsayed (2016) urged that students had high and positive perceptions of Facebook and its activities as a learning environment. Also, students had good and favorable attitudes towards using Facebook for teaching and learning.
5.5 Implications for Practice
The findings of this study suggest important implications for educational policy and practice. First, with the fast advancement of technology, policymakers and university administrators should ensure that practitioners and instructors have basic knowledge of computer skills (computer literacy) and social media. Teachers should be aware that technology needs to be integrated into education. If using technology is conducive to learning, it can make learning easier and more interesting.
In addition, the important role social media plays in education cannot be underestimated. Introducing Facebook as a tutorial lab into EFL settings provided an opportunity for students and teachers to become familiar with social media in educational settings. As incorporating Facebook in teaching and learning process results in enhancing students’ writing skills, teachers may want to pay more attention to comprehensive communication rather than grammar. However, once students are familiar with using Facebook for educational purpose, instructors will need to pay continued attention to the mistakes students make in grammar. Also, teachers should provide answers or correct information using formal writing on the Facebook platform. By doing this, students can be guided to and connected with the use of formal writing.
5.6 Pedagogical implications
The use of Facebook as a medium for language acquisition does actively motivate in the creation of a collaborative environment, positive attitudes, enhances motivation and student participation, and sustains teacher-student relationships (Mazer, Murphy & Simonds, 2007). The instructor can promote the use of this social networking site by encouraging students to create Facebook accounts and add their teacher and classmates as friends. He or she can be updated on the assignments, upcoming events, and other pedagogical information on Facebook. Good examples of writing can be uploaded so that the students could have an opportunity to share their ideas about the examples. Specific office hours should be given to the students so that they can contact the teacher. In case the teacher is offline, they should be allowed to post questions on the teacher’s profile page and discuss them with other Facebook users.
Student engagement and academic success are just two of the numerous desires educators have when conducting instruction in their classrooms. Research has supported that modern students enjoy being engaged in classroom environments where technology is used instructionally. Students report not only enjoying these activities but also appreciating their teachers for using them. Moore & Pflugfelder (2010) share that “education in virtual worlds has potential, it seems, for engaging students in innovative ways and for enabling new discourses on a host of issues” (p.249).
It appears that Facebook can replace traditional classroom learning, integrating Facebook into a classroom might make free learning environment. The findings of this study suggest that Facebook provided pleasant experiences to the students because it was interesting and enjoyable, and it helped strengthen students’ learning, motivations, and freedom. As SNSs have a great influence on people these days, Facebook could be beneficial because it draws students’ engagements in learning. Therefore, it is suggested that educators and practitioners consider implementing Facebook as a supplementary learning tool to assist their teaching in a classroom as an additional activity for discussing course related content on regular basis, such as course assignment, course material, daily questions about the content, learning classroom and so forth. To enhance English language learning in college settings, social networking sites can be used as an online site to assist learning. For example, regarding Facebook Omar et al. (2012) stated, “since Facebook has become a significant part of students’ lives, utilizing the tool in a pedagogically sound approach could benefit ESL learners in practicing the language outside their classrooms” (p. 72). For the full potential of using an online site channel, practitioners should be cognizant of how social media can facilitate interactions between students and instructors and enhance a collaborative learning environment.
5.7 Theoretical Implications
Vygotsky (1978) views learning as a process that requires environmental input and social interaction. He further explains that his belief that scaffolding, or building upon a foundation, through a process of constructivism which takes place at a developmentally appropriate and prime learning zone, and where peers act as motivators to reach the next level of capacity and potential. Facebook is a prime example of an educational environment in which students can interact with their classmates as well as instructors comfortably and motivate each other to academic success. The teacher in this study provides assignments in which students have to extend on the knowledge they have already gained and then peer reinforce these knowledge through their Facebook interactions.
In addition, Bandura (1977) describes learning as a change in behaviors resulting from social exposure: which includes observations, interaction, and modeling. His social learning theory recognizes that environmental input available to students during their lives from peers, to media, technology, superiors, and family are necessary for academic success. Facebook allows teachers to easily integrate technology and media into the everyday classroom instruction of students. It also enables students to observe their teacher and peers as they build on their knowledge.
When discussing Web 2.0 tools “current debates on what young people are doing with these technologies . . . and how such activities might usefully be harnessed in formal educational settings” (Luckin et al., 2009, p. 87). When considering social media networks, like Facebook, this is a concern of many educators; however, teachers can model appropriate digital usage by incorporating social media in the classroom in an open and honest way” (Bauer, 2012, p. 12). In order to assist with this task of assisting teachers Foulger et al. (2009), conducted a study focusing on professional development to help new teachers with the implementation of social networks realizing “the concern, debate, and vulnerability for educators who use social networking sites suggest a proactive strategy to minimize risks” (p.3).
Pennay (2009) discusses the importance of student writing and shares that “we have a responsibility, both to our students and ourselves, to investigate the ways in which we can embrace techno-literacy” (p.18). In this article Pennay also notes that while educators may have person opinions about various Web 2.0 tools, student are utilizing these mediums to write daily, sometimes even numerous times during the day. Peowski (2010) shares that today’s students see “video games and internet not just as tools for entertainment, but also as platforms for learning, creating, collaborating, and effecting social change” (p.26). Pennay (2010) furthers explains that: If you want to reach out to this community and forge relationships that foster cooperation, collaboration, understanding, and lifelong learning between the generations, the way to do it is through the Internet (p.26). Student engagement is a key factor to student success. Through utilizing Web 2.0 tools teachers can take their classroom instruction to new heights.
5.8 Strengths of the Study
Firstly: The current study has offered the perspective of employing Facebook in teaching writing performance among Jordanian students at Philadelphia University. The present research offered some major contributions in the field of utilizing Facebook application in teaching writing. The present research provides a wide investigation on the use of Facebook in teaching writing used by Jordanian students at three faculties (Agriculture, Pharmacology, and Engineering). Finally, the current study provides a broad investigation on the use of Facebook in teaching writing and its relationship with three independent variables: gender, age, and academic major).
Secondly, the present study used both quantitative and qualitative methods in order to elicit the use Facebook in teaching writing is employed by the Jordanian university students. Using this application in a complementary way might help in providing a clearer pattern of the participants’ use of Facebook in teaching writing. It also helps in realization extra information and additional details on the students’ use of Facebook in teaching writing.
Thirdly, different types of statistical methods were used in order to analyze the data obtained in the resent research work. These statistical methods include frequencies, descriptive analysis, independent samples T-test, and one-way ANOVA. The process of analyzing the data of present study can be a helpful guide for other researchers to apply in analyzing similar types of reported data.
Finally, the present research used a quasi-experimental design to examine the influence of using Facebook on writing ability. A pre-test was used to check the homogeneity of both groups (control and experimental) in writing ability , and a post-test was used to find out the effect of using Facebook in teaching writing ability.
5.9 Recommendations for Future Research
Despite the limitations that appeared in this study, the researcher believes that future areas of research into the use of Facebook in teaching writing performance might be taken into consideration in the future studies. These areas include the following:
- This study is limited to the context of the central area of Jordan in general in particular at Philadelphia University in Amman, Jordan. Similar studies need to be carried out within the context of other Jordanian cities and universities to be able to compare their findings with those of the present research.
- The applying of two methods in this study (i.e. questionnaire, and interviews) is believed to have provided valid and reliable findings. Nevertheless, other studies need to be conducted to confirm their validity and reliability.
- The present study made use of two methods (quantitative and qualitative) in a complement way; these methods were found useful to probe the learners’ preferences in utilizing Facebook application in teaching writing. However, future studies need to develop other technology applications to get a clearer picture about the preferences of the use of technology in Education field.
- This research investigated the frequency use of Facebook in teaching writing and its relationship with four independent variables (gender, age, and academic major). Nonetheless, there is a need to a more comprehensive research with a wide range of factors affecting the use of Facebook such as motivation, beliefs, cultural background, and learning styles.
- The current study tends to examine the effectiveness of Facebook in teaching writing performance. Future studies should further examine such a relationship with higher number of participants, and longer period of time than ten weeks in order to report more accurate and comprehensive results of the instructional process.
6) The researcher recommended using the Facebook in teaching English to foreign language (EFL).
7) The need to provide the appropriate environment for learning using use of Facebook to improve the educational outcomes and raise the level of educational achievement of EFL students in learning listening comprehensions, by providing educational programs and applications important to education.
8) Holding training courses for teachers especially using Facebook in teaching.
9) The researcher recommends that future researchers should conduct more studies on using use of Facebook in teaching, especially with regard to the impediments of applying t his method in education.
The results of this study presented in-depth outlines on the use of Facebook in teaching writing performance use by students of Jordanian universities. The researcher exerted his best efforts to provide answers to all four research questions by using both quantitative and qualitative data. The results from the present study have provided more insights on how Jordanian university students approach to utilize the Technology in particular the Facebook application.
The results of experimental design might prompt more research works to explore the effectiveness of the use of Facebook in teaching writing performance in English skills in general, and in teaching writing in particular. The studies which prove the effectiveness of using Facebook apply on training may convince English learners, course book authors, teacher trainers, and curriculum designers to pay attention to the advantages and benefits of employing the technology by integrating Facebook in learning and teaching process.
In future research, the researcher may interview more classroom instructors across the under graduated levels to get their input on how they incorporate technology particularly Facebook groups in their teaching learning process and also if they think Facebook group enhances their students’ writing abilities.
In this study, the researcher focused more on the students’ thinking process, but it is also important to incorporate other teachers’ insights. Furthermore, it might be interesting to compare the thoughts of new teachers versus teachers who have been teaching for a bit of time.
In addition, the current research was conducted with small groups of the participants and none of the research in literature involved the administration staff in higher education institutions. Administrators who play important roles in organizations or in the educational system should also get involved in applying social media in their work. This is because students can receive important and updated information easier and faster, since Facebook is considered as online information center. Based on the findings of this study, Facebook is useful in sharing and updating information about coursework or course-related content. The results of this study suggest that administrators should establish institutional policies related to the use of social media as a part of English course components. This will assist students in the courses by updating information they are required to know, and providing daily lessons, or materials that students need to have that they did not receive in the class. Omar et al. (2012) suggested activities on Facebook “should be given a reasonable weighting in the course so that learners feel that their efforts are worthwhile” (p. 72). Involving social media in learning in the EFL setting might not be successful if it does not have the same practice guidelines or if lacks support from the administrations that are involved in policy development. Educators will not be able to bring its usefulness to fruition. Based on the findings of this study several recommendations for future research are presented.
First, this study focused mainly on students’ writings on Facebook as an online learning platform and whether it influenced their academic writing. The main finding of this study is that students’ The use of Facebook enhanced and is manifested in students’ writing. With this in mind, it is worth investigating how Facebook can assist English writing skills; for example, how it can assist students in writing a good paragraph and in organizing and connecting ideas between paragraphs well. In addition, there is a good model of using Facebook in assisting learning vocabulary in the existing literature. Second, future research in this area should include a larger number of teacher participants. In this study, views of the teacher who never used Facebook and of the teacher who used Facebook regularly in her personal life were different. There were only two teachers involved in this study; therefore, future research should increase the number of teachers with technology versus teachers more savvy with technology.
Additional teacher input is needed to gain insight, ideas, and suggestions about the use of Facebook in English classroom assignments. Direct experiences and suggestions from teachers may give more constructive feedback and bring in new and practical information.
Involving teachers in the weekly correction and checking on Facebook might be helpful because their comments help in improving English activities on the online tutorial lab.
In addition, as this study only included two groups of students from three major colleges, and thus, using more students of other academic areas in the future research is suggested. At first, this study first was planned to involve about 60 students, Since this study focus on improvement in students’ writing, this research include different study designs, such as a quasi-experimental design. A pretest-posttest design and interview could be used to measure the improvement and to measure the effect of Facebook on academic writing. However, the number of participants did not meet this goal. As a result, the sample size was small. If more sections and more students are given, it might provide more solid information that might yield better or more transferable finding. Meanwhile, future research should consider a longer period of time to study the use of SNSs, such as a regular semester-based study because it may yield richer data for the more accurate and better results of the study. Six weeks is too short to see improvement.
The final recommendation for future research is to extend this study to include other Institutions and universities in Jordan that do not use English as a medium for teaching and learning. This is because students in this university may have different levels of writing proficiency where English is used as a medium for teaching and learning. It would be worth conducting a study that includes multiple institutions and universities in Jordan with varying degrees of size and language medium teaching to increase generalizability of findings.
5.10. Conclusion
This study shed light on using Facebook in teaching the writing skills of English as a foreign language (EFL). It also attempted to examine students’ perceptions towards the use of Facebook at Philadelphia University in Jordan and to investigate whether students’ demographic background (gender, age, and academic major) correlates with the performance and perception of the use of Facebook, in Jordanian EFL context. The results of the study however, shed some light on issues concerning using new, modern and enthusiastic social networking websites especially Facebook in the academic field of teaching the writing skills. In general, the results show that there were effective and obvious effects in using Facebook on improving the students’ writing skills especially the skills of (topic sentence, supporting sentences, concluding sentence, unity, coherence, order, completeness, grammar, punctuation and spelling).
By looking at all the data that was collected in my research I have made a conclusion that it is highly important to incorporate technology, particularly Facebook into the classroom while learning to write and while creating essays. Collecting the data showed me that students can enjoy the process of writing if you make it interesting for them. In the beginning of the process it was difficult for students to join for the Facebook group handle. They dreaded coming to the English Lab Center A for his writing instruction because it was stressful for him because they were used to use a pencil and paper to write and to think of how They needed to formulate sentences on what they were thinking. Now I look at them, and they are coming into the center. They enjoy what they do during their writing time because they know that they will be able to use the Facebook group to type their essays and make revisions.
In addition to enhancing interest in writing, students need to have some confidence. If teachers manage time to read students’ comments, blogs or notes on Facebook group, students will be motivated to have some potential writers. After reading students’ blogs, teacher should make comments on the blog, pick out their excellent sentences or points and praise them. Therefore, students will be encouraged and they might try to write more excellent sentences in the future. Another advantage is that when giving writing tasks to the students, teachers should give students topics related to their real life. Such topics are more interesting and easier for students to discuss about. These topics motivate students to write.
Using brainstorming strategy not only helps students store ideas for writing but also improves their creative thinking skills. Since they are writing through SNSs particularly Facebook, shy students will not be afraid to write out loud. During the discussion stage, students are exchanging ideas so that their critical thinking skills will be improved. Social networking services especially Facebook provide a better opportunity for interaction, planning and getting more information. In general, it could be effective for students to learn ESL/EFL writing if teachers encourage students to brainstorm through SNSs.
Furthermore, instructors should try to give students choices, responsibilities and opportunities to interact while they write. Even though it is not easy for teachers to apply new activities and tools in the classroom, they should improve their ICT skills and get familiar with the SNSs. And once the SNSs are integrated into ESL/EFL writing classroom, students will be more interested in writing so that their writing skills will be improved.
In summary, this research presented an important finding that the Facebook platform can assist and serve as a learning site by helping the learners answer questions and updating coursework information or course changes not to forget how teachers view the use of Facebook differed from the view of students, the majority of the students found using Facebook as an online learning platform to be useful for improving their grammar, vocabulary, writing, and sharing knowledge. Facebook provides a suitable environment for teaching and learning process. However, a significance that this study contributes to the research literature is the finding that the Facebook platform can aid in serving as a learning site by helping to answer questions and updating coursework information or course changes.
If it is designed and used appropriately, Facebook can be useful to share knowledge among learners. On the other side, Facebook can be an effective tool in enhancing student language learning.
Students’ perspectives revealed that Facebook is a valuable and effective medium for learning language for specific purposes, such as assisting writing and providing updated information. Gumport and Chun (1999) mentioned that the purpose of applying technology to higher education is to improve the quality of teaching and learning. However, technology can be viewed as a double-edged sword in the educational setting. If the tool is used improperly, it can inhibit students from learning more than providing help (Liu, 2010). As Liu (2010) mentioned, education is not just about using another fashionable technology tool, although there are some benefits to using Facebook for educational purposes. Thus, careful planning is necessary when using social media for educational purposes. Instead of using it as a learning tool alone, it can be used to assist writing or vocabulary, and to provide information.
This chapter concludes the discussion of the results based on the research questions. It also included some suggestions and recommendations for teachers and Lecturers, English majors, decision makers, school administrations & supervisors and further research.