Language learning on Facebook:

The How and The Why

Why should you consider using Facebook to present class materials?

First you might ask yourself, why would I use Facebook to teach my students, that is

for socializing. And you are right, but then ask yourself, what is language for?

Communication, and of course one of the major aspects of communication is, of course,

socializing. Studies have shown that using technology can have a positive effect on

language learners with social anxiety issues (Bartholomey, 2015; Hung & Huang, 2015).

Blogging and video blogging can act as a bridge for language students to practice their

newly acquire skills in a non-judgmental environment, easing the flow of their development

to use their second language in the real world (Aydin, 2014; Bartholomey, 2015; Dupagne et

al, 2007). Social media, such as Facebook, can also be used to increase the amount of

interactions between students, giving students more opportunities to practice and

assimilate newly learned language points. Studies on using social media as a learning

platform for courses have shown 4 times more discussion posts in a class offered on

Facebook, than on a forums designed to be solely used as LMS (Schroeder & Greenbowe,

2009). This increase in discussion could prove invaluable in an language learning

environment, which is the reason why we have chosen Facebook as the educational setting

for this course. In addition, Facebook is already used by over 90% of youth (Meishar-Tal et

al, 2012), making it a simple click to join a class without having to learn to use a completely

different program to navigate through.

In "Flight from Conversation" (2012) and "Whither Psychoanalysis in Computer

Culture" (2004), Turkle discusses our relationships with technology, and computers as

relational objects that we are becoming overly attached too. She also refers to how the

internet has an effect on identity, and the development of multiple selves. Although Turkle

suggests that we think more about what technology does to us, instead of what technology

does for us, I think it is important to see the opportunity in this, as educators. In particular,

when we look at her view on how cyberspace effects our personalities, and how we have

relationships with each other through a computer (especially on social media), we can easily

see a major role technology can play in language education. Turkle believes that social

media has created a society in which we are "alone together", and we are having less and

less face to face conversations. We must take Turkle's conclusions as reason why we should

adopt using more technology in our teaching practices, in an attempt to connect with

students, and help students collaborate with one another in not only a social but

educational manner. One thing we can all learn from history is that technology cannot be

stopped, or even slowed down. So, we must take the approach of, if you can't beat them join

them.
 As we can see, Facebook can be a useful educational platform because it can ease the

social anxiety felt by language learners, it is a familiar application which has been proven

to encourage more interaction between students and teachers, and it is already used by the

majority of youth who will be involved in your class. The use of Facebook as the platform

can also reinforce what the students already know, English is not just a subject to study in

school, but a way to socialize, communicate with others, and expand their world beyond

their country's and culture's borders. Using Facebook alone as a platform is not solely

responsible for the creation of learning dynamics, the instructors design of tasks and

activities to engage the students cognitive processes is also a key element.

In language learning, grammatical or notional syllabi are often used as the base

material for courses. Although it is not possible to cover all the possible conversational

situations a language learner may encounter, a situational or case-based learning syllabus

will allow students to better develop the cognitive abilities to apply what they learn to the

real world. Putting constructivist-based theories into practice should be guided by a few

design principles for any case-based syllabus: 1. It should provide multiple representations

of reality 2. It should represent the natural complexity of reality 3. It should focus on

construction, not reproduction 4. It should present authentic tasks for students to learn

through 5. It should avoid pre-determined instructional sequences 6. It should foster

reflective practice 7. It should support both context and content dependent knowledge

construction 8. It should allow for collaborative construction of knowledge through social

interactions (of particular importance in a language learning environment)(Jonassen, 1990,

Murphy, 1997). To sum things up, constructivism is the how over the what, it requires

students to make sense of the materials and to be able to demonstrate an ability to apply
what they have learned in real-world situations and practices. In the following section you

will see some technologically enhanced constructivist strategies put to use.

How do I use Facebook to present class material?

The example case for this class is using the situation of ordering food at a restaurant.

The learning objectives for the class material is for the students to be able to understand a

menu in English, and properly order the food that they want to eat. There are four separate

but related assignments provided online to supplement what will be studied in class, as

well as a class Wiki document and class discussions which will take the form of post and

comments. The assignments are as follows: 1. Menu Assignment 2. Video Assignment 3.

Play "Guess Who?" Game 4. Make a Multiple Choice Question

1. Menu Assignment ask your students to find a menu from a restaurant they want

to eat at. This could be a picture of a menu from a restaurant they visit, or a menu

they find online. Ask the students to post the menu and find the meanings of any of

the food dishes they could not understand, and provide deeper explanations of these

dishes. Finally, tell the students that they must post an order on at least 4 different

menu post for the foods they would want to eat at each restaurant. This gives your

students a chance to develop a case to learn from on their own.

2. Video Assignment ask students to find a partner and create a video in which one

member takes the role of server/cashier and the other a restaurant customer. The

students can choose any restaurant and create a dialog which they will create a

video around. Have the students brainstorm all of the various language necessary to

successfully order food at a restaurant. They will post their videos on the group page

and be expected to make comments on their peers videos. Comments can be as

 simple as great job, to a critique of English mistakes they made in their videos. This

assignment can be easily modified and used for a variety of situations. As the

students get used to this method, their skills at producing videos will improve, and

will be able to better focus on the language skills they are trying to assimilate into

their cognitive pathways.

3. "Guess Who?" Game tell the students that they are expected to play this game at

least 8 times and record their wins. The game contains 3 questions and answer

sequences related to the situation of ordering food in a restaurant. The answers to

the questions lead to hints as to who the other person has chosen to be. Which is of

course the point of the game, to figure out who the other person is first. This game is

great as it forces students to use learned grammar and vocabulary in a problem-

solving gaming situation, solidifying cognitive processes needed for deeper learning.

This game can also easily be modified to be played with many different situations or

language point besides just the ordering food scenario. This activity gets the

students to practice the target language needed to order food in a real-life game

situation.

4. Make a Multiple Choice Question Facebook groups has a "Create a Poll" function

which can easily be exploited to make simple multiple choice questions. Tell

students that they are expected to make and post at least one multiple choice

question related to ordering food in a restaurant. Any question related to the topic is

acceptable, and the students should be encouraged to answer as many of their peers'

questions as possible. After enough of their peers have answered their question, they

should post an answer in the comments section and open a discussion about why

some students may have made a mistake. These questions are designed to stimulate

conversation about the newly learned language points.

Now for the basics of setting up a Facebook Group for study purposes (For those who don't

already know). For privacy reasons, you may not wish to befriend or have your students

know your Facebook account information. If this is the case with you, or you do not have a

Facebook account, simple make a "work" account from a second email account that you

check often enough. After you have chosen an account to use, you must then create a group,

which you will see to the left of your news feed. You can then choose a picture relevant to

your class as your cover photo. After creating your group you will see a simple toolbar

under your cover photo. There are five tabs: Discussion, Members, Events, Photos, Files.

For the purposes of this course design, you will need to pay most attention to Discussions,

where posts will be made, and Files, where you host the course materials and detailed

instructions for the students to follow.

Posts (Discussion):

Now you can start making posts, but first of all you should make a special introduction post

that you can "pin" to stay on the top of the page. Put all the information about the course in

this post, including a brief description of the assignments and where to find more detailed

instructions. You may wish to turn the comments off for this post. I would also suggest that

you make posts for each of the various activities, as well as uploading a file with a list of

detailed instructions for each activity.

Files:

In the files section you should upload a file for the students to access or download with

detailed instructions of all the activities they will be expected to take part in over the

course period. You should also make a second file by clicking on the shared document tab,

and the Create Doc button. Title this based on your situation and use it as a shared wiki
that can be updated and added to by the students.
References:

Aydin, S. (2014). The use of blogs in learning English as a foreign language. Mevlana
International Journal of Education, 4 (1), 244-259.

Bartholomay, E. M. (2015). Treating public speaking anxiety: A comparison of exposure and

video self modeling (Order No. 1588528). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Global. (1682480613).

Dupagne, M., Stacks, D.W., & Giroux v.M. (2007). Effects of Video Streaming Technology on
Public Speaking Students' Communication Apprehension and Competence. Journal of
Educational Technology Systems, June 2007 35: 479-490.

Hung, A.S.T & Huang , D.H.T. (2015). Video blogging and English presentation
performance: a pilot study. Psychological Reports: Sociocultural Issues in Psychology,
117(2), 614-630.

Jonassen, D. H. (1990). Thinking technology: Toward a constructivist view of instructional

design. Educational Technology, 30 (9), 32-34.

Murphy, Elizabeth (1997). Constructivist Checklist. In Constructivism: From Philosophy

to Practice by E. Murphy.

Meishar-Tal, H., Kurtz, G., & Pieterse, E. (2012). Facebook groups as LMS: A case study.
The International Review Of Research In Open And Distributed Learning, 13(4), 33-48.

Turkle, S. (2012, April 21). The flight from conversation. New York Times

Turkle, S. (2004). Whither psychoanalysis in computer culture. Psychoanalytic Psychology,

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