Exploring the Influence of Word Exposure via Facebook on Young EFL Learners’ Written Form of Word Knowledge

Abstract

This quantitative study aimed to investigate the impact of word exposure via Facebook on thevocabulary knowledge of Thai EFL primary school learners. Additionally, it sought to examinedifferences in receptive and productive written forms of word knowledge between differenteducation levels. It explored the relationship between participants’ vocabulary size and wordknowledge. Forty students from grades four and six participated in the study, which involveddesigning and validating tests to measure receptive and productive written forms of wordknowledge. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyze quantitative data.The findings indicated significant improvements in students’ receptive and productivevocabulary knowledge, with noticeable development in their understanding of word spelling.Furthermore, grade six learners performed better than grade four learners on receptive andproductive written form measures. Correlational analysis revealed a relationship betweenvocabulary size and knowledge of written forms, indicating their interdependency. Overall, thisstudy suggests that exposure to words through Facebook positively influences vocabularyacquisition, underscoring the importance of word exposure experiences in learning vocabulary.Additionally, it highlights the predictive role of vocabulary size in the written form of wordknowledge. This study offers implications for practitioners and provides suggestions for futureresearch directions.