Leveraging the Use of Social Media in Teaching Writing: A Qualitative Investigation among ESL Pre-Service Teachers

Rusreena Rusli,Harwati Hashim,Helmi Norman,Nur Yasmin Khairani Zakaria,Melor Md Yunus

doi:10.3991/ijim.v13i11.10910

Rusreena Rusli, Harwati Hashim + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v13i11.10910

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Abstract

<p class="0abstract">Advances of technology and innovation suggest new form and paths in language teaching. Social media use can be a great influence for English as a Second Language (ESL) students especially in writing competency. Despite of many positive reports that presented affordances in social media use, however, there are insufficient studies that investigate ESL trainee teachers’ perception on this matter. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate ESL pre-service teachers’ views upon leveraging the use of social media in teaching of writing focusing on the opportunities and challenges. This study employed qualitative methods where thirty-four ESL pre-service teachers from a public university were involved. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that ESL pre-service teachers perceived the use of social media in teaching writing can be of beneficial and similarly challenging. Opportunities stated by the participants include enhancement in collaborative learning, supporting students’ self-directed learning and simplify the teaching and learning processes. On the other hand, the challenges mentioned by the participants are that social media can be a source of distraction, deterioration in language and plagiarism. Thus, it is advisable that teachers play their roles responsibly in managing students’ activities online and also be equipped with technology skills to enhance the establishments of social media in ESL teaching of writing.</p>

Highlights

The fusion of technology into the present language teaching and learning is influenced by the requirements of millennial students who are especially interested and attracted by technological use [1] [2] [3]
This study looked into the perspectives of the English as a Second Language (ESL) pre-service teachers who are going to be teaching in the few years in school
It is crucial to look into how these ESL pre-service teachers perceived the benefits and challenges of using social media in teaching writing as this would be the demand of the teaching approach among the new generation of learners

Summary

Introduction

The fusion of technology into the present language teaching and learning is influenced by the requirements of millennial students who are especially interested and attracted by technological use [1] [2] [3]. Nology has become compulsory for teachers to incorporate in the classroom [4]. In this millennial, all Gen Z students are a part of the digital tools’ world [5] [6] [7]. [10] claimed that the use of social media is still debatable as whether or not it is a required step explicitly for students’ writing enhancements in language classrooms. [11] stated that it was an oddity that there was little practice of social media in writing classrooms in Malaysia. [12] stated that there is little research on faculty involvement in social media implementation based on students' writing performances

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