FACEBOOK AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING: EFL LEARNERS’ EXPERIENCES (A QUALITATIVE STUDY)

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the EFL learners’ practices and understand their experiences with SNSs (social networking sites) as a tool for English language learning. The study results were obtained from a survey of 144 undergraduate Jordanian EFL learners in the English and Translation Departments at Yarmouk University in Jordan. In the quantitative phase of the study, the research questions focused on the actual practices and strategies of EFL students on SNSs. This study was guided by the following research questions: To what extent do Jordanian EFL learners use Facebook as a tool for language learning? And what language learning practices do Jordanian EFL learners engage in on Facebook? The results revealed that most participants felt comfortable using Facebook in English language learning. However, less than half of them used Facebook on a regular basis to learn English. In addition, they tended to read and observe discussions in English rather than participate in them or produce language output. The results also revealed that learners’ practices or behaviors in the SNS environment changed depending on certain factors, such as the context, audience, sense of belonging, self – confidence, and the learners’ needs and interests. The results of the study brought to light some implications in the context of formal and informal language learning. The study might raise learner, teacher, and educator awareness about SNSs as a tool for language learning, particularly for countries with limited resources. The results also showed the need for a theoretical and pedagogical framework for the teaching and learning process that identifies the best practices and ways to avoid any harm in a SNS environment. Integrating SNSs in language teaching and learning is a topic that requires further study. Using SNSs inside and outside the classroom to practice different language skills is an important topic for future research.  Article visualizations

OPENNES OF ISLAMIC LEARNING IN FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS IN ACCESS TO RELIGIOUS INFORMATION

Millenial Islamic generations are often identified with popular culture that is characterized by an instant and tend to smell of technology. In the “consume” of religious teaching, according to some research using this characteristic namely learning religion quickly, instantly and without going through a dilligent study process with teachers or through formal education process. The era of technological development is also become a tool in learning religion. On that basis, the researchers want to describe how information access of religion among students in Faculty of Science and Technology at UIN North Sumatera Medan. This is because almost 90% students in faculty are from public school educational background and then study in Islamic University who certainly participate in the study of Islamic discourses. As a result, religious access or more precisely religious reference in obtained through an instant process, for example learning from whatsapp group, youtube and social media like facebook etc. All of the processes are more dominantly accessible to the students, so although they study in Islamic University, but source of Islamic learning comes from outside of the University. The dominant reference figures for example Abdul Shomad, Dr. Zakir Naik, Dr. Khalid Basalamah and the similar ideological figures

Exploring Learners’ Attitude toward Facebook as a Medium of Learners’ Engagement during Covid-19 Quarantine

The rapid transition to online teaching because of the global disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic exclaimed all the educators on finding the most efficient ways to teach in the presence of all rampant limitations caused in both social and academic lives. Facebook, as one of the favorite social networks, having hundreds of millions of users, is an enticing way for the teachers and students to form an online community. With this regard, the purpose of the present study is to explore the attitude and viewpoints of language learners toward implementing Facebook as a peripheral medium, besides the formal e-learning platform used in the classroom, to engage learners in language learning and explore its effectiveness in the process of teaching. Moreover, this study aims to explore learners’ attitudes through the lens of the sociocultural theory. To this end, participants were chosen based on availability sampling, and the online versions of two surveys, Facebook Online Survey and Usefulness and Effectiveness Survey were shared with them through Facebook wall posts and Google Drive. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of their responses are examined and the results are analyzed based on the sociocultural perspective. This study implied that Facebook can be employed as a motivating technology to engage learners and an effective tool besides the other online medium used during the global lockdown

Fenomena Belajar Agama Generasi Millenials: Studi Kasus Pada Mahasiswa Fakultas Sains Di Perguruan Tinggi Keagamaan Islam Wilayah Sumatera Utara

The millennial Islamic generation is frequently associated with popular culture that has instantaneous characteristics and smells of technology. According to several studies, these characteristics are used in 'consuming' religious teachings, namely learning religion quickly, instantly, and without going through a diligent learning process, with teachers, or through a formal education process. The technological age is also used as a tool in religious education. The goal of this study is to describe how students of the Faculty of Science at Islamic Higher Education in Medan access religious information. This is due to the fact that nearly 90% of the students in the faculty have a general school education and then attend Islamic universities, where they study Islamic discourses. This study employs a qualitative research approach with descriptive analysis. As a result, religious access or, more precisely, religious references are obtained in an instant, namely through learning from WhatsApp, YouTube, and social media groups such as Facebook. This study concludes that digital literacy is required as a set of knowledge in order to be more critical, analytical, and evaluative in understanding existing religious information

Comunidade de aprendizagem no Facebook: tecnologia como fomento da nova cultura de aprendizagem

Este artigo apresenta temática de pesquisa de doutorado, em fase de desenvolvimento, e tem como objetivo refletir sobre o processo de produção de conhecimento no mundo virtual como ato da nova cultura de aprendizagem, mais especificamente, no espaço de uma comunidade de aprendizagem na rede social Facebook, constituída por alunos de curso de pós-graduação. A discussão proposta parte do princípio que, no cenário do ciberespaço, despontam novos ambientes de interação e de relação entre os sujeitos sociais e que, novas formas produção de conhecimento estão sendo instituídas. Neste contexto, as redes sociais - ambientes criados para a promoção de relações sociais mediadas pela internet - surgem com grande potencial de favorecer a cultura do conhecimento, promover a troca de informações e a participação dos sujeitos em grupos de interesses comuns, configurando-se como novo espaço de aprendizagem. Ação que vai ao encontro da proposta da nova cultura de aprendizagem centrada na aprendizagem por meio do envolvimento no mundo - como uma cultura de ambiente - tendo como alicerce o envolvimento ativo e compartilhamento, a produção coletiva de conhecimento como processo orgânico, social, coletivo. Como objeto de análise para suas reflexões fez uso das interações entre os alunos de um curso de pós-graduação, integrantes de uma comunidade de aprendizagem na rede social Facebook. Entre as constatações identificaram-se os benefícios do uso pedagógico da rede social Facebook como instrumento que têm servido para facilitar práticas presenciais de ensino aprendizagem e como ambiente de desenvolvimento de prática colaborativa de produção de conhecimento. Assim como, o potencial de ser utilizada como um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem não formal, como um espaço inovador que amplia as socializações e práticas educativas contribuindo para uma aprendizagem colaborativa em rede, através do diálogo e da construção coletiva de saberes.This article presents theme of doctoral research in early development, and aims to reflect about the process of knowledge production in the virtual world as an act of the new culture of learning, specifically within in a learning community on the social networking website Facebook, constituted of postgraduate students. The discussion proposed assumes that, in the cyberspace scenario, emerge new environments of interaction and relationship between social subjects and that new ways of knowledge production are being instituted. In this context, social networking - environments created for the promotion of social relationships mediated by internet - appear with great potential to favors the culture of knowledge, promote the exchange of information and participation of the subjects in groups of common interests, setting up as a new learning space. Action that meets the proposed new learning culture centered on learning through engagement in the world - as a culture environment - and having like basis the active involvement and sharing, the collective production of knowledge as process organic, social, collective. As object of analysis for their reflections, makes use of the interactions among students of postgraduate course, members of a learning community in the social network Facebook. The findings identified the pedagogical benefits of using the social network Facebook as a tool that have served to facilitate teaching and learning practices and as the development environment for collaborative practice of knowledge production. As well the potential to be used as an environment virtual non-formal learning, like the innovative space that expands the socialization and educational practices, contributing to a collaborative learning network through dialogue and collective construction of knowledge.Universidade Aberta; Pavilhão do Conhecimento;LEA

Exploring the views of students on the use of Facebook in university teaching and learning

Facebook use among students is almost ubiquitous; however, its use for formal academic purposes remains contested. Through an online survey monitoring student use of module Facebook pages and focus groups, this study explores students’ current academic uses of Facebook and their views on using Facebook within university modules. Students reported using Facebook for academic purposes, notably peer–peer communication around group work and assessment – a use not always conceptualised by students as learning. Focus groups revealed that students are not ready or equipped for the collaborative style of learning envisaged by the tutor and see Facebook as their personal domain, within which they will discuss academic topics where they see a strong relevance and purpose, notably in connection with assessment. Students use Facebook for their own mutually defined purposes and a change in student mind- and skill-sets is required to appropriate the collaborative learning benefits of Facebook in formal educational contexts

The Impact of Cultural Familiarity on Students’ Social Media Usage in Higher Education

Using social media (SM) in Higher education (HE) becomes unavoidable in the new teaching and learning pedagogy. The current generation of students creates their groups on SM for collaboration. However, SM can be a primary source of learning distraction due to its nature, which does not support structured learning. Hence, derived from the literature, this study proposes three learning customised system features, to be implemented on SM when used in Higher Education HE. Nevertheless, some psychological factors appear to have a stronger impact on students’ adoption of SM in learning than the proposed features. A Quantitative survey was conducted at a university in Uzbekistan to collect 52 undergraduate students’ perception of proposed SM learning customised features in Moodle. These features aim to provide localised, personalised, and privacy control self-management environment for collaboration in Moodle. These features could be significant in predicting students’ engagement with SM in HE. The data analysis showed a majority of positive feedback towards the proposed learning customised SM. However, the surveyed students’ engagement with these features was observed as minimal. The course leader initiated a semi-structured interview to investigate the reason. Although the students confirmed their acceptance of the learning customised features, their preferences to alternate SM, which is Telegram overridden their usage of the proposed learning customized SM, which is Twitter. The students avoided the Moodle integrated Twitter (which provided highly accepted features) and chose to use the Telegram as an external collaboration platform driven by their familiarity and social preferences with the Telegram since it is the popular SM in Uzbekistan. This study is part of an ongoing PhD research which involves deeper frame of learners’ cognitive usage of the learning management system. However, this paper exclusively discusses the cultural familiarity impact of student’s adoption of SM in HE

Electronic Social Networks as Supporting Means of Educational Process in Higher Education Institutions

Given research describes experience of electronic social networks use in educational practices. It was determined that electronic social networks can be a powerful tool for support of educational process in higher education institutions, namely to support study of different disciplines. There are main advantages of electronic social networks use for education: universal accessibility and free of charge; possibility of instant messaging and multimedia data; user-friendly intuitive interface; ability to search data and information; availability of event scheduling, invitations, reminder settings; support for synchronous and asynchronous communication between network members; access from different devices. It is emphasized that one of the main advantages of electronic social networks is receipt of quick feedback and convenience of their tools and services. Nowadays, it is important to include network educational interaction in existing models of study organization. It is advisable to use electronic social networks to manage educational process in higher education institution. Efficiency of electronic social networks use depends on intensity and need for their use in educational system management for implementation of organizational, educational, psychological and pedagogical functions and ensuring universal communication with subjects of educational process. Expediency of electronic social networks use to carry out research work at university is described. Electronic social networks are convenient tool to conduct surveys and questionnaires, to create thematic groups for specific issue discussion. Also it is possible to interact with researchers from different countries, share experiences and disseminate research findings, invite those who wish to participate in various scientific activities using these networks

Rethinking Assessment: Information Literacy Instruction and the ACRL Framework

Most information literacy instruction (ILI) done in academic libraries today is based on the ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, but with the replacement of these standards by the new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, there is a need to re-evaluate current teaching strategies and instructional techniques so that they can better serve the Framework’s goals. This paper explores current trends in ILI instruction and in the area of assessment in particular, since ILI assessment provides an opportunity not only to evaluate teaching effectiveness but also to reinforce the learning goals of the new Framework itself. It proposes several ways that assessment strategies can be aligned with the goals of the Framework by using guided group discussion, online discussion platforms, and social media platforms, and proposes further avenues for research in the evaluation of such strategies