INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

Transcription

VEDA’SJOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (JOELL)An International Peer Reviewed Journalhttp://www.joell.inVol.3Spl.Issue 12016RESEARCH ARTICLEINFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNINGDhanya G.(Assistant Professor, Vignan Pharmacy College, Vadlamudi, Guntur Dt.)ABSTRACTInternet has affected the preferred learning styles of young peoplewanting to learn English around the world. Teachers, to remain relevant andeffective, need to use 'learning technologies' to help students reach the worldoutside the classroom. Teachers now adhere to innovative practices inteaching- learning process and have changed their roles into ‘facilitators’. Therole of teacher demands to promote more group tasks and stress- freelearning environments. Social media is emerging in various forms to bringpeople together as communities. It is not denied that there is also acontroversy on using new Social Media such as Face book, whats up or WebChat. But in the present global scenario, when millions live and breathe onsocial media, teachers are learning how to incorporate the medium into theclassroom successfully. The social media tools help the language teachers tostay connected with their peers around the world and stay updated abouttheir fields. Moreover, these online buttons give the language teachers thechance to help others in their fields, find solutions to their problems andimprove their teaching language careers. This paper focuses on the influenceof social media in teaching and learning English language.Keywords: Social Networks, Language, Teaching Process. Copyright VEDA Publication105Dhanya G.

VEDA’SJOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (JOELL)An International Peer Reviewed Journalhttp://www.joell.inINTRODUCTIONEnglish is the official language of the world.It is an international language, spoken in manycountries both as a native and as a second or foreignlanguage. Hence, it is of paramount importance thatthis language has to be taught in such a way that itwill help us not just to speak and write and listen butto communicate. The traditional methods whichlargely depend on lecturing and rote learning ion and miserably fail in developinglanguage competency among the students. Thesestereotyped methods and teaching material makesthe learning a monotonous activity and createsdistaste among the students by reducing them tomere passive receptors of language and not activeparticipants in the learning process. Therefore thenecessity to deviate from the grand methods andmaterials and to use innovative material andtechniques of teaching has been strongly felt.Innovative methods help in bringing a change andmost of the times for the better. With the use ofnovel teaching techniques, creating novel activitiesand tasks and participating in the same and use ofauthentic material, teachers can involve learnersdirectly in the learning process by providing themdirect experience by assuring their participationdirectly in the learning process. It helps the studentslearn faster and in an efficient, interesting and aninteractive manner and it is the teacher’sresponsibility to leave the traditional methods andmake way for new and better methods for thestudents benefit.By using authentic teaching materialavailable around and the material that is connectedto the experiential and background knowledge of thestudents, an English class room can be madeinteractive, interesting, enthusiastic and learnerfriendly.RELEVANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIADaily observations and recent scholarlytraditions suggest that a certain amount of learningtakes place beyond the confines of the individualmind. Learning a different language involves socialaspects which influences the way in which individualslearn language. Language learners are able to106Vol.3Spl.Issue 12016enhance their language skills due to the differentavenues in which new social media have created.Social media provides the learner with the possibilityof participating in actual, real-time, relevantconversations taking place online, and practicing thetarget language with or without the help of anexperienced teacher by his or her side.In 2007, the British Council conductedmarket research into how the Internet has affectedthe preferred learning styles of young peoplewanting to learn English around the world.The resultsof this research suggest that if teachers are to remainrelevant and effective, then they need to use'learning technologies' to help students reach theworld outside the classroom.69% of learners aroundthe world said that they learned most effectivelywhen socializing informally. The research alsoshowed that students who felt they were gettingenough opportunities in their lives to socializeinformally were also successful in their learning. Theresults stated that the student found time both tostudy and socialize as much as they want. It isimportant to understand that successful studentscombine studying and socializing, and that combiningthe two things helps them to be successful at both.The average young person in the worldtoday owns technology. It feels like everyone has amobile phone today. In China, more people havemobile phones than land-line phones. In someAfrican countries, people own more than one phoneeach on average and the conditions in India is notdifferent at present. These findings suggest thatsometimes young people get more new informationfrom the technology they use outside of school thanthey do from their teacher in the classroom.Sometimes, young people learn more from using theInternet at home or in a café than they do at school.IMPLICATIONSWhen young people are on the Internet,they feel 'connected' to people and the worldknowledge. The implications, therefore, are thatteachers might: Try to use 'learning technologies' in theclassroom whenever they can, to make thelearning experience relevant to theirstudentsDhanya G.

VEDA’SJOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (JOELL)An International Peer Reviewed Journalhttp://www.joell.in Show students how to find and accessinformation and opportunities throughtechnology Focus on developing students’ networkingskills (both online and face-to-face) so thatthe students become 'connected' to peoplewho can give them information, help themlearn and keep the learning experiencerelevant to the student’s life Take on the role of 'trainer' rather than'teacher'.It is not denied that there is also acontroversy on using new Social Media. There aresome disadvantages with being able to communicateeasier with multiple people on the internet,especially for teens and even sometimes youngsters,of cyber bullying and stalking. Thousands of teens usesocial media every day, but not all have the bestintentions. Many use a computer screen to hidebehind, which makes it easier to make fun ofsomeone, because you are not face to face. This canseriously damage the individuals who are gettingbullied and cause them severe stress.So, while social media does have itsadvantages, if it is not used for what it was intended,many people could get hurt from it. But as theinternet became more popular, websites havebecome a pivotal resource for school pupils across allsubjects.TECHNIQUESTO ENGAGE WITH THE STUDENTSON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook- Many students use Facebook, a socialnetworking service, as part of their daily lives. Thisuse, out of college, can foster and maintainrelationships and add to greater cohesion anddynamic when back in class which, in turn, can have apositive effect on their attendance and retention onthe course. Create a Facebook page that your classcan 'like'. Facebook can be used by the instructor toshare course resources, fire up discussions, promotecollaboration, improve relationships betweenstudents, incorporate an array of learning tools (suchas videos, images, boards, chatting and privatemessaging), and use it in conjunction with othersocial media platforms, Facebook has endlessadvantages that solidly prove its social learning value.107Vol.3Spl.Issue 12016An instructor can make Facebook advantageous inthe following manner:1. Create closed groups. Participants will enteronly by invitation and no one else will beable to see the contents, discussions, postsetc. inside the group. It’s a great and safeway to interact and bond.2. Create open groups if the target is a wideraudience to a specific course, domain,application or even school. Many MOOCprograms have Facebook pages. Withmillions of FB users around the globe, thenumber of people that might be interestedin your courses will be surprising.3. Create polls to receive feedback about acourse or a program you are thinking ofimplementing, to request the opinion ofyour audience on a specific topic, or even togenerate statistics. Possibilities and optionsare endless.4. Create questionnaires to comprehend thelikes, dislikes and interests of your current orfuture students and build the course aroundthem.5. Upload course contents material andresources in your account or the closedgroup you created. Think of the advantages.Everything will be available 24/7, if amistake is made it can be corrected and reupload. The user will get immediatefeedback and safe receipt confirmation,your material can be remotely accessed nomatter where your students are, and youwill effectively minimize classroom time.6. Tell your students to connect their smartphone to Facebook, so they can receiveinstant notifications about all new messagesand activities related to your course.Facebook’s notification system allowseveryone to keep track of anything new thathappens; new groups, requests, discussions,comments, tagging, material, links etc.7. Urge your students to introduce themselves,connect and collaborate. You can also creategroup assignments to further promotecollaboration and improve relationshipsbetween them and you. It’s true thatDhanya G.

VEDA’SJOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (JOELL)An International Peer Reviewed Journalhttp://www.joell.inhierarchy might be lost in the beginning, butyou can always restore it, by setting theright tone, mood and style to your groups,discussions and applications.8. Start posting updates to your timeline, butnot in English. Ask your pupils to translatethe text using Face book’s in-line Bingtranslation tool and ask them to gauge itsaccuracy.Twitter -Twitter is an online social networking servicethat enables users to send and read short 140character messages called "tweets”. Registered userscan read and post tweets, but those who areunregistered can only read them. Users accessTwitter through the website interface, SMS or mobiledevice application. Create a Twitter account. Starttweeting in a foreign language, keeping in mind thatyou have a 140 character limit, and see if your pupilscan strike up a conversation with you.1. Create an Informative List of Resources Before you begin, create a list of things youwant to provide as information to yourlearners. Think what will be interesting,engaging and re-tweet able. Break apart thecontent and post regularly, so that you keepthe interest of your learners.2. Create Learning Hashtags - Come up with a#hash tag with the help of which learnerswill be able to feedback and communicateon your materials.3. Create Learning Topics - Create topics,making use of the hash tags. In Twitter youcan also create regular Twitter chat events.Don't forget to encourage your learners byliking, re-tweeting and commenting onrelevant tweets they share.4. Create Learning Lists - You can create yourown learninglist which basically is a curategroup of Twitter users. This way you andyour learners will be able to see the streamof your group’s tweets.5. Learn How to Search - Twitter has apowerful and accurate search engine thatwill help you get the information you needmost. Get familiar with the Twitter trail.6. Follow the Influencers - Get in touch andfollow interesting people from your field of108Vol.3Spl.Issue 12016study – eLearning Developers, sors and other experts – see whatthey share and what gets re-tweeted. Thinkabout the things your learners will findinteresting and will want to re-tweet.7. Re-Tweet - Re-tweet and share everythingyou want your learners to know. Don'tforget to encourage them by liking, retweeting and commenting on relevanttweets they share.8. Favorite – Show your appreciation byfavorite a tweet. You will encourage theposter of the original Tweet by let him/herknow that you liked the tweet. Also, bydoing so you can save the Tweet for laterreview.You Tube -. YouTube is one of the most popularwebsites on the planet and a vast resource foreducational content. The site is home to over 10million videos tagged as educational, many of themsubmitted by your fellow teachers.Create a YouTubeaccount.Ask each of your pupils to record a videoblog, of their hobbies, thoughts or opinions on topicalnews stories, but speaking only in English language.Those who want to have their video uploaded shouldsend it to you first.1. Bring in videos to the class. - Lessons can beenhanced with the right video. Somethingvisual and entertaining that speaks to thesubject you’re teaching breaks up themonotony of a lecture, brings some fun intothe lesson, and keeps the students moreengaged and interested in the subject. Forshowing videos in the classroom all it takesis some searching and browsing on thewebsite to see what videos are already outthere on the subject you’re teaching, alongwith a little time spent watching to findvideos that are a good fit. Although if youchoose, you can write some questions orcreate activities that relate to the video tohelp students get more out of them.Dhanya G.

VEDA’SJOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (JOELL)An International Peer Reviewed Journalhttp://www.joell.in2.Create YouTube playlists as student assignments- Some people learn better by watching thanreading, so providing video alternatives tothe reading homework assigned could reallypay off for some st

wanting to learn English around the world.The results of this research suggest that if teachers are to remain relevant and effective, then they need to use 'learning technologies' to help students reach the world outside the classroom.69% of learners around the world said that they learned most effectively