An investigation into integrating social sites as a teaching and learning practice to create dialogue spaces in the language classroom

摘要

This study intends to explore how social media or social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook can facilitate communication channels or create dialogue spaces in a language class. Social media is a form of participatory media, which broadly refers to the “collection of communication channels or mediums (primarily online and mobile) through which social networks originate and are sustained” (Flew 2008:109). Although the term social media is often used as a collective term for SNSs or as the core trademark of Web 2.0, Flew (2008:17) also distinguishes social media by calling it a “communications infrastructure” that allows for “participation, interactivity, collaborative learning and social networking”. Flew (2008) identifies various online sites including the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia and the online user-generated video site YouTube as well as various personalised web space sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Friendster and Bebo as participatory media. The study’s data collection was situated at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) and investigated how social media can be used to facilitate dialogue between a tutor and BKI1120 Communication in English B students in a Higher Education (HE) context using qualitative methodology. This study compared the use of existing and more traditional or conventional classroom communication practices with those of SNSs as a communication channel, while focusing on social media application as a communication tool to create dialogue spaces that support teaching and learning practices. The research also attempted to identify alternative applications of social media for teaching and learning practices to inform researchers in the fields of HE and media. In the first data-collection phase, BKI1120 Communication in English B Public Management students were selected as the sample for the study. Seventeen students participated in the BKI1120 Facebook page created for the purpose of this study. In the second data-collection phase, a taped focus-group interview was conducted with eight BKI1120 Communication in English B students. The interview transcript was then analysed qualitatively for themes. The research findings showed that social media or SNSs such as Facebook can facilitate communication channels or create dialogue spaces in a language class, if it is managed effectively.