IMPLEMENTATION OF FACEBOOK IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION IMPLEMENTACIJA FACEBOOKA U NASTAVI STRANIH JEZIKA U VISOKOM OBRAZOVANJU

Transcription

1 Darija Kuharić, senior lecturer of German language Faculty of Agriculture Osijek HR Osijek, 1d P. Svačića Phone: +385 (0) Fax: +385 (0) address: Ljubica Ranogajec, associate professor Faculty of Agriculture Osijek HR Osijek, 1d P. Svačića Phone: +385 (0) Fax: +385 (0) address: Ines Kuharić, Bachelor of information science HR Osijek 27 J. Huttlera Phone: +385 (0) address: IMPLEMENTATION OF FACEBOOK IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION IMPLEMENTACIJA FACEBOOKA U NASTAVI STRANIH JEZIKA U VISOKOM OBRAZOVANJU ABSTRACT Technology is more and more integrated into society's norms. It is well-known that social networking tools have become a way of life for people of all ages. Educators are realizing that, if used properly as course tools, they may bridge the generation gap between their students and themselves. Besides, they can easily be used as alternative media for traditional course requirements. A few years ago, the social media platform, Facebook, that has been used mostly for entertainment purposes, was integrated into my classroom. Having created Facebook groups for both English and German courses, some great results were yielded. Communication between the students and myself as a teacher has greatly improved. Not only that some course material has been included, but my students were also encouraged to find Facebook pages and groups regarding various field of agriculture (horticulture, agricultural machinery, fruit and grape growing, animal production, apiculture, ecology, agricultural economics, gardening, etc.). In this way, students' interest and participation have been enhanced. Finally, they discovered a new source of information regarding their field of professional interest. Three generations of students of the Faculty of Agriculture Osijek were given a simple on-line questionnaire for the purpose of gathering first hand information on their views regarding the implementation of social media into the classroom in their post-secondary education. Eventually, the results may also be used as guidelines for future use of Facebook or other social media platforms in other courses at the Faculty of Agriculture Osijek. Key words: foreign language teaching, higher education, social networking tools, Facebook, agriculture 308

2 SAŽETAK Tehnologija se svakim danom sve više integrira u norme društvenog života. Dobro je poznato da su alati pomoću kojih se koriste društvene mreže postali dio života ljudi svih dobnih skupina. Prosvjetni radnici uočavaju da im društvene mreže, ukoliko ih se koristi na primjeren način, mogu pomoći u premoštavanju generacijskog jaza između njih i učenika/studenata. Osim toga, može ih se koristiti i kao alternativa tradicionalnim nastavnim metodama. Društvena mreža Facebook, koja se koristi uglavnom u svrhu zabave, našla je put do mojih predavaonica. Naime, osnovane su grupe studenata na Facebooku koji uče engleski i njemački jezik i postignuti su vrlo dobri rezultati. Komunikacija između studenata i mene kao nastavnika se poboljšala. Putem Facebooka uvedeni su određeni nastavni materijali, dok su se studenti istodobno poticali na pronalaženje stranica i grupa koje se baziraju na različitim područjima poljoprivrede (hortikultura, poljoprivredni strojevi, voćarstvo i vinogradarstvo, stočarstvo, pčelarstvo, ekologija, poljoprivredna ekonomika, vrtlarstvo, itd.). Na ovaj se način povećalo zanimanje i sudjelovanje studenata u nastavi. Konačno, studenti su otkrili novi izvor informacija u vezi sfere svog profesionalnog interesa. Provedena je anketa među studentima triju generacija Poljoprivrednog fakulteta u Osijeku, kako bi se iz prve ruke prikupile informacije o njihovim stavovima o implementaciji alata društvenih mreža u nastavi u visokoškolskom obrazovanju. Dobiveni rezultati mogu poslužiti kao smjernice za buduću primjenu Facebooka ili neke druge društvene mreže u modulima na Poljoprivrednom fakultetu u Osijeku. Ključne riječi: učenje stranih jezika, visoko obrazovanje, alati društvenih mreža, Facebook, poljoprivreda 1. Introduction 1.1. Social Networking Sites Social networking has become one of the most important communication tools among people nowadays. These networks are described as social, because they allow communication and streghten the ties between members of these networks in the space of the Internet (Zaidieh, 2012). In the field of education, technology doesn't have a secondary role in the sole process of knowledge transferring, especially because technology is becoming increasingly integrated into the lives of learners of all age groups (Petrović et al., 2012). Recently, the integration of social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Skype) into classrooms has changed the landscape of post-secondary education. Educators are slowly realizing that these tools can be used to bridge the generation gap between them and their students. As the popularity of Facebook and other social networking sites (SNSs) continues to grow, educators are seeing their potential for use, realizing that SNSs may have the ability to promote both active learning and collaboration (Pollara and Zhu, 2011). Nevertheless, there are opponents to the acceptance of SNSs. Currently, there is a heated debate on wheather or not SNSs should be used in educational settings as a part of higher education. Many of them question what kind of role SNSs, particularly Facebook, could have in education. In the paper significantly titled "Facebook in higher education promotes social but not academic engagement (Wise et al., 2011) authors argue that Facebook, instead of promoting social engagement in a way that might increase academic engagement, is more likely to operate as a distracting influence. But since students are already investing time and energy in social networking, building relationships and their own communities of shared interest and fostering 21st century skills in the process, there is a unique opportunity to form educational communities of knowledge (Zaidieh, 2012). Unfortunately, pedagogy is not keeping up with technology. In general, the literature and empirical findings on implementing social networking in educational practices are mixed in their support of SNS' use in education. In addition, there exist no known 309

3 published work providing comprehensive guidance on how to implement SNS or Facebook, specifically, within the classroom (Muñoz and Towner, 2011). 1.2.Using Facebook in Education A few decades ago, the best way to contact professors was to go to their office. Nowadays, it is commonly believed that students only need to fire up their computers. Since Facebook is considered as one of the most popular and the most used SNS, it has quickly become the SNS of choice by college students and an integral part of the "behind the scenes" college experience (Selwyn, 2007). Because students complain about lacking opportunities for authentic communication due to non-personalized course content even when alternative delivery methods are employed, providing informal learning contexts by integrating emerging social networks into existing learning practices becomes significantly important to attain more robust learning and teaching opportunities (Bartlett-Bragg, 2006). According to Pascarella and Terenzini (2005) some of the most effective educators are those that create an informal relationship with their students through the use of SNS. Petrović et al. (2012) provide a list of characteristics noted in the literature that recommends Facebook as a tool that can contribute significantly to the quality of education: Fostering positive relationships among students and encompassing students' motivation and engagement, Involving students in achieving tasks and successful transfer of knowledge, Developing a positive attitude towards learning and improving the quality of learning, Developing interpersonal intelligence as well as critical thought, Developing of communications and interactions on the relationship between students and teachers outside the classes. With regard to teachers, they also quote what Facebook can enable teachers to do. It can: Provide constructive educational outcomes in a variety of fields Practice a differential pedagogy, in the best interest of the students Integrate diagnostic formative evaluation in the learning process and calibrate didactic activities accordingly Achieve a change in strategy, mentality, attitude and behaviours by using Facebook Establish efficient educational relations on a social network Accept the student as an interaction partner Analyse and compare ways of learning and the knowledge achieved by students Develop knowledge and skills in order to perform efficient didactic activities. 2. Problem Statement The purpose of this article is to examine the role of social networking in higher education and to demonstrate how SNSs, in our case Facebook, can be used in foreign language courses in higher education for edusocial purposes. The authors of this paper share the opinion that university education is student focused and it is, therefore, important to consider students' perceptions of technology that is integrated into their learning environment (Irwin et al.,2012). For the last three academic years (2010/2011, 2011/2012 and 2012/2013) Facebook has been introduced in English and German courses at the Faculty of Agriculture Osijek. As foreign languages for specific purposes, English I and German I (winter semester) as well as and English II and German II (summer semester) are obligatory courses in the first year of undergraduate university studies. There are two hours of lectures and three hours of exercises weekly per semester. 310

4 On the other hand, the foreign language course is also obligatory in the first year of professional studies in the winter semester, but the course is held in three-week block classes. Namely, in the Republic of Croatia higher education is performed through university and professional studies. University studies are performed at universities while professional studies are performed at polytechnics and schools of professional higher education. Professional studies can be performed at universities only exceptionally, with the prior consent by the National Council for Higher Education 101. The Faculty of Agriculture Osijek is one of them. At the beginning of every academic year, three 102 Facebook groups are created depending on the foreign language the students are studying (English or German) and the level of higher education (professional studies or undergradute university study). Students are informed of the course's Facebook group and instructed that they can use it as learning resource throughout the semester(s) by visiting it. Facebook groups are used in four steps: STEP 1. They serve as a platform to provide information relevant to the course (e.g. lecturer's notifications on the course, changes to lecture times and location, links to useful and interesting media and learning material related to the course). Students are welcome to comment on any post or to post their own question regarding course material or similar. STEP 2. In order to show students that Facebook does not have a solely social function, but also an educational dimension, they are asked to find as many Facebook pages about agriculture as they can, but in the foreign language they are learning. They have to choose their favourite page and present it in front of their colleagues. STEP 3. Both students and the lecturer post news from their favourite Facebook (agricultural) pages. Students are encouraged to comment on them. STEP 4. Introduction of Facebook groups in foreign language learning at the academic level may inspire other members of academic staff to create such groups for their modules and provide students with even more valuable information, materials and links, including pages in English or German, for the students have already encountered them. One of the good examples of collaboration among academic staff is the implementing of Facebook in other (non-)obligatory courses, but now with 2nd year students of professional studies (Elements of Accounting in Agriculture), 2nd and 3rd year students of undergraduate university studies (Cost Estimating in Agriculture, Accounting in Agriculture) as well as 1st and 2nd year students of graduate university studies (Costs Management, Methods of Modern Cost Accounting). 103 In order to examine students' perception of the utility of Facebook as a learning source as well, data were gathered via two questionnaires. a. Questionnaire 1 An initial questionnaire in hard copies was administered in the first lecture of semester (academic year 2012/2013) to first year students of both professional studies and undergraduate university studies. It was created in order to establish the extent of using Facebook during their secondary education for educational purposes. The questionnaire included one structured and one semistructured question. Out of 43 respondents, 53.4 precent of them did not use Facebook during secondary education. Among those who used it (46.5%), Facebook was a platform that helped them create groups, in which they would exchange information, provide some exercises or share their schoolwork needed for certain courses The author of this paper is the coordinator for modules English I and English II (Agroecomics), German I and German II (all majors) in undergraduate university studies as well as German (all majors) in professsional studies at the Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek. 103 The named modules aree coordinated by the first co-author of the paper. 311

5 b. Questionnaire 2 A second questionnaire was based on the seminar paper "Survey: Using Facebook as Means of Improvement of Knowledge with Students of Agriculture" (Kuharić I. 2012) 104. The seminar paper was written as an obligatory task in the course Research Methods in Information Science and supervised by D. Hasenay, full professor. At that time, the co-author of this paper was a first year student of graduate university study at the University of J. J. Strossmayer Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Information Sciences. Most of the questions from this seminar paper were used in the study to gather primary data. Among others, it included semi-structured questions, regarding gender, experience in use of Facebook, benefits associated with and skills acquired through the use of Facebook, information regarding their language proficiency. It was distributed to the students of the Faculty of Agriculture Osijek electronically. QuestionPro was used to create an online version of the questionnaire. It was distributed through Facebook (groups) to students of first and second year of professional studies first, second and third year of undergraduate university studies first and second year of graduate university studies. 3. Presentation of Results A total of 104 students of the Faculty of Agriculture participated in the study (Figure 1). Regarding the gender of participants, percent were male and female. Almost all of the respondents (99.0%) had a Facebook profile. Figure 1 Number of participants (QuestionPro) Figure 2 shows the frequency distribution for the year of study. Most (53%) of the respondents were first years of the undergraduate university studies. 104 Ispitivanje korištenja Facebook grupa za proširenje znanja kod studenata Poljoprivrednog fakulteta, (veljača 2012). 312

6 Figure 2 Frequency distribution for year of study Interestingly, 88.31% of students claimed that they were aware of the fact that there existed Facebook pages that might help them to improve their information database regarding agriculture. When asked, "How did you learn about agriculture related Facebook pages that may help you with your courses?", a significant number of the students (54.95%) reported that their source of information were their colleagues. Only 27.93% of respondents learned about such Facebook pages from their educators. To our disappointment, just 16.22% of them found those pages by themselves. When asked if they created any Facebook groups with their fellow students that could help them in exchanging ceratin information, interesting links, learning materials etc., 61.36% of them gave a positive answer. Although the respondents were quite critical about their foreign language skills (Table 1), when asked whether they avoided using Facebook pages in foreign languages because of poor knowledge, only 14.71% answered positively. Table 1 Students' self-evaluation of their foreign language skills ENGLISH GERMAN Grade Percentage Grade Percentage A 7.95% A 4.60% B 19.32% B 9.20% C 26.14% C 32.18% D 38.64% D 37.93% E 7.95% E 16.09% Students were also asked to describe their attitude towards agriculture related Facebook pages in foreign languages (Table 2). 313

7 Table 2 Students' attitude towards agriculture related Facebook pages in foreign languages What do you think about agriculture related Facebook pages in foreign languages? I have no opinion, since I haven't used any of them % My knowledge of English/German is poor, so I don't use them. 4.65% I'm not sure if information provided by such Facebook pages is relevant % I don't know how to find such Facebook pages. 0 % I don't think that they are necessary. 5.81% I don't use them, because I'm not sure how my educators would react to the fact 16.28% that my source of information were Facebook pages. I use only learning material(s) provided by my educators % 4. Conclusion In the academic community, social networking sites (especially Facebook) offer students the opportunity to connect with other students and their educators. They help them improve their technology proficiency, social skills and to communicate in new ways with new people. Although SNSs are being used extensively in higher education, the authors of this paper highly recommend the integration of social media in the learning process. We believe that Facebook is not only a social, but a good educational tool as well. The academic community must not forget that university education should be student focused and it is therefore important to consider students' perceptions of technology that is integrated into their learning environment. Based on our results and three year experience, we would like to encourage others to use Facebook groups in their courses. In addition, foreign languages may and should help students to complete educational tasks more efficiently, provide stronger understanding and increase retention on the subject. REFERENCES Bartlett-Bragg, A. (2006): Reflections on pedagogy: Reframing practice to foster informal learning with social software, (accessed March, 15th, 2013) Irvin, C., Ball, L., Desbrow, B. & Leveritt, M. (2012): Students' perception of using Facebook as an interactive learning resource at university, in: Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 2012, 28(7), pp , (accessed March, 18th, 2013) Muñoz, C. L. & Towner, T. (2011): Back to the "wall": Facebook in the college classroom, in: First Monday, Volume 16, Number 12, 5 December 2011, (accessed March, 25th, 2013) Pascarella, E. T. & Terenzini,P.T. (2005): How Colledge Affects Students, Volume 2, A Third Decade of Research, (accessed March, 26th, 2013) Petrović, N. et al. (2012): Possible Educational Use of Facebook in Higher Environmental Education, in ICICTE 2012 Proceedings, pp , (accessed March, 25th, 2013) 314

8 Pollara, P. & Zhu J. (2011): Social Networking and Education: Using Facebook as an Edusocial Space, in Proceedings of Society for Information Tecnology & Teacher Education International Conference 2011, pp , usocial_space (accessed March, 15th, 2013) Selwyn, N. (2009): Faceworking: exploring students' education-related use of Facebook, in: Learning; Media and Technology, Vol. 34, No.2, June 2009, pp (accessed March, 13th, 2013) Wise L.Z., Skues, J. & Williams, B. (2011): Facebook in higher education promotes social but not academic engagement, in: G. Williams, P. Statham, N. Brown & B. Cleland (Eds.), Changing Demands, Changing Directions, Proceedings ascilite Hobart 2011., pp , (accessed March, 16th, 2013) Zaidieh, A. J. Y. (2012): The Use of Social Networking in Education: Challenges and Oppourtunities, in: World of Computor Science and Information Technology Journal (WCSIT): ISSN : Vol.2, No.1, 18-21, 2012, ation%20challenges%20and%20opportunities.pdf (accessed March, 15th, 2013) Zamwe, N., Rupere, T. & Kufandirimbwa, O. (2013): Use of Social Networking Technologies in Higher Education in Zimbabwe: A learners perspective., in: International Journal of Computer and Information Technology (ISSN: ) Volume 02 Issue 01, January 2013, (accessed March, 15th, 2013) 315