Like the social network 2nd Life, Facebook has gained in popularity not only among recreational users but also among educators and their students. Traditionally, members use Facebook to update personal profiles and notify their friends about each other. However, we now see Facebook being used in language classes to create communities of online learners who can interact with each other outside the classroom in different ways and for different purposes .
Facebook is particularly suited for extra language practice. During the 2008 – 2009 academic year, I implemented a Facebook project for GRMN 101 and GRMN 102. The original thought behind the project was to have students create online portfolios for their written work which they could share with each other and comment on. In the past, Bb’s Threaded Discussions and Blogs adequately served this purpose, but this time I wanted to expand the project to a more socially authentic environment that most students were familiar with as a means for communicating and circulating information. It was my hope that students could then experience language practice as a meaningful exercise designed for them to become acquainted with each other in a less formal setting. Below is a screen shot of a short writing sample from one student’s post in Facebook.
click on image to enlarge
You may notice that the author of the above post uses an alias. In this instance, the alias is that of the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. For this project, students were required to choose an alias that referenced a known German artist, philosopher or scientist. Students were not permitted to invite personal contacts to join the group. Membership was limited to only students from the class.
Students frequently combined their knowledge of the personalities they adopted in Facebook with details of themselves. This combination seemed to foster a playful use of the language even at the elementary level. Furthermore, the images that students used to illustrate their ideas may have contributed to stimulating their creativity and imagination. The translation of Goethe’s post in the example above is: “When I was still young and innocent, I was amazed about a lot. I thought that this world was exceptional. I laid in the sun and had fun in the present.”
Students also posted longer writing samples. As was the case with most of their written assignments, students were encouraged to illustrate their stories through images. In the story below, the student describes a fictitious battle that he imagines between himself and the monsters floating in his cereal bowl. The story gradually develops into a modern day fairy tale.
It was difficult to prevent inaccurate uses of the language since most posts were not checked before appearing in Facebook. However, there were opportunities in class to review student posts, make suggestions and do corrections. On the whole, there were few instances in the Facebook exchanges between students that caused communication problems. More importantly, the tasks for the students in Facebook did not have a particular grammatical focus but rather aimed at providing students with meaningful and creative opportunities to communicate with each other about themselves outside the classroom.
Besides providing students the opportunity to share their written work, students were also able to notify each other in the target language about their current status. Moreover, students were able to comment on each others’ posts and ask questions; e.g., in the post below, Goethe wrote that he “is dreaming.” Heidi Klum asks later: What are you dreaming?” Goethe responds: “I dreamt that I was a goalie in the NHL.” The illustration below shows other status updates and posts by students .
click on image to enlarge
In the example above, we see how students outside the classroom are able to correspond with each other about their daily activities and thus personalize their language experience. In addition to describing what they were doing at a particular moment, students also described their hobbies and personal interests in art, music and culture. Students were able to provide examples of their interests not only through images but through other forms of multimedia such as video and links to other web sites.
Facebook also provided students with opportunities to learn new vocabulary. Students could easily switch the language of the interface to German and change all menus and instructions to the target language.
click on image to enlarge
Facebook was perhaps a factor in changing some of the dynamics of the course by facilitating a peer learning environment, in which the students could teach each other content. Although German rock music was not on the syllabus, students initiated their own discussion of German rock bands by posting music videos in Facebook that they found on YouTube. On occasion, students not only exchanged music videos but also shared the lyrics for each other to read which the lengthy text in the post below illustrates
click on image to enlarge
Finally, Facebook developed a community of learners, who learned about each other in ways that may not have otherwise occurred. Frequent users of Facebook use it as a means to quickly and simultaneously connect and network with friends, family and colleagues from around the world. It was namely Facebook’s networking aspects that hopefully helped the students to change their perception of language learning from that of an individual activity to that of a more dynamic group activity.
