The combination between technology and education has given birth to a new form of assessment called: e-assessment. The latter assesses learners using different digital means one of which are social media. The present study investigated the impact of social media, as being one aspect of eassessment tools, on EFL students' written production. It tried to highlight the nature of this impact, enquired about the reasons behind their writing difficulties, and explored whether these errors were caused by social media or not. This research work relied on a case study that consisted of 31 third-year undergraduates and 22 English teachers at the department of English at Tlemcen University, Algeria. The data were gathered through the use of two questionnaires administered to both learners and instructors plus two writing tasks, one assigned on social media and the other in the classroom. Data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively through error analysis. After identifying the different errors produced by the students, the findings revealed that a relationship existed between learners' use of social media and their writing issues. Their intensive use of social media led to a significant decrease in the writing level of the learners who have developed a new form of writing that includes linguistic habits which reflect the informalities often found on a social media environment, and do not necessarily follow the norms and rigours of the English language. They have become unable to distinguish between the formal and informal context to the point that certain linguistic aspects have become fossilized.
The combination between technology and education has given birth to a new form of assessment called: e-assessment. The latter assesses learners using different digital means one of which are social media. The present study investigated the impact of social media, as being one aspect of eassessment tools, on EFL students' written production. It tried to highlight the nature of this impact, enquired about the reasons behind their writing difficulties, and explored whether these errors were caused by social media or not. This research work relied on a case study that consisted of 31 third-year undergraduates and 22 English teachers at the department of English at Tlemcen University, Algeria. The data were gathered through the use of two questionnaires administered to both learners and instructors plus two writing tasks, one assigned on social media and the other in the classroom. Data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively through error analysis. After identifying the different errors produced by the students, the findings revealed that a relationship existed between learners' use of social media and their writing issues. Their intensive use of social media led to a significant decrease in the writing level of the learners who have developed a new form of writing that includes linguistic habits which reflect the informalities often found on a social media environment, and do not necessarily follow the norms and rigours of the English language. They have become unable to distinguish between the formal and informal context to the point that certain linguistic aspects have become fossilized.
The present paper is a plea for a reconsideration of the boundaries of EFL teaching and testing within the framework of the lifelong educational paradigm. Today the educational arena dictates a new paradigm in which lifelong learning becomes indispensable. Learning is no more confined to a specific physical context: the classroom; it goes beyond the school gates. The traditional limits on where and when organized knowledge could be imparted as part of a pre-service or inservice training no longer apply. Lifelong learning has become a sine qua non condition for the establishment of a learning society. Yet, as for English Language Education, two antagonistic approaches arise. The first in which parents would most probably argue about what is best to be taught to their children as well as about the most appropriate and effective learning path leading to their offspring success in an increasingly complex world, whereas the second, in which teachers strive to cope with a delicate intertwined questioning of how to strike the balance between an effective teaching and an efficient testing. True, EFL learners in Algeria are in most need of a well-rounded education. An English Language Education geared by the "learning-how-to-learn" principle paving therefore the way for a lifelong educational paradigm.
The present paper is an attempt to redraw the boundaries of EFL from a teaching-testing perspective. Though the crux of the problem in language teaching has always been the general principles underpinning the methodologies, the ‘what-to-teach’ and the ‘what-to-test’ questions have always been a concern for most stakeholders. Parents would most probably argue about what is best to be taught to their children as well as about the most appropriate and effective learning path leading to their offspring success, whereas the others, not least, teachers, strive to cope with a delicate intertwined questioning of how to strike the balance between an effective teaching and an efficient testing. However, this thorny issue, so to speak, is not a new one. The relationship between teaching and testing has called into question the communicative abilities of Algerian EFL learners. To score high, through a test-oriented teaching in an EFL exam does not necessarily mean to speak fluently and to write accurately the English language. EFL learners in public schools are in most need of a well-rounded education.
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