Social Media use and its Effects on writing Ability among Moroccan University EFL Students

Abstract

Social Media is part and parcel of our everyday lives. And since millennials have been interacting on social media on a constant basis, writing is one of the skills by means of which they interact. The intent of this paper is to measure students' social media usage and explore the relationship between these technologies and writing ability among Moroccan university EFL students. In particular, this study employs the explanatory sequential mixed-methods design as a means of researching the reciprocity between social media use and its effects on the writing skill. The findings have indicated that Moroccan university students' social media use habits exert significant impacts on the writing skill and that most of them are susceptible to potential risks pertaining to the use of social media. The reported findings gave sufficient proof that social media is a convenient tool to develop better writing skills. Hence, social media literacy should be integrated in the curriculum.

Facebook Social Media: How does it Affect First-Year Students' Description Writing Skills?

“…Social media Facebook is one of the online media that is quite popular in various levels of society in Indonesia-including students as the millennial generation. This generation has a strong attachment to the use of technology such as Facebook (Al-Harrasi & Al-Badi, 2014;Bagarukayo, 2018;Lakhal, 2021). This can be proven from the many times that millennials use through social networks for various text messages in their daily communication.…”

“…In Indonesia, the average time spent on social media Facebook by millennials is 8 hours 52 minutes (Budiati et al, 2018;Junawan & Laugu, 2020). The dependence of the millennial generation on the use of technology on the one hand can have a positive impact and a negative impact on the other side (Lakhal, 2021). In other words, the millennial generation tends to use Facebook social media in various ways ranging from entertainment, socializing, and seeking information.…”

“…Social media is widely recognized around the world as a tool that can help students in learning activities (Lakhal, 2021). Social media can help students communicate and share their thoughts or ideas about various topics being studied (Lakhal, 2021).…”

“…Social media is widely recognized around the world as a tool that can help students in learning activities (Lakhal, 2021). Social media can help students communicate and share their thoughts or ideas about various topics being studied (Lakhal, 2021). It also allows the creation of asynchronous and synchronous interactions between students and educators (Salas, Kosarzycki, Burke, Fiore, & Stone, 2002), due to various learning materials such as texts, videos, and audios available through online discussions (Lakhal, 2021).…”

“…Social media can help students communicate and share their thoughts or ideas about various topics being studied (Lakhal, 2021). It also allows the creation of asynchronous and synchronous interactions between students and educators (Salas, Kosarzycki, Burke, Fiore, & Stone, 2002), due to various learning materials such as texts, videos, and audios available through online discussions (Lakhal, 2021). In addition, social media makes it possible for students to be responsible for their own learning whenever and wherever they want (self-directed learning).…”