The Role of Social Media in Improving the Academic English Writing Skills of Arab Students

Abstract

A striking feature of the 21st century is the technological innovations that interfere in linguistic study and in social practices based on contemporaneity, especially, writing and reading. These social practices are the target of major revolutions from technology and electronic supports, which provided the creation of a range of communicative networks in the virtual world, establishing an infinite communicative link between different cultures and generations. The use of such platforms and the way reading is used might be an improvement tool for teaching English in Arab schools, associating its use in social networks and methodologies to guide the appropriate use for this new knowledge, for example, the use of media texts, since there is a change in society‟s behaviour with technological developments in seeking texts that can be read quickly and that bring complete information. Thinking about the interactive patterns emerging in cyber-culture sends our attention to social networks on the internet, which attract an increasing number of users and that is undeniably reflected in the offline reality. This research encourages deepening the studies about the students‟ experience with learning academic English writing skills through social media. To achieve the aim of this study, an exploratory descriptive study was developed, with a qualitative approach. The secondary data was used in the formation of this research. The online databases were the first priority of the researcher for data extraction as due to COVID-19, going to libraries was not possible. This research opens the door for new questions, bringing a priori the perspective for new field of research. The results from the research show that with critical theoretical material from several writers and extensive observation in favour of the use of social media in improving writing skills, it was noticed that there is a change in the way English is being perceived among Arab students, especially in the use of hypertext, the uses of social networks become a differentiating element in improving written English academic skills, if well applied in the didactic actions of writing.

Social Media as a Learning Platform for EFL Learning: A Case of Undergraduate Students

“…However, the researchers point out that the Facebook platform cannot be a replacement for the traditional classes. Awadeh (2020) explored the topic of the role of social media in fostering academic English writing skills. As a methodology, the paper adopts an exploratory descriptive study with mixed methods to conduct the study.…”

An Examination of EFL Undergraduates’ Writing Error Types and Frequency in WhatsApp Chat Messaging: Exploring Key Factors

“…To attain fluency in writing, language learners must expand their vocabulary, grasp idiomatic expressions, and comprehend the nuances of grammar. Scholars also identify the best instructional strategies, including the integration of information technology and social media platforms, to create a climate that motivates students to improve their writing skills [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Consequently, writing pedagogy in EFL contexts has garnered a lot of scholarly attention, including debates and discussions on the effectiveness of using digital platforms like WhatsApp for teaching, especially in terms of how well they affect writing instruction and learning quality [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

The Pedagogical use of Social Networks to improve Writing Skills with EFL Students from Nabón Third Grade High School

“…For most educators with the use of Social Networks, the school environment has been transformed because of the use of technology. Also, teachers consider that students can be more critical if they practice the new language, especially writing communication by applying Social Networks inside a classroom where the activities that are proposed to students are related to a profile that is built by themselves (Awadeh, 2020).…”