Various sources note that building a community of learners is vital to motivation and achievement when learning another language (Pareja-Lora, Calle-Martínez, Rodríguez-Arancón, (Eds), 2016, p.42). As a qualitative study, Borau, Ullrick, Feng & Shen (2009) focused on the use of Twitter to aid in English language learning at the Distant College of Shaghai Jiao Tong University. This study focused on one group of learners being taught through distance education who were required to post on Twitter at least 7 times per week, answering the basic prompt of “what are you doing?” Throughout the study, there is the documentation of the various opinions expressed, and the times that student posted.
At the end of the study, students were given a questionnaire regarding their opinions of Twitter. There is the recognition that the use of Twitter can aid in training cultural competencies that are otherwise not learned in a traditional classroom setting. Additionally, community formation was observed in the form of additional posts offering greetings and sharing experiences with the group.
At the end of the study, students were given a questionnaire regarding their opinions of Twitter. There is the recognition that the use of Twitter can aid in training cultural competencies that are otherwise not learned in a traditional classroom setting. Additionally, community formation was observed in the form of additional posts offering greetings and sharing experiences with the group.
Facebook has also been shown to be effective at community building through a chemistry course hosted on two platforms, one a traditional LMS and the other a Facebook group. The Facebook group ended up with 400 more posts which were described as addressing course materials in a much deeper way. Furthermore, once the course finished, posting in the traditional LMS abruptly stopped while students continued to post and discuss topics with each other in the Facebook group well after this time (Schroeder & Greenbowe, 2009). Although this research was hosted in a chemistry course, we can see the benefit of using social networking sites in other fields, and in particular how a language learning program could benefit from an increased number posts in discussion forums and the formation of a stronger, more lasting community.
Communities of learning and practice also support teachers in their professional development, particularly in the realm of language learning (Lethram, Schneider, & Vander Ark, 2016). Teachers can share models and resources and support each other in mutually beneficial exploration of tools and applications. Lethram et al. (2016) also note the importance of wider community involvement in the school culture and outline how that can be facilitated by technology. This type of community engagement was found to be particularly efficacious in cases where the language learner’s home language was different than the target language, in this case, English.
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Community formation is able to occur throughout a multitude of platforms. Using Twitter and Facebook as primary examples, we begin to acknowledge that there is validity found within traditional and now authentic communities. Social networking websites are now being utilized in new contexts, creating an expanded definition of communities of language learners (Pareja-Lora, Calle-Martínez, Rodríguez-Arancón, (Eds), 2016).