Effectiveness of social media for Development of Vocabulary in English language at Junior
College Level
Shri. Hegade Navnath Dharmaji
Assistant professor
New English School & Junior College of Science,
Bhalawani , Pandharpur Dist-Solapur
[email protected]
Abstract: Internet has affected the preferred learning styles of young people wanting to learn
English around the world. Teachers, to remain relevant and effective, need to use 'learning
technologies' to help students to reach the world outside the classroom. Teachers now adhere to
innovative practices in teaching- learning process and have changed their roles into ‘facilitators’.
The role of teacher demands to promote more group tasks and stress- free learning environments.
Social media is emerging in various forms to bring people together as communities. It is not
denied that there is also a controversy on using new Social Media such as Face book, ‘Whats
app’ or Web Chat. But in the present global scenario, when millions of live and breathe on social
media, teachers are learning how to incorporate the medium into the classroom successfully. The
social media tools help the language teachers to stay connected with their peers around the world
and stay updated about their fields. Moreover, these online buttons give the language teachers the
chance to help others in their fields and find solutions to their problems and improve their
language teaching careers. This paper focuses on the influence of social media in teaching and
learning English language.
Keywords: Social media, Social Networks, Language, Teaching Process.
Introduction
English language vocabulary development is easy nowadays because, a learner may get
help from online sources. According to Huyen & Nga (2003) there are different online
games which improve the vocabulary of English language learners in a flexible and relax
atmosphere. These online games enhance the interest of English language learners towards
the language learning process. Thus, the development of English vocabulary is important
and plays a dominant role in language learning process as compare to structure learning.
Now it is also clear from the above mentioned discussion that social media sources
provide a lot of opportunities to the English language learners so that they may improve
their language learning skills and competences in a systematic ma nner. Similarly, so for
as the nature of words and kinds of meaning is concerned then there are four points
according to Shahid that except for highly technical words, no two words in different
languages have the same area of meaning.
Techniques: to engage the students on social-media.
Facebook-
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Many students use Facebook, a social networking service, as part of their daily lives.
This use, out of college, can foster and maintain relationships and add to greater cohesion
and dynamic when back in class which, in turn, can have a positive effect on their
attendance and retention on the course. Create a Facebook page that your class can 'like'.
Facebook can be used by the instructor to share course resources, fire up discussions,
promote collaboration, improve relationships between students, incorporate an array of
learning tools (such as videos, images, boards, chatting and private messaging), and use it
in conjunction with other social media platforms, Facebook has endless advantages that
solidly prove its social learning value.
Facebook Advantageous:
1. Create closed groups.
Participants will enter only by invitation and no one else will be able to see the
contents, discussions, posts etc. inside the group. It’s a great and safe way to interact and
bond.
2. Create open groups
If the target is a wider audience to a specific course, domain, application or even school.
Many MOOC programs have Facebook pages. With millions of FB users around the
globe, the number of people that might be interested in your courses will be surprising.
3. Create polls to receive feedback about a course or a program you are thinking of
implementing, to request the opinion of your audience on a specific topic, or even to
generate statistics. Possibilities and options are endless.
4. Create questionnaires to comprehend the likes, dislikes and interests of your current
or future students and build the course around them
5. Upload course contents material and resources in your account or the closed group
you created. Think of the advantages. Everything will be available 24/7, if a mistake is
made it can be corrected and re-upload. The user will get immediate feedback and safe
receipt confirmation, your material can be remotely accessed no matter where your
students are, and you will effectively minimize classroom time.
6. Tell your students to connect their smart phone to Facebook, so they can receive
instant notifications about all new messages and activities related to your course.
Facebook’s notification system allows everyone to keep track of anything new that
happens; new groups, requests, discussions, comments, tagging, material, links etc.
7. Urge your students to introduce the mselves, connect and collaborate. You can also
create group assignments to further promote collaboration and improve relationships
between them and you. It's true that hierarchy might be lost in the beginning, but you can
always restore it, by setting the right tone, mood and style to your groups, discussions
and applications.
8. Start posting updates to your timeline, but not in English. Ask your pupils to translate
the text using Face book’s in- line Bing translation tool and ask them to gauge its
accuracy.
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Twitte r -Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and
read short 140 character messages called "tweets”. Registered users can read and post
tweets, but those who are unregistered can only read them. Users access Twitter through
the website interface, SMS or mobile device application.
1. Create an Informative List of Resources - Before you begin, create a list of things
you want to provide as information to your learners. Think what will be interesting,
engaging and re-tweet able. Break apart the content and post regularly, so that you keep
the interest of your learners.
2. Create Learning Hash tags - Come up with a hash tag with the help of which
learners will be able to feedback and communicate on your materials.
3. Create Learning Topics - Create topics, making use of the hash tags. In Twitter you
can also create regular Twitter chat events. Don't forget to encourage your learners by
liking, re-tweeting and commenting on relevant tweets they share.
4. Create Learning Lists - You can create your own learning list which basically is a
curate group of Twitter users. This way you and your learners will be able to see the
stream of your group’s tweets.
5. Learn How to Search - Twitter has a powerful and accurate search engine that will
help you get the information you need most. Get familiar with the Twitter trail.
6. Follow the Influencers - Get in touch and follow interesting people from your field
of study – eLearning Developers, Instructional design etc.
You Tube -.
YouTube is one of the most popular websites on the planet and a vast resource for
educational content. The site is home to over 10 million videos tagged as educational,
many of them submitted by your fellow teachers. Create a Yo uTube account. Ask each of
your pupils to record a video blog, of their hobbies, thoughts or opinions on topical news
stories, but speaking only in English language. Those who want to have their video
uploaded should send it to you first. 1. Bring in videos to the class. - Lessons can be
enhanced with the right video. Something visual and entertaining that speaks to the subject
you’re teaching breaks up the monotony of a lecture, brings some fun into the lesson,
and keeps the students more engaged and interested in the subject
Create YouTube playlists as student assignments - Some people learn better by watching
than reading, so providing video alternatives to the reading homework assigned could
really pay off for some students. Create playlists, either to supplement the other work you
assign or as an alternative, and simply send the link to the students for viewing. A
playlist puts it all into an easy, well organized format for their using up.
Record Class lessons or lectures and save them for future viewing. - YouTube can
become a storehouse for saving and sharing any lectures you record. Once the video is
created, YouTube makes it easy to send the link to any student that missed class, or
keep track of the different videos you have in case you want to review them before
giving the same lesson next year.
3
Blogs - Create a blog.
A blog is a self-published, web based collection of writing and photos. Blogs differ
greatly in focus, sophistication of topics and popularity. The culture of blogging calls for
regular updates, exchange of comments, and short posts. Blogs offer a hugely exciting
platform for learners to express themselves in a new language. The fact that posts are
generally short, and that new content is added frequently, make them attractive and
exciting for classroom adaptation.
Skype -
It is a proprietary voice-over-Internet protocol service that can be used to encourage
students to communicate with their teacher and with each other. The studies conducted by
ESOL says that previously hesitant speakers in lower level ESOL groups were encouraged
to talk in greater depth when they were using material which they had created themselves
as opposed to using textbook pictures. Sony PSPs were found useful for this, because
personalized visual prompts can be recorded whilst capturing still images and videos, the
vocabulary level can be fixed, and it uses simple buttons and direction mechanisms which
require only a little pre-teaching.
Other applications - The facilities provided by mobile devices can offer a highly- valued
level of independence to the user and help to provide a bridge with society at large.
Much of this is related to the user being able to search the internet for information or
the use of mobile applications like Dictionary, grammar and spelling applications
Encyclopedias, such as Wikipedia Text translation tools, such as Google Translate etc.
Journey planners and map applications offer greater independence to the user, allowing
them to find out information for themselves, often accessed whilst they are on the move.
Objectives of the Study
The following were the main objectives of the study
1) To study the effectiveness of social media in vocabulary development at Junior college
level.
2)To make implementable suggestions for integrating social media in vocabulary
development of English language at Junior college Level.
Hypothesis of the research study:
The students learn the vocabulary with the help of various social media tools.
Null hypothesis
1. There is no significant difference between mean scores of the achievement of students form
controlled group and experimental group in pretest
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2. There is no significant difference between the mean scores of ac hievement of students from
control group and the experimental group in post test
Key Questions of the Study
The following key questions were examined in the study
1) What is the effect of social media in vocabulary development of English language at
Junior college level?
2) What implementable recommendation the study make to include social media role in
vocabulary development of English language at junior level?
Research Methodology
The study was descriptive in nature which attempted to make an analysis of social
media role in vocabulary development of English language at junior college level . The
population consisted of all students who are learning English at junior college level at
different colleges in Pandharpur Taluka. The sample of the study in hand comprised
50learners who are currently studying English at junior college level. The researcher used
experimental research method in the present a researc h study. There are 10 junior colleges in
Pandharpur Taluka but among them only one New English School And Junior College of
Science Bhavani is selected by simple random method total 50 students in the class of 11th
standard was selected randomly the pretest was provided and two equivalent groups where made
the control group of 25 students was created with the conventional method for teaching
vocabulary in English experimental group of 25 students was created within various tools of
social media for developing vocabulary in English vocabulary. The tools of social media were
used in following points such as information transfer and tourist leaflet.
The research prepared and achievement test and try to collect the data of research study the
achievement test was included with two questions of 8 marks the collected research data was
analyzed and interpreted with the help of statistical measures to test the hypothesis and tabulated
for further calculation.
Significance of difference between means in post test
Measure Control Group Experimental Group
N 25 25
M 37.12 44.56
S.D. 2.46 2.82
D- Means 7.44
t value 10.19*
df 48
Null hypothesis Null hypothesis is rejected
5
(Accepted/Rejected)
*Significant at 0.05 and 0.01 level of significance
The researcher stated the major findings and democrat the recommendation on the
basis of Data Collection.
Findings of the research study
The Finding are stated on the basis of null hypothesis in the present a research study with the
data collection:
1) The null hypothesis number one is accepted. There is no significant difference between the
achievement of students from the control group and experimental group in pretest.
2) The null hypothesis number to be rejected. There is significant difference between the
achievement of students from the control group and experimental group in post test
Conclusion
In the current context it is important that teachers keep abreast of technological
development and are aware of the skills, both literacy and IT, that each learner possesses–these
need to be harnessed and developed further to both engage learners and improve their English
language skills. Thus, it is suggested that the integration of social media into classroom practice
entails a reconfiguration of roles: the teacher is no longer the sole source of content, and the
students are able to shape their learning in ways which align closely with the need s of their daily
lives. All the above encourage the user to engage within formation in English, reading and
writing both formally and informally. The use of these techniques can act as a bridge to facilitate
communication inside and outside the classroom.
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