Using Social Media to Improve Students’ English Writing Skills: A Mixed Method Study

Abstract

The growing popularity and use of social media have influenced every facet of our lives. This research study aims to explore the potential of using social media to develop undergraduate students’ English writing skills. Mixed method research design was used to carry out the research. The instruments used in this study included a survey, single group pretest and posttest experiment and focus group discussion with students. An opinion survey was conducted to explore the tendency of using different forms of social media by undergraduate students at a public sector university in Pakistan. An experiment was carried out to compare students’ English writing skills before and after discussions on Facebook followed by a focus group discussion to get in depth information about students’ attitudes towards use of Facebook for improving writing skills. The results of survey point out that most of university students use Facebook and have easy access to social media through their mobile phones. The results of the experiment revealed that using Facebook as a forum for discussion in English helped to improve students writing skills. Moreover focus group discussion with students highlighted that students found it as an interesting and motivating experience to use Facebook for writing practice. Most of the students were of the view that it is a new experience of learning writing by engaging in discussion with the peers and teachers through Facebook.