Initiating Students' Interest in Writing by Using Facebook

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Initiating Students' Interest in Writing by Using Facebook 1 Tri Murniati, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Purwokerto [email protected] Abstract The rapid changing of technology nowadays surely brings another atmosphere of various benefits for people. Internet as the product of technology then comes to be a medium of learning. Internet provides people a huge number of services which enable people to work or learn easily. Internet based community such as Facebook then can be used as a medium to accommodate students learning English skill better. Learning English skill such as writing is usually boring for students since they have to do assignments again and again in the classroom or take them as homework. Not enough time and clogged ideas make some of them finding it tiresome. However, by using Facebook students can easily write anything, anywhere, and anytime. They also can publish their work right after they wrote. In addition, their writing can be directly commented by their friends since Facebook enables its user to communicate easily. This article reports the finding on how Facebook is used as the tool to motivate students' interest in writing, in this case creative writing. The finding shows that Facebook can initiate students’ interest in writing. Facebook provides the students some advantages which make their writing time more fun and enjoyable. They can write freely, publish their 1 To be presented at COTEFL 2012 Universitas Muhammadiyah Purwokerto, May 5-6, 2012

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This article reports the benefit of using facebook to initiate students' interest in writing

Transcript of Initiating Students' Interest in Writing by Using Facebook

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Initiating Students' Interest in Writing by Using Facebook1

Tri Murniati, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, [email protected]

Abstract

The rapid changing of technology nowadays surely brings another atmosphere of various benefits for people. Internet as the product of technology then comes to be a medium of learning. Internet provides people a huge number of services which enable people to work or learn easily. Internet based community such as Facebook then can be used as a medium to accommodate students learning English skill better. Learning English skill such as writing is usually boring for students since they have to do assignments again and again in the classroom or take them as homework. Not enough time and clogged ideas make some of them finding it tiresome. However, by using Facebook students can easily write anything, anywhere, and anytime. They also can publish their work right after they wrote. In addition, their writing can be directly commented by their friends since Facebook enables its user to communicate easily. This article reports the finding on how Facebook is used as the tool to motivate students' interest in writing, in this case creative writing. The finding shows that Facebook can initiate students’ interest in writing. Facebook provides the students some advantages which make their writing time more fun and enjoyable. They can write freely, publish their writing directly, and get responses of their writing from friends.

Keywords: Facebook, initiate, interest, students, writing

Introduction

Many students feel that writing class is considered a boring lesson. They are sometimes depressed when they are asked to write in fulfilling the class assignment. As a result, most their writings are dull and not interesting. The students admit that they find it difficult to write at the given time, a limited one. At the same time, they have to force their mind to work fast in composing a few lines or paragraphs. This sounds depressing and boring. No wonder this makes writing to be considered as a less interesting subjects for some students.

Writing at a given time for some students is sometimes challenging however it is also depressing. The ordinary method of assignment given by the teacher in writing class is only a series of writing instruction; they are given a

1 To be presented at COTEFL 2012 Universitas Muhammadiyah Purwokerto, May 5-6, 2012

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range of topic, a list of requirement such as how many paragraphs they should make, beware of the grammatical errors etc., and the last is the giving a range of time for them to accomplish their task. After the instruction is given, the next activity is only waiting and when the students submit their works, the only thing left is reading, checking their works and sometimes asking them to edit or revise their works, nothing more nothing less

For both students and teachers, this kind of routine is boring. Therefore teachers are challenged to find a new method or strategy to make their classes more fun and effective. One of the strategies chosen is by using internet in teaching and learning activity. Internet has become an unlimited source as learning and teaching apparatus for both teachers and students. Internet has also provided people with various kinds of social media which enable people to interact easily with others. Facebook as one of the most famous social Medias has attracted people’s attention. It also has been used as one of teaching medias. This paper reports on how Facebook is used as a medium to help teacher in teaching writing, in this case to initiate students’ interest in writing.

Literature review

1. Teaching of Writing

Writing is sometimes seen as the “flip side” of reading. It is often assumed that adolescents who are proficient readers must be proficient writers, too. If this were the case, then helping students learn to read better would naturally lead to the same students writing well. However, although reading and writing are complementary skills whose development runs a roughly parallel course, they do not necessarily go hand in hand. Many adolescents are able to handle average reading demands but have severe difficulties with writing. Moreover, the nature of the relationship between reading and writing skills changes over time (Fitzgerald & Shanahan, 2000 in Graham & Perin, 2007). In teaching college students, teacher is likely to meet the same problem. Process writing is not an easy options for students or teachers. Quite apart from it taking up time, it takes up space (especially in a paper-driven world) and can be problematic for the more disorganised students (Murray, 1972).

In some teaching, for example, students write a composition in the classroom which the teacher corrects and hands back the next day covered with in red ink. Students put the corrected pieces work in their folders and rarely look at them again (Harmer, 2004). This traditional written product teaching of writing has been the chosen one for many years. Harmer further explains that the written product oriented teaching has directed students’ attention to the the what rather than the how of text construction.

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2. Facebook and Its Use in the Classroom

Facebook is a social networking site designed to connect users. Sites such as MySpace and Friendster are similar, but Facebook is generally considered the leading social networking site among college students. Facebook allows individuals to create profiles that include personal interests, affiliations, pictures, and—with some limitations—virtually anything else a user wants to post (Educause, 2006).

Facebook has reached its popularity among people either old or young. They seem to be enchanted by its magic. People, especially college students, spend most of their time accessing Facebook. It has struck a chord with millions of college students, drawing them in to an online world where they spend countless hours browsing profiles, meeting new people, and exploring relationships. Any technology that is able to captivate so many students for so much time not only carries implications for how those students view the world but also offers an opportunity for educators to understand the elements of social networking that students find so compelling and to incorporate those elements into teaching and learning (Educause, 2006).

Using Facebook in the classroom has gained its popularity since then. Facebook has quickly become the social network site of choice by college students and an integral part of the “behind the scenes” college experience (Selwyn, 2007 in Munoz & Towner, 2009). In addition to the incredible usage rate among students, there are a number of unique features that make it amenable to educational pursuits. For example, Facebook is equipped with bulletin boards, instant messaging, email, and the ability to post videos and pictures. Most notably, anyone can post information and collaborate within the system. Recently, Facebook has opened up development of downloadable applications, which can further supplement the educational functions of Facebook (Munoz & Towner, 2009).

Facebook also increases both teacher-student and student-student interaction in the form of web-based communication. Facebook helps instructors connect with their students about assignments, upcoming events, useful links, and samples of work outside of the classroom. Students can use Facebook to contact classmates about questions regarding class assignments or examinations as well as collaborate on assignments and group projects in an online environment. Building on the face-to-face, teacher-student relationship, social networks allow students to glimpse instructor profiles containing personal information, interests, background, and “friends,” which can enhance student motivation, affective learning, and classroom climate (Munoz &Towner, 2009). By its applicable features, Facebook comes up a favorite medium to be inserted in teaching and learning activity.

Methodology

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This paper is a kind of report on teaching and learning activity of Basic Creative Writing (BCW) class. This subject is a compulsory subject taken in the fourth semester of English Diploma students of Universitas Jenderal Soedirman. Related to this paper, the students taken as the participant of BCW class were students of class 2009. About 40 students joined the class and followed all the activities during the subject taught. To dig out students’ perception and impression about the use of Facebook as the medium to write, students were asked to answer 2 questions. Discussion was also made during lecture. The richness of the participants' explanation is the main consideration to be taken as data source. The qualitatively gained data from the in-depth interview were used as the source of the next step, the analysis. The answers from the in-depth interview then were classified and processed in order to find out how facebook used in writing class. The data gained, then, were analysed to reveal students’ perception and impression about using Facebook in Writing Class.

Results and discussion

This section reports on the finding of this research. Data gained from the in-depth interview are analysed by using related theories. During the interview all students were asked to answer 2 questions which cover the information needed for the analysis. Those questions are (1) What do you think about using FB in a writing class?; (2) Do you think writing on FB make your writing time more fun? Give reason and explain your answer!. A series of discussion has already been done during lectures. The discussion mainly covers the need of the analysis which focuses on the use of Facebook in Basic Creative Writing Class. However the students at first are asked about the conventional method given in Writing Class and how they feel about it. The information gained during lecture was stored. It would be the main data to support the analysis. Therefore the questions from the online in-depth interview served as the supporting data to enrich the analysis. By analysing the data gained both during the lectures and in-depth interview, students’ perception and impression about using Facebook in Writing Class can be revealed. Students’ opinion and their impression about the possibilities of using Facebook become the main concern of this paper.

From the data gained during online and offline in-depth interview, the students admit that Facebook can be used in a writing class. Inserting Facebook as a medium in teaching and learning activity is considered exciting since the phenomenon of using Facebook has been a part of their life (college students in this case). Facebook allows its user to have a full time access anytime and anywhere. Here are some of students’ answers during the online interview:

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From the data above, it is clear that using facebook in the classroom is fun and exciting. The students are pleased and considered Facebook used in the classroom as unique since it is quite different from the conventional Writing Class. Facebook has captivated people in their real life and college students feel the same. From the features offered, Facebook has successfully tempted its users, in this case college students.

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The media used to access Facebook are also various such as personal computer, cellular phone, laptop etc. That is why Facebook is very accessible. The students in Basic Creative Writing Class find Facebook with several benefits. First is because of the easy access. They can do their writing in an unlimited of time. They do not have to sit down in the classroom however they can write anywhere. They can do their assignment in their boarding house, at the campus boulevard or at cafes. This give them benefit of feeling more comfortable since they are not forced to finish their assignment at a given time and place. They also can write at night or during the day. Writing on Facebook is very flexible to them. Another benefit is that students do not have to submit their work to their lecturer in the classroom since Facebook enables its user to send or publish anything right after they wrote. This paperless assignment is useful as stated in the following comment.

The comment above shows that Facebook facilitates its user with the easy access of sending file. Users simply type and click the send button. Their file will be sent right away. The features on Facebook are certainly the main concern of the users to choose Facebook among the others social network.

Furthermore, the students are also be able to know the latest update of the class such as assignment and other announcement via Facebook. In short, Facebook enables the students to have the recent news of their class.

Second is that students can do several activities at the same time. While they write on Facebook, they are also be able to chat with their friends and directly comment on their friends’ works. Those things will give the a sort of comfortable atmosphere and feeling. The light feeling they have will enhance their mind to write something freely and enthusiastically. They can find their surrounding relaxing. This will automatically influence how they work on their task. The students will not also get stuck or lose ideas because they are able to browse the information they need on the internet. Since they have to be connected to the internet when they want to access Facebook, at the same time, they can browse some information or ideas.

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The followings are some of the students’ comments:

Third, writing on Facebook also allows its user to easily make comment to each other. It means each student can read and give comment to their friends’ work all at once. While they are composing, they are also be able to read and give responds. Instead of giving comment, the students are able to give compliment just by clicking the ‘thumb’ symbol.

Giving thumb shows students’ appreciation to their friends. Those things are impossible to be done if it is applied on the conventional writing-class assignment. In conventional writing class, assignment is given individually and should be submitted after they have finished writing. That is why it is hard to read or give comment to others’ work. It can be concluded that Facebook provides facilities which enables students to interact with their friend easily related to the assignment given. Some of the students have the same kind of opinion. It is seen on one of the students’ comment below.

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The following evidences are some of students’ dialogues on Facebook.

Giving thumbs and comments are the fun things students can get on Facebook. When students have an interactive dialogue, they can talk about their work attentively. Some may give compliments, some may make a fun also. However, those things encourage them to be better in doing the coming assignment. The example of the students’ interaction can be seen in the following data.

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Interaction happened among the students will surely influence each individual. When others give comment on their friends’ work, some other friends will also be able to read. This is how the process of influencing other happens. Each comment, compliment, even thumb from others will be obviously seen. Some of the students think that this will encourage them to have the same treatment. As we all know that everybody definitely wants to do the best and when their friends’ work are given praises, they will also long for the same thing or at least getting attention from others. That is why writing on Facebook can encourage the students and improve their self confidence. As seen in the

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following comment:

From the discussion above, it can be concluded that the students of class 2009 English Diploma Programme, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, find facebook to be a unique and fun medium in their writing class. However, not all students get the same idea. Some of them think that Facebook is not important. As a result, they rarely access Facebook. Therefore, writing on Facebook is not as fun as others might think. The following shows the disagreement.

The following also shows the disagreement.

However, since Facebook offers various benefits, most of the students consider it apt to be used in the classroom. As a paperless writing medium, Facebook is counted perfect and unique. Most likely because it provides features which enable the users to explore things more than other social network offered in the internet.

Conclusion

Most students agree that Facebook can be a fun medium for writing class. Since it provides them some benefits by its features, Facebook is considered enjoyable and useful to be used in the classroom. They are able to access FB anytime, anywhere using laptop, personal computer or cellular phone. They also can give comments to their friends’ note or even reply others’ comments on theirs. Supporting comments can increase students’ self-esteem. This is likely to bring them the atmosphere of the spirit to write more and more.

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References

Educause. 2006. 7 Things You Should Know About Facebook. Retrieved on March 2012 from <www.educause.edu/eli>

Graham, S., & Perin, D. 2007. Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools – A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York.Washington, DC:Alliance for Excellent Education.

Harmer, Jeremy. 2004. How to Teach Writing. England: Pearson Limited Education

Munoz, Caroline Lego & Terri L. Towner. 2009. Opening Facebook: How to Use Facebook in the College Classroom, paper presented at the 2009 Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education conference in Charleston, South Carolina. Retrieved on March 2012 from http://www46.homepage.villanova.edu/john.immerwahr/TP101/Facebook.pdf

Murray, Donald M., 1972. Teach Writing as a Process not Product. A leaflet November 1972. Retrieved on March 2012 http://www.willamette.edu/gse/owp/docs/TeachWritingasaProcessNotProduct.pdf