Facebook in the Language Classroom: Promises and Possibilities

Abstract

The recent outburst of students and educators becoming active members of social networking communities (Stutzman, 2006; Tufekci, 2008), drew attention to the potential of such a web resource to foster positive relationships among students, to enhance the credibility of teachers engaged in contemporary student culture (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004), and to provide constructive educational outcomes, and immediate, individualized opportunities to interact with peers, instructors and native speakers of a variety of foreign languages. Little is known about how online social networks such as Facebook can develop a sense of community in language classrooms or how they can impact the development of socio-pragmatic competence in language learners. In this article we highlight how this website can provide language learners with opportunities to enhance both aspects by observing and participating in ‘Groups’ discussions from various regions of the world where the target language is spoken natively.