Social networks as instructional tools beyond a classroom

Abstract

English teachers always seek new and interesting approaches to teach English which are relevant to today's digital native students. WhatsApp Application (WA) has been suggested by many to be used in ESL classrooms. Therefore, this paper reports a study on the use of WA features (text, image and video) as an instructional tool beyond a regular classroom, students' perception towards the use of WA in teaching and the benefits and drawbacks of using WA in promoting English language learning. A mix-method research design was utilized to obtain detailed information about the use of WA out of the confined classroom. The instruments include observations on WA exchanged messages, semi-structured interviews and survey questionnaire. The outcomes of the study suggest an instructional tool which can be used ``in the real world'' and help lecturers to understand the prospective benefits of WA to enhance the teaching and learning process. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by IASE.