Use of Twitter for improving reading comprehension skills

Abstract

Technology in educational field was implemented by the use of social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr or Whatsapp, which have been used to improve different language skills (acquisition of second foreign language). The aim of this research is to foster reading comprehension skill through the use of Twitter in EFL (English as a foreign language) classroom. Fifty participants (N=50) were involved in this experimental research; they all were enrolled in the Reading and Writing I class. In addition, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in order to obtain and analyze the information gathered in the research field. Based on the results, it can be said that the students have improved reading comprehension skill, which was evident in the comments provided in Twitter. Apart from that they had the opportunity to share information and ideas among classmates in an informal learning environment, which allow them to act and use the language spontaneously. For this reason, it is highly recommended to use Twitter as a learning tool to be adapted to the acquisition of a second or foreign language.