Social network sites and the ideal L2 self: Using Myspace in a Chinese EFL class

Abstract

Little work has yet explored the potential for the use of social network sites (SNSs) in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom, but recent trends in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) research suggest that SNSs may be a powerful context for language learning by offering students access to online communities of practice and/ or imagined communities (as interpreted by Norton et al.). This paper reports on an exploratory study of how the use of an American based SNS in a Chinese EFL class affected student motivation. Results suggest that SNS may be particularly useful in fostering attitudes traditionally related to integrativeness through the creation of imagined communities when viewed through D_rnyei’s (2009) L2 Motivational Self System.