A Social Tool: Why and How ESOL Students Use
Facebook
KATHLEEN MITCHELL
Oregon State University
ABSTRACT
English language learners in the United States and abroad have begun to utilize Facebook, a social networking site, which since its inception in 2004 has been extremely
popular with American college students. This qualitative case study with participants
from an intensive English program in the US explores seven ESOL students’ motivations for joining Facebook and use of the site and two ESOL students’ reasons for not
joining it. This study follows the individual cases and looks across cases to find trends
in motivation, use, and difficulties. The ESOL students in this study joined Facebook
for social reasons. Their use over a four-week period and interview data showed that
they were able to communicate with existing friends, learn English, and learn about
American culture through Facebook. They were able to accomplish their goals on
Facebook with few difficulties.
KEYWORDS
Social Networking Sites, English as a Second Language, Cross-Cultural
INTRODUCTION
There is something that the vast majority of four-year university students do that is far less
traditional than studying: they use Facebook. Facebook is a social networking site (SNS)
that allows people to create pages about themselves, make friends, and share information.
According to “Facebook Statistics” (n.d.), 85% of four-year university students use Facebook, many of whom do so daily (comScore, 2007). Facebook and social network sites in
general have become an integral part of teenage and adult social life. One teenager reported, “if you’re not on [a social networking site] you don’t exist” (boyd,1 2007, p.1). While
most college students socially “exist” on Facebook, far fewer ESOL students are present.
It may be important for ESOL students to become Facebook members. Facebook use can
help students acclimate to college life, build American friendships (Ellison, Steinfield, &
Lampe, 2007), and experiment with English. Yet, no studies have investigated the factors
that hinder or encourage the ESOL population’s use of social networking sites.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Although research on ESOL students’ use of SNSs is new, trends and theories about social
networking use have emerged. While the research has focused on general use, when available research findings for ESOL students will be compared with these general findings.
These limited comparisons show that ESOL students use SNSs in both similar and different
ways than the general public.
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© 2012 CALICO Journal
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Social Life on Social Networking Sites
Perhaps it is the variety of features on Facebook and other SNSs that has led to the complex social interactions that exist on these sites. On one level, most people join SNSs because of pre-existing friendships (Choi, 2006; Ellison et al., 2007; Ito et al., 2008; Lenhart
& Madden, 2007) and perceived benefits to their social life (boyd, 2007; Choi, 2006; Ellison
et al., 2007). Similarly, the language learners in the Lam and Rosario-Ramos (2009) and
Lee (2006) studies reported using SNSs to communicate with existing friends from their
home countries. Nevertheless, ESOL learners have additional reasons for joining SNSs, for
example, language learning benefits (Lam, 2000; Lee, 2006).
Once on the site, users of all types begin to add friends. While it is unclear how ESOL students select online friends, people generally choose from their offline networks adding hundreds of friends (Choi, 2006; Ellison et al., 2007; Ito et al., 2008; Lenhart & Madden,
2007). This may be different than the common misperception that people are meeting
strangers on these SNSs. Instead, they are remaining in insular groups. In fact, users’ ethnicity and language background often affect their friendships, such that different groups
tend to remain segmented (boyd, 2007; boyd, 2008; Hargittai, 2007). In some cases, ESOL
students’ SNS use varies from the norm; they bridge both ethnic and language groups (Lam
& Rosario-Ramos, 2009; McGinnis, Goostein-Stolzenberg, & Costa Saliani, 2007). Thus,
while patterns may have emerged on SNSs, it is not completely clear to what extent ESOL
students follow these patterns.
Social Networking Sites and Language Use
Social networking sites are online venues for communicating with friends and strangers.
However, relatively few studies to date have investigated language usage on SNSs (Hindujaa & Patchin, 2008; Lam, 2000; Lam, 2009; Lampe, Ellison & Steinfeld, 2007; Lee, 2006;
McGinnis et al., 2007; Stevenson & Liu, 2010; Thelwall, 2008). Even fewer have investigated ESOL learners’ language on SNSs (Lam, 2000; McGinnis et al., 2007). In the studies
by Lam (2000) and McGinnis et al. (2007), the language was characterized by the prevalence of the pronouns I and you and the use of a conversational register. Additionally,
McGinnis et al. (2007) noted a prevalence of slang, “abbreviated internet chat” (p. 289).
Bilingual code switching was present in McGinnis et al. (2007) and Lam (2009). The code
switching is sometimes attributed to the learners’ bilingual social network as McGinnis et al.
(2007) speculated. Lee’s (2006) Korean language learners also used code switching, but
one participant reported that the L2 social networking site was a way for her to practice new
language. Stevenson and Liu (2010) noted participants’ hesitation to combine language
learning websites with social networking technology: “the site [Live Mocha] should be built
for learning a language, not for finding others for the purpose of establishing social relationships” (249). Even in a deliberate language-learning context, like Live Mocha, the participants could not see the benefit of using the social networking technology to learn language;
learners might be even more wary of using their normal SNS for language learning.
Social Networking Sites and Cultural Learning
Research into cultural learning on SNSs is quite limited, but literature from other computer
mediated communication (CMC) research can offer some perspective. Most relevant here
are a number of studies that document language learners’ increased awareness of and sensitivity to the target culture through cross-cultural CMC (Blattner, Fiori, & Roulon, 2009;
Cononelos, & Olivia, 1993; Jogan, Heredia, & Aguilera, 2001; Liaw & Johnson, 2001). In
Blattner et al. (2009), students in an intermediate university Spanish class joined Spanish
Facebook groups and looked for socio-pragmatic patterns in greetings and vocabulary/slang. While they were not required to interact with the native speakers, the electronic
medium allowed them to observe authentic conversational speech. Students were able to
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notice regional differences and cultural norms for greetings. Facebook allowed students to
interact with, learn about, and observe the target culture.
Although researchers have begun to speculate how and why people use SNSs like Facebook,
little is known about adult ESOL students on SNSs. This study, similar to those of Lee
(2006) and McGinnis et al. (2007), used a case study format. It gathered data from nine
ESOL students with different levels of participation on Facebook using interviews and Facebook monitoring. This method provided a deep understanding of how and why these ESOL
students use Facebook. Specifically, the following research questions were posed:
1. What reasons do ESOL students give as to why they did or did not join Facebook?
2. For those who joined Facebook, were they able to do what they had originally
intended on Facebook?
3. Which aspects do ESOL students, who joined Facebook, list as hindering or
encouraging their use of the site?
METHODS
Context
This study used participants from a large west coast university’s intensive English language
program. The program teaches academic English to students from around the world. There
are six levels, and in most cases classes are divided by subject. The majority of students
join the program to improve their English in order to take regular classes and work towards
a degree at the university. Prior to this research, the researcher had taught one class and
occasionally tutored in the program, but was not familiar with the participants for this study.
Participant Selection
A purposive sample of ESOL users of Facebook participated in this study. Participants were
students in an intermediate to advanced academic writing class during winter term
2008/2009. Nine students were selected based on their responses to a preliminary survey of
Facebook use, which was administered during writing classes (see Appendix A for the survey based on the PEW survey from Lenhart and Madden, 2007). Because the study examined motivations and behaviors in detail, it was important to have a small sample. Nevertheless, the sample needed to be large enough to represent a variety of experiences.
The nine participants had different levels of participation on Facebook. Level of participation
(high, medium, low) was determined by the participants’ number of possible interactions on
Facebook each month. Essentially, each time a person logs on, they could communicate
with each of their friends, so number of log-ins multiplied by number of friends represents
the number of possible interactions. To quantify participants’ estimates of how often they
log on to Facebook, the Likert scale answers from the preliminary survey were converted to
a 0-100 scale based on the estimated number of times the person accessed Facebook in a
month (100 =several times per day, 30 =about once per day, 20 =3-5 days per week, 8
=1-2 days per week, 2 =once or twice a month, 1 =less often). Calculating the potential
number of interactions on Facebook, clusters appeared where there were a number of students within a certain range, and then a gap before another cluster. These clusters were
labeled low, medium, and high. Participants with scores below 500 were labeled as having
low participation. Between 501 and 2000 was considered medium, and above 2,000 was
high. For example, Max logged in once or twice a week (approximately eight times a month)
and had 19 friends. Eight multiplied by 19 is 152. According to the rubric used here, Max
has low participation on Facebook. The results are summarized in Table 1.
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Table 1
Participants’ Level of Participation on Facebook
Name
Hally
Zozo
Taufic
Max
Talia
Michelle
Yaashir
Lee
Nina
# of
Friends
# of Uses
22
19
19
17
57
90
238
1-2 per month or less
1-2 per week
3-5 per week
Once per day
3-5 per week
Several per day
Several per day
Potential # of
Interactions in
1 Month
0
0
44
152
380
510
1,140
9,000
23,800
Level of
Participation
Non-user
Non-user
Low
Low
Low
Medium
Medium
High
High
Participants’ writing proficiency, as measured by their course placement, is a reasonable indicator of their ability to participate in the textual environment of Facebook. Given that
more than nine students from the intermediate/advanced writing course were willing to participate in the study and that most students were concurrently enrolled in a Listening/Speaking class, students in the advanced Listening/Speaking course were favored in the
selection process. By controlling for language proficiency and simultaneously selecting people with different levels of participation, this study is able to explore the personal differences
that account for these ESOL students’ use of Facebook and to make comparisons in and between participants of a certain activity level.
Initial Interviews
After the preliminary survey, the research began with standardized open-ended interviews,
which were one element of the triangulation approach. The standardized interview method,
with open-ended questions, was selected so that similar information was collected from
each participant, while the open-ended questions allowed participants to share their individual points of view. Each participant was interviewed once for a period of 20 to 40 minutes
depending on response times. However, the format allowed for some flexibility in probing
and rephrasing on the part of the researcher to explore unexpected responses and accommodate for differing levels of comprehension from the non-native participants.
Facebook users were asked about their current usage, their online friends, their original motivation to join the site, their ability to use the site, and their computer usage. Non-users
were asked about their knowledge of Facebook, their desire to participate on Facebook, and
their computer usage. Interviews were audio-recorded for analysis and then transcribed.
The interview protocols may be found in Appendix B and C.
Facebook Monitoring
In this study, participants added the researcher as one of their friends on Facebook and the
researcher monitored their page activity for a period of four weeks. Several features on Facebook enabled the researcher to thoroughly monitor participants’ activity. First, information displayed next to a friend’s picture shows updates to their information page, such as changes to relationship status, educational history, hobbies, favorite movies and music and other personally
descriptive information (see Figure 1).
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Figure 1
Sample update notification. Photograph showing updates to Educational Information.
A second feature, the “News Feed,” acts as an archive for participants’ activity on Facebook.
Organized by date, the News Feed shows when a participant left a public comment on anyone’s page, updated their status (micro-blog), added a new friend, etc. By default, a News
Feed is sent to all friends and displayed on an individual’s page. Figure 2 is of Mark Zuckerberg’s, creator of Facebook’s, News Feed. It shows his charitable donations, message history, and notes.
Figure 2
Mark Zuckerberg’s News Feed
This shows a note on Facebook from Facebook Screenshots, n.d., Retrieved February 20, 2009, from
http://creative.ak.facebook.com/ads3/creative/pressroom/jpg/n_1228425684_mark_zuckerberg_profile.jpg
By using these features and by viewing the participants’ pages and those of their friends,
participants’ Facebook pages were observed for a period of four weeks. For privacy reasons,
pages owned by friends of the participant were observed only under one circumstance:
when the friend’s page was public and the participant left a comment on the page. In some
cases, this resulted in the researcher only being able to observe half of a conversation because the other half occurred on a friend’s private page. While this situation was not ideal,
the researcher was able to address these semiprivate conversations in the second interview,
thus supplementing information from the Facebook monitoring. Simultaneously, the Facebook observations broadened and verified information from the initial interview.
Second Interviews
Participants were engaged in a follow-up interview one week after the observation period
ended — approximately five weeks after the initial interview. Unlike the initial interview, the
format for this interview was open ended. The format allowed the researcher to ask each
participant different questions about his or her activities during the observation period and
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more openly gather information and impressions about the site. Questions were based on
the participants’ responses from the initial interview and on their activity on Facebook (language use, content of messages, information about new friends). The responses from these
questions became an integral part of the data, as they supplemented data from the initial
interview and explained actions that were observed during Facebook monitoring. Together
these three sets of data were the basis for the analysis that follows.
DATA ANALYSIS
The initial interviews were coded and analyzed using an inductive method. As Hatch (2002)
described, themes in the data were identified. The themes were not identified a priori. This
allowed the themes to develop from the participants’ responses rather than the researchers
preconceived notions. Within each theme, sub-themes were identified, like “American or
home-country friendships”. The data was reread and reanalyzed to develop each of the
themes and to find the most relevant to the research questions. Once all pertinent themes
were identified and explored, the initial interview data were analyzed for patterns across
themes. Using the themes developed from the initial interviews, data from the Facebook
monitoring and second interview were coded, allowing relevant themes to be thoroughly explored.
RESULTS
Participant Descriptions
Participation in Facebook and language ability were both factors in participant selection, but
other characteristics varied among the participants. Table 2 provides basic information
about the participants. They ranged in age from 19 to 38. Several of the students were native Arabic speakers, which reflects the make up of the student body in the intensive English
language program. Common among all participants was their computer usage; they all used
the computer and Internet daily.
Individual Cases
While some variation was elicited through the participant selection, the individual ways in
which these ESL students used Facebook was captivating. Thorne (2003) theorizes that
people’s online activity is mediated by cultures-of-use. Cultures-of-use are the individual
ways people or groups of people use technology by creating acceptable norms and placing
value on certain behaviors. When using Facebook, each of the participants was unknowingly
using different cultural artifacts, as Facebook is embedded in different individual cultures-ofuse (Thorne, 2003). This section will describe three particularly interesting cases.
Nina: Case Study
Nina is a mature, intelligent student from Colombia. At age 38, she is significantly older
than most of the ESOL students in her classes, but she has developed many friendships with
her classmates, as well as her ESOL teachers. She does so by drawing on her own expertise. With the researcher, she tried to develop a peer relationship by bringing in research
articles on Facebook and by doing her own investigation into her Facebook usage.
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Table 2
Participant Information
Name
Participation
on Facebook
Age
Home
Country
Halley
Non
22
Zozo
Non
20
Taufic
Low
22
Talia
Low
19
Max
Low
26
Saudi
Arabia
Michelle
Medium
23
Korea
Yaashir
Medium
24
Lee
High
32
Nina
High
38
Saudi
Arabia
Saudi
Arabia
Saudi
Arabia
China
Saudi
Arabia
Taiwan
Colombia
Languages
Other Than
English
Years
Studied
English
Time in
US
Level of
Education
Arabic
12
3 weeks*
Bachelor’s
Arabic
14
5 months
High School
Arabic
16
7 months
Associate
Mandarin
Arabic,
French German
Korean,
Japanese
10
4 months
High School
1
1 year**
Bachelor’s
8
1 month
High School
Arabic
6
1 year
Bachelor’s
Mandarin
10
6 months
Master’s
Spanish
20
7 months
Master’s
* Halley was born in the United States.
** Max visited the US yearly during summer vacations.
Nina was familiar with studying abroad. Her first exchange was to Mexico, where she received her MBA, and joined Facebook setting up her page in English. Although she didn’t
understand Facebook when she joined, she quickly saw the benefits:
When a classmate that I haven’t heard about her in 20 years and she “Ohh
it’s so nice to see you again.” What is this is? How she found me? And in that
moment I understood, before that I probably had five friends. (Nina, high, initial interview)2
Once a friend from high school found her on Facebook, she saw the value of online social
networking. For months, she searched through her friends’ ‘friend lists’ to find other old
classmates. At the time of this study, she was planning her high school reunion in Colombia
through Facebook. She was also friends with university classmates. In total, Nina had 238
friends at the start of the study.
The size of her list of friends had forced her to employ a complex set of privacy settings.
She had grouped her friends into several lists (that were only visible to her). She had a
“family members” list with 35 members, a “closest” friend list with 22, a “no closest” list
with 144, and an “English” list with 17 members. She described her friends on Facebook in
her second interview:
Yes. I have some lists of friends. My pictures are not shared with everyone.
So when I put pictures, recently I can think two weeks ago or one week ago.
When I am creating the album, I go to one place and I select the list that I
call “no closest” and I block them so they can’t see it. (second interview)
Nina used the friend lists to help facilitate appropriate communication with her diverse
group of friends. They help her decide the amount of intimate information to share with
each group and which language to use.
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The quote below indicates that Nina kept contact with her friends by both passively viewing
friends’ pages and actively commenting on pictures or pages. She described her typical activities on Facebook:
I am kind addicted. I sign…I get in probably two or three times per day. Per
day. And the first thing I see is… I look at all the new stuff in home part. So I
see who put pictures, who changed the status, who was tagging some pictures… basically that or some comments. And if I want to see some particular
friend and the pictures of December 2008 and go to click and go through the
whole album and see. And if there is any picture that I like I do a comment. I
make a comment about the picture. I’m basically — that is what I do in the
weekday about Facebook. Or if somebody write me, I immediately reply. Or if
somebody made a comment about my pictures, I immediately reply. I am addicted. But in the weekends if I have time, I put my pictures, my videos or I
change my status, something like that. (initial interview)
During the four-week observation, Nina seemed to follow the pattern that she described
quickly responding to new content and becoming more active on the weekend posting pictures or status updates (micro-blogging). For example, she commented on the picture of a
friend’s newly born baby and changed her status. She did not communicate with people that
she didn’t know in real life. She explained that accepting a friendship with someone you
don’t know is risky because they can read about you and post undesirable things on your
page, so she avoids it.
Because most of her friends were from Colombia and native Spanish speakers, she wrote
mostly in Spanish. The observation and interview data confirmed that she used both English
and Spanish depending on the interlocutor. Sometimes, a single utterance would show code
switching, but most utterances were either in English or Spanish since she only shared one
common language with her interlocutor. Her status updates or micro-blogs were often in
English as they were addressed to her English-speaking classmates. For example, “Nina is
still hopping to find her USB... sniff!!!!” (Facebook observation, Feb. 17). She did not find it
hard to communicate with her friends in either English or Spanish.
Although Facebook allows people to use the site in many languages, Nina chose to use the
site in English. However, she stated that sometimes she had difficulty understanding the
English terminology used within Facebook and compensated by logging into her mother’s
account, which was set up in Spanish:
…so in order to get some words in English like ‘poke’ or ‘tag.’ I didn’t know
what was ‘tag.’ I knew the meaning, but I didn’t know the real meaning. So
sometimes I check in Spanish in my mom’s profile. I check “Ohh these words
mean that. Okay.” (initial interview)
Facebook has its own lexicon. Words like ‘tag’ and ‘poke’ have specific meanings in the site.
The dictionary definition of ‘tag’ couldn’t help her decide who, if anyone, to ‘tag’ or label in a
photo. She used her mother’s Facebook account, which was in Spanish, to determine these
genre specific word meanings. By switching back and forth between the two accounts, she
was able to understand the vocabulary used on the site’s interface. Nina said this helped her
learn English. More importantly, it taught her a language strategy — translation. Nina also
used this strategy when she encountered messages on friends’ walls in other languages.
She reported using an online translator to understand the messages and then joined into
the conversation in English.
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All in all, Nina used Facebook for social reasons. Socially, she was fascinated with the possibilities Facebook gave her to reconnect with old friends and stay informed about her friends’
lives. In our initial interview, she summarized her view of the site: Facebook is “a tool not
feel that lonely here.”
Lee: Case Study
Lee, a 32-year-old Taiwanese student, classified his English as “not so good” (Lee, high, initial interview). Despite his insecurity about his language ability, Lee was adept at communicating. He employed diverse communication, including relying on the written word. For example, during our initial interview, he had difficulty understanding some questions and
asked to see the interview protocol. Such a request can stilt his social interactions, unless
the interaction is text-based like Facebook. Much different than his shy, sometimes awkward, demeanor in person, his Facebook profile picture was jovial with showcasing a wide
smile and a beer.
Lee’s motivation for joining Facebook was twofold — an existing friend and a desire to form
new friendships. He explained that he joined “because my friend asked me” to and “I know
Facebook is very popular here. That’s how everyone can make friends, so I joined that” (initial interview). This motivation is quite different from how research has shown people generally use social networking sites. Studies like Choi (2006), Ellison et al. (2007), and Lenhart & Madden (2007) suggest that most people do not use Facebook to make friends.
Despite this apparent mismatch, Lee continued to be an active member of Facebook and
successfully increased his list of friends. During the observation period, he added 13 new
friends for a total of 103. While Lee did not consider his Facebook friends as people he
knew, they were people that he had met briefly in face-to-face encounters, including at parties. When asked to comment on whether he knew his new Facebook friends in real life, he
responded:
Real life. Actually, it depends. But most of them are not. I don’t know their
real life. Just some of them. I met them on parties, but after that we are not
so close and next time we meet… we meet at a party “hi, it’s you.” (initial interview)
Parties were central to Lee’s usage of Facebook. He accepted party invitations (three during
the observation period) and kept in contact with people he met at social engagements. In
fact, 10 of the 13 new friends that were acquired during the observation period were met at
parties. The majority of these were international students and Americans, none of whom
spoke Chinese. He explained in his initial interview, “After parties I always meet some new
friends on the parties and after that I put them into my friends list.” Lee’s linguistic ability
and personality may have stopped him from getting to know people closely at parties. But
his use of Facebook helped him keep track of these weak social ties. This compensation
strategy allowed him to communicate with them more freely in writing and to enhance their
next face-to-face encounter.
Lee reported communicating mostly in English on Facebook. In our initial interview he said,
“Usually here is English, but I have Chinese or Taiwanese friends and we use Chinese, Mandarin.” During the observation period, his public messages, which were rare, were in both
English and Mandarin. However, public messages may not accurately reflect his language
use because he reported a preference towards communicating with people through private
messages. In this setting, he had the least language anxiety and could discuss personal topics.
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In addition to the private messaging features, pictures on Facebook allowed him to maximize his communicative ability in English. Although the initial interview did not have any
questions that specifically asked about the use of multimedia on Facebook, Lee mentioned
pictures 15 times in his 23-minute initial interview. This suggests that Lee views pictures as
an essential component of Facebook. His observation data supports this conclusion. Pictures
on Facebook were at the center of his public interactions; the only public messages that he
left during the observation period were posted in response to pictures. For example, he
added a comment to his own picture noting, “Yep…he’s my brother” (Facebook observation,
Jan 26).
While adding pictures to Facebook and using some of the more advanced settings may seem
daunting to new users, Lee felt very comfortable with Facebook’s technology. Through his
experience with blogs and similar programs in his home country, Lee joined Facebook with a
basic knowledge of how to use it. He described his past experiences with related technology
and his ease of use:
Because I had, I have this kind of experience in my country. Like I said, I use
my blog in my… when I was in my country. So that those interface are very
similar. I upload to build my information, so maybe according my experience
it’s not very difficult. (initial interview)
Lee had little problem using the interface and was quick to upload pictures and add information to his profile. He reported having a positive experience on Facebook.
Yaashir: Case Study
Yaashir, a 24 year old man from Saudi Arabia, was a private person, which makes his case
especially interesting. Yaashir took caution while using Facebook, as he sought to find a balance between “kinda socialize, kinda isolation” (medium, initial interview). Despite this conflict, he was moderately active on Facebook, logging on three to five times per week and
communicating with his 50 friends and family members.
From the onset, Yaashir signed up to “be in touch with my friends because I am international student and I live far away from my friends in my country and my family” (initial interview). Even though Yaashir cited geographic distance from friends as his reason to use
Facebook, he joined before moving to the US. It seems that he began building his ‘friends
list’ in preparation for his departure.
Several times per week, Yaashir reported visiting Facebook, typically “in the weekend or in
my free time” (initial interview). When he was on Facebook, he normally wrote messages to
his friends. During the one-month observation period, he left four public messages, all of
which were in English, and received ten, eight of which were in English. Most likely, this
number underestimates the quantity of messages exchanged. Yaashir said he used private,
instead of public, messages depending upon:
Different things. Different persons. For example, I am going to send, I am going to talk [to] like my best friend I will send them a private message. I don’t
want people to get to know what is going on. There is some private thing between the people that you are very close to. But if it is a classmate or just
people I just get to know them I will write in their wall like “Happy Birthday,”
“How have you been?” something like that. (initial interview)
The interlocutor and the message’s topic helped Yaashir decide whether or not to leave a
public message. The observation period showed his preference towards private messages.
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Although Yaashir preferred when addressing one friend to do so privately, he frequently updated his public status (micro-blog), which is a one-to-many form of communication. In the
four-week period, he made six status updates. They were all in English and varied from a
favorite link to heartfelt messages to loved ones. Yet, Yaashir kept his privacy intact; the
status updates were either rather general, for instance, “Yaashir can’t wait until this term is
over...” (Facebook observation, Feb 12), or vague sentimental remarks. Sometimes, people
would comment on his status updates in either English or Arabic. These status updates and
comments on them constituted a large part of his public interactions.
In addition to updating his status, Yaashir frequently updated his profile, his description of
himself. For example, he expanded the quote displayed beneath his picture on his page
from “I hate ignorance and I belive If your not first, your last.” to “I hate ignorance and I
belive If your not first, your last. Nothing good comes easily, sometime you have to fight”
(Facebook observation). He had nine revisions; each time making one or many small
changes to his profile. He did so when he “was bored” and “stuck at home” (second interview).
Despite frequent updates, Yaashir closely monitored the information that was published on
his page. As described in the methods section, Facebook has a feature, the News Feed,
which automatically updates a person’s page with their most recent activity. Usually, it
would display new friendships, messages received, messages sent, etc. Yaashir deleted
most of these stories. He said in the second interview that his privacy settings were such
that “if you’re not my friend, you won’t see my friend list” and that even friends cannot see
some of his other friends:
No, some of my friends will not see other friends. Like you may not see my
sister. My sister is in my profile, but you know, as a Muslim society we have a
privacy for women. She could make a profile and do whatever she wants except her picture — a couple they are trying. But I don’t want people to know
my life. Okay. Also I don’t want — she is a female so it is more sensitive I
think. (Yaashir, medium, second interview)
It was important to Yaashir to respect the privacy of people, his sister especially. Although
she was a member of Facebook, he did not want something that she wrote or even her picture to be displayed in public.
In fact, he kept many things private, including pictures of himself, which were only added
when necessary. He explains the circumstances, which caused him to change his profile picture from an anonymous flickering candle to a picture of himself:
I tell you. It depends my mood. It is kinda a privacy. But sometimes the
things — that why I changed my picture during the month… we made an
event for the Saudi student club and some people need to be in touch with
me… I just put it so people recognize me, when they see me if they have
questions about the event or something, so that’s why. (second interview)
This social circumstance caused him to post a picture of himself, which he later deleted. As
necessary throughout the observation period, he would post and remove personal pictures
of himself. Through privacy settings, which restricted the content people saw, and by deleting pictures, Yaashir maintained his sense of privacy on Facebook.
He saw Facebook as a complex social tool and an information resource. Yaashir also used
Facebook as a way to stay informed on campus:
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Also sometimes, thing make an event. Or some organization, even [the university], do an event through the Facebook. So that’s really helpful for me to
get to know what is going on around the campus. (initial interview)
The university, along with other organizations, sends invitations out through Facebook.
Yaashir found these particularly helpful. He also sought out other helpful university resources on Facebook, for example he was fan of a page from his university’s “Undergraduate Advising and Support Center.” Through these pages, Facebook became more than a social tool to Yaashir.
Summary of Individual Participant’s Activity
The cases of Nina, Lee, and Yaashir illuminated some of the individual differences and possibly varying cultures-of-use on Facebook. This section presents data from the observation
period to further explore participants’ varying behavior and expand on the cultures-of-use
theory. Table 3 presents detailed data on participants’ activities during the observation period. These data show that individuals used Facebook’s features to different degrees. There
were large discrepancies in the number of profile updates, photos added, pictures commented on, and status updates that is evidence for different cultures-of-use.
One notable difference in use centered around pictures. As was discussed earlier, Lee found
pictures to be a key feature of Facebook. The observation data shows that all of his comments were on pictures, while Taufic, Michelle, and Yaashir rarely or never commented on
pictures. They did not appear to share his view about pictures. Perhaps participants were
more likely to use features that they believe to be important and appropriate. To give another example, Taufic kept a small number of friends and did not add any during the observation period. He was using the site differently than Talia, who had the same level of participation, but added seven friends in the four weeks. One explanation might be that they
were operating under different cultures-of-use: one where Facebook was used to communicate with close existing friends and one where Facebook was used to communicate with recent acquaintances.
The above observation data is presented to illustrate the varying cultures-of-use and variety
of ESL students’ behavior on Facebook. The next section will show the commonalities across
participants’ motivations and successes. However, the differences presented here should be
noted.
Table 3
Participants’ Activities during Observation Period
Name
Level of Participation
Profile Picture Changes
Profile Info Changes
Total Comments/Comments on Pictures
Comments Received
Status Updates
Pictures Added
New Friends
Invitations to Events Accepted
Taufic
Low
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
Talia
Low
1
1
1/1
2
1
5
7
1
Max
Low
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
Michelle
Med
0
0
7/1
11
0
3
3
0
Yaashir
Med
9
9
4/1
10
6
0
5
0
Lee
High
0
0
3/3
1
0
0
13
3
Nina
High
0
0
1/1
12
1
0
6
0
CROSS CASE ANALYSIS
While the previous section explored three unique cases and individual behavior, this section
will examine themes across cases and answer the research questions outlined at the beginning of this study.
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Motivation to Join
The first research question sought to uncover the participants’ reasons for joining Facebook.
Common reasons for joining included friendships (new and old), cultural learning, and a desire to try new things. These ESOL students did not identify technology or language learning
as motivating factors.
Participants joined based for the most part on their friends’ encouragement and the desire
to continue their past friendships. Five out of eight participants mentioned explicitly in their
initial interview recommendations or invitations from friends as their reasons for joining. On
the other hand, a lack of friends or invitations to Facebook deterred Hally, a non-user, from
the site:
Well, many of my friends don’t even use it, so I am not going to have a lot of
friends on it at first. And I’m going to have to make new friends and I’m not
really good at that. (Hally, non-user, initial interview)
Hally’s friends didn’t use Facebook. Instead, her social group chose to use MySpace, on
which she was an active member. However, most of the participants were not concerned
about making new friends when they joined Facebook. They wanted to keep in contact with
old friends, often friends from their home countries. They envisioned Facebook as an inexpensive and convenient way to communicate with people around the world. For example, as
Yaashir said:
I just signed up to be in touch with my friends because I am international
student and I live far away from my friends in my country and my family.
(Yaashir, medium, initial interview)
Yaashir, for example, was separated from his friends and family during his academic exchange in the US. He joined Facebook to break the distance and time barriers. Many ESOL
students joined for the same reason.
Another common motivation was cultural learning. Talia and Yaashir saw Facebook as a portal to American culture. Yaashir explained in his initial interview, “I mean most of American
people have a username in the Facebook or MySpace.” He saw Facebook as part of popular
American culture and hoped to be part of this mainstream America phenomenon. Talia
hoped not only to take part in something she saw as American, but also to explicitly search
for clues to American culture on Facebook. Talia explained this in the following quote:
Because I would go to America at that time. So I want to know more about
the culture like what is popular. And another reason is I want to connect with
my roommate — so I joined the Facebook. (Talia, low, initial interview)
Combined with the social motivation, cultural learning was a main reason why Talia joined
Facebook. She wanted to learn what was popular and current. Cultural learning is an unexpected and interesting motivation for joining Facebook.
In addition, another interesting motivation for joining Facebook is to be involved in the
newest trend. Yaashir said in his initial interview, “I usually try to try the new thing at this
one time,” illustrating that some ESOL students joined Facebook simply because it was new.
ESOL Students’ Ability to Meet their Objectives
The second research question addressed the participants’ ability to meet their objectives on
Facebook. Report and observational data showed that the participants were generally suc-
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cessful at developing existing friendships and learning about American culture and language, although they were unable to create new friendships on Facebook.
New Friendships
Two participants reported wanting to make new friends on Facebook when they joined.
However, there was little data to suggest that they were successful. During the observation
period, there was no evidence to suggest that people established friendships through the
site. Max was the only participant to add someone to his friends list that he had not met in
real life — his brother’s girlfriend. In the interviews, Taufic and Max mentioned making new
friends through Facebook groups, but these friendships did not develop into face-to-face
friendships or even pen-pals. This data would suggest that Facebook was not an efficient
way for these ESL students to make friends, which is not peculiar considering that motive
conflicts with the predominant culture-of-use on Facebook (Choi, 2006; Ellison et al, 2007;
Lenhart & Madden, 2007).
Existing Friendships
Although participants were unable to make new friends, they were able to strengthen existing relationships. Existing friends include “family members, some peoples — friends” (Max,
low, initial interview). By writing messages and posting pictures, they were able to connect
with their existing friends. Participants with a high level of participation seemed most able
to keep in contact with existing friends, posting a high of seven public messages and five
pictures during the observation period. Others may have used more passive methods, simply viewing their friends’ pages to stay in contact. Nevertheless, the participants all reported
feeling confident in their ability to keep in contact with their existing friends on Facebook.
Language Learning
All of the participants reported having friends on Facebook who spoke both English and/or
their native language and reported using either language depending on the context. The
question is whether or not Facebook helped the participants learn English. Six out of the
seven participating Facebook users reported learning English through the site, despite joining for other reasons. Although Taufic was hesitant to use Facebook for English language
learning because of the prevalence of “not good English — the grammar, the grammar, the
tenses, the sometimes spelling like what ‘sup’” (low, initial interview). Still, the site gave
participants a clear purpose for their language use and increased their output as well as input. Talia advised ESL students new to Facebook to only use English when writing messages. She urged others to:
Use English when you leave messages or chat with others. And yeah, put
some interesting things on Facebook… If we use our own language, it is just
like other softwares we use in China. It is no difference. We use Facebook because we want to make more foreigner friends and if we use our own language they can’t see what we say. (Talia, low, initial interview)
Talia’s social motivation encouraged her to use English. By writing her messages in English,
more people could understand her and be inspired to write her messages or befriend her.
So in this case, the motivation to make new friends encouraged her to use English. However, it was rare that two non-native English speakers who shared the same native language communicated in English. However, the site also allowed a highly active member,
Yaashir, to seek out language learning opportunities on Facebook by ‘becoming fans’ of a
page dedicated to teaching English.
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Cultural Learning
Talia and Yaashir mentioned cultural learning as one of their motivations for joining. Generally, cultural knowledge is that which one needs to “perform” in a language, both background knowledge of popular culture, for example, and socio-pragmatics (Dubreil, 2006).
There is, however, little evidence from their interviews or public activities that these ESL
students learned about American culture through Facebook. It may be that students subconsciously analyzed Facebook interactions as cultural artifacts, but it cannot be substantiated. In contrast, it is clear that the participants shared their cultural heritage on Facebook.
Five out of seven participants were members of groups or fans of pages dedicated to their
home countries. For example, Lee’s group memberships show his cultural ties as a Taiwanese international student: LUXY Taipei; I ♥ Taiwan; Marie Digby Rocks!; NTUST Taipei Intl
Students; Organization of International Students at PSU; Feng Chia Students; International
Student Mentor Program at PSU. Some of the cultural sharing on Facebook may have led to
cultural learning.
Factors that Helped and Hindered ESOL Students
The third research question aimed to identify factors that helped and hindered the ESL students while using Facebook. The participants mentioned facing two difficulties in the initial
interview: language and technology. These difficulties were resolved by help from past experiences and/or translations. Interestingly, these difficulties did not stop participants from
using Facebook, which may allude to its perceived value. However, participants cited two
reoccurring issues that would stop them from using the site in the future: other obligations
and dissent from close personal relations. For example, if Facebook began to interfere with
their studies or if a girlfriend or boyfriend disapproved, they would consider stopping. All in
all, ESL students reported few problems using Facebook, none of which would discontinue
their use of the site.
LIMITATIONS
This study’s findings are not without limitations. This was a small-scale qualitative study. It
illuminated several students’ use of Facebook, yet in no way can its findings be generalized
to other ESL students. The students were predominately from Saudi Arabia, which, although
representative of the student population at the English language program, is not ideal. Participants also had relatively high computer literacy skills. The findings of this study are
based heavily on the personal experiences of this small group of individuals.
CONCLUSIONS
Despite the preliminary nature of these findings, the data triangulation shows clear trends in
ESL students’ use of Facebook. The ESL students were successful at communicating with
existing friends on Facebook in English and their native languages. They were also able to
improve their English ability and cultural competency by using the site. They were able to
do more than they had originally intended, which was to keep in contact with old friends.
They noted few problems and had computer literacy and language strategies enough to
overcome any difficulties. It appears that ESL students are using Facebook in positive ways
that both reduce homesickness by providing an affordable medium to keep in contact with
home and increase their social life in the US.
PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
These findings may have some implications on how Facebook could be used in the classroom. After becoming active on Facebook, many saw the potential benefits of practicing
writing and conversing in English on the site. However, Taufic was concerned about the informal register used on Facebook. Teachers should be aware of students’ thoughts about
the use of ‘inaccurate’ language on Facebook. Lessons focusing on language mechanics
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would not be appropriate in this medium. Instead, language lessons on Facebook should
center on the social aspect of the site, which the students found the most motivating. An
example of an appropriate lesson based on these findings is Blattner et al. (2009), which
used Facebook in an intermediate Spanish class to explore socio-pragmatics (greetings and
slang). McBride (2009) and Forlano (2009) also offer several good ideas of how to integrate
SNSs into the classroom that would build on students’ social motivations. Other appropriate
activities could build on students’ willingness to explore cultural norms and issues through
Facebook. These activities would be congruent with these participants’ motivation and use
of Facebook.
FURTHER RESEARCH
Because research into how language learners use SNSs is in its infancy, the effect of age,
language fluency, and computer literacy on motivation to join, behaviors on and problems
with SNSs, studies looking more closely at the content and structure of the language on social networking sites would be beneficial. Any research into how and why students use
Facebook outside the classroom would be useful in designing appropriate classroom activities.
NOTES
1 danah boyd does not capitalize her name when publishing.
2 Following each quote, unless otherwise clear, is an audit trail that explains the informants’ level of
participation on Facebook (high, medium, low) and from where the information came.
REFERENCES
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Possibilities and linguistic benefits. Paper presented at the annual meeting of AAAL, Denver,
CO.
boyd, d. (2007). Why youth (heart) social network sites: The role of networked publics in teenage social life. Retrieved November 16, 2008, from http://www.danah.org/papers/
WhyYouthHeart.pdf
boyd, d. (2008). Taken out of context: American teen sociality in networked publics. Retrieved January, 21 2009, from http://www.danah.org/papers/TakenOutOfContext.pdf
Choi, J. H. (2006). Living in Cyworld: Contextualising Cy-Ties in South Korea. In A. Bruns & J. Jacobs
(Eds.), Use of blogs (pp. 173-186). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Cononelos, T., & Olivia, M. (1993). Using computer networks to enhance foreign language/culture education. Foreign Language Annals, 26(4), 527-534.
comScore. (2007, April 10). comScore releases worldwide rankings of top Web properties. Retrieved
July 24, 2007, from http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1370
Dubreil, S. (2006). Gaining perspective on culture through CALL. In L. Ducate & N. Arnold (Eds.),
Calling on CALL: From theory and research to new directions in foreign language teaching (pp.
211-236). San Marcos, TX: CALICO.
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook "friends:" Social capital and
college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 1143–1168.
Facebook Screenshots. (n.d.) Retrieved February 20, 2009, from http://creative.ak.facebook.com/
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Facebook Statistics. (n.d.) Retrieved November 14, 2008, from http://www.facebook.com/
press/info.php?statistics
Forlano, D. (2009). Ning offers students opportunities to connect. The Language Educator, 4(1), 4345.
Hargittai, E. (2007). Whose space? Differences among users and non-users of social network sites.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), 276-297. Available at
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/hargittai.html
Hatch, J. A. (2002). Doing qualitative research in education settings. Albany, NY: State University of
New York Press.
Hindujaa, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2008). Personal information of adolescents on the Internet: A quantitative content analysis of MySpace. Journal of Adolescence, 31, 125-146.
Ito, M., Horst, H., Bittanti, M., boyd, d., Herr-Stephenson, B., Lange, P. G., Pascoe, C. J., & Robinson,
L. (2008). Living and learning with new media: Summary of findings from the Digital Youth
Project. Chicago, IL: MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved November 27, 2008, from
http://digitallearning.macfound.org/site/c.enJLKQNlFiG/b.2029199/
Jogan, M. K., Heredia, H. A., & Aguilera, M. G. (2001). Cross-cultural email: Providing cultural input
for the advanced foreign language student. Foreign Language Annals, 34(4), 341-346.
Lam, W. S. E. (2000). L2 literacy and the design of the self: A case study of a teenager writing on the
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publications/3727258154bd0e565ac091.pdf
Lam, W. S. E., & Rosario-Ramos, E. (2009). Multilingual literacies in transnational digitally mediated
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171-190. Retrieved November 4, 2008, from http://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/
profile/?p=492&/EvaLam
Lampe, C., Ellison, N., & Steinfeld, C. (2007). A familiar face(book): Profile elements as signals in an
online social network. In M. B. Rosson (Ed.), Conference on Human Factors in Computing
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Lee, J. S. (2006). Exploring the relationship between electronic literacy and heritage language maintenance. Language Learning and Technology, 10(2), 93–113.
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An overview. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/
PIP_SNS_Data_Memo_Jan_2007.pdf
Liaw, M.-L., & Johnson, R. J. (2001). E-mail writing as a cross-cultural learning experience. System,
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In L. Lomicka & G. Lord (Eds.), The next generation: Social networking and online collaboration in foreign language learning (pp. 35-58). San Marcos, TX: CALICO.
McGinnis, T., Goostein-Stolzenberg, A., & Costa Saliani, E. (2007). “indnpride”: Online spaces of
transnational youth as sites of creative and sophisticated literacy and identity work. Linguistics
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Stevenson, M. P., & Liu, M. (2010). Learning a language with Web 2.0: Exploring the use of social networking features of foreign language learning websites. CALICO, 27(2), 233–259.
Thelwall, M. (2008). Fk yea I swear: Cursing and gender in a corpus of MySpace pages. Corpora, 3,
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and Technology, 7(2), 38-67.
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APPENDIX A: SURVEY
ESOL Students on Facebook
Katie Mitchell is doing a research project on IELP students’ use of Facebook for her Masters
in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She is looking for twelve people to do
one or two interviews with her and let her view their Facebook pages. This survey is voluntary. But it will help Katie find ESOL students who are willing to be in her study and who use
Facebook a lot, a little or not at all. If you have any questions about the survey, you can
contact Katie Mitchell at 503-887-XXXX or at [email protected]. Only Katie Mitchell will see
your answers.
Circle the answer.
1. Have you ever created your own profile online on Facebook? Yes
No
If you don’t have a Facebook page, you can stop here. Otherwise, please continue.
2. How many friends do you have on Facebook?
0 friends
1-5 friends
5-10 friends
11-30 friends
31-50 friends
51-70 friends
71-90 friends
More than 90 friends
3. About how often do you visit Facebook?
Several times a day
About once a day
3 to 5 days a week
1 to 2 days a week
Once or twice a month
Less often
4. Do you ever use Facebook to make new friends?
Yes
No
5. Do you ever use Facebook to stay in contact with friends you see a lot?
Yes
No
6. Do you ever use Facebook to stay in contact with friends you rarely see in person?
Yes
No
7. Do you ever use Facebook to read about your friends?
Yes
No
8. Do you ever use Facebook to read about people you don't know?
Yes
No
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9. Do you ever write messages to a friend's page or wall?
Yes
No
10. Do you ever send private messages to a friend on Facebook?
Yes
No
11. Do you ever “poke” people on Facebook?
Yes
No
12. What level Speaking/Listening class are you in?
E
2
3
4
5
13. As part of her Masters in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Ms. Mitchell
will do research on ESOL students’ use of Facebook. Do you want to be part of a research
study and do two informal interviews with Katie Mitchell?
Yes
No
I don’t know
Please, give Ms. Mitchell your email and phone number if you think you want to be part of
the study or if you want more information.
Email: ______________________________________
Phone Number: ______________________________
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APPENDIX B: NON-FACEBOOK USERS’ INTERVIEW SCRIPT
This interview is part of a research study on ESOL students’ use of Facebook. Your answers
are greatly appreciated. You have received a consent form to sign; it says that you are willing to do this interview. Nothing you say will ever be connected with your name, so you
don’t need to worry. I am going to turn on the recorder and then we can begin.
1. I know you don’t use Facebook, but do you know what Facebook is?
Prompt: Can you explain what you know about Facebook?
If no, describe Facebook. Facebook is an Internet site where people create pages about
themselves. Then, they talk with friends, share pictures and more.
2. Is there anything about Facebook that makes you want to join?
Prompt: What exactly, if anything, do you find interesting about Facebook?
a. Do you have any plans to join Facebook?
b. Still you are not currently on Facebook. Are there any reasons why you
don’t want to join?
3. Those are your reasons, but how many of your friends are on Facebook?
a. Do they seem to like it?
4. Do you use something like Facebook in your native language?
a. If yes, if I watched you on your native language site on a typical day what
would I see you do?
b. If no, thank you for your answer.
5. Now, I have some questions about your computer use. How often do you use the computer?
a. How often do you use the Internet?
b. What do you usually do on the Internet?
Prompt: Do you email, message, shop? What do you do? Are you on MySpace?
6. Ok these are the last set of questions,
a. How old are you? When were you born?
b. What country are you from?
c. What languages do you speak? How well?
d. How long have you learned English?
e. How long have you been in the US?
f. What is your educational history?
7. Is there anything else you want to tell me about yourself? About Facebook?
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APPENDIX C: FACEBOOK USERS’ INTERVIEW SCRIPT
This interview is part of a research study on ESOL students’ use of Facebook. Your answers
are greatly appreciated. You have received a consent form to sign; it says that you are willing to do this interview. Nothing you say will ever be connected with your name, so you
don’t need to worry. I am going to turn on the recorder and then we can begin.
1. First, I would really like to know how you use Facebook. If I watched you on Facebook on
a typical day what would I see you do?
a. What are the different ways you use Facebook?
Prompt: Do you use Facebook to make new friends? Do you use Facebook to keep in contact with friends from home?
b. How do you communicate with friends?
Prompt: Do you use the chat, write private message, write on people’s
wall, or comment on their photos?
c.
You communicate with your friends in one/a few/many way(s).
For participants who listed only one way:
Why do you prefer to chat/message/wall post?
For participant who listed more than one way:
When do you send them a private message?
Prompt: Does it have something to do with the content or what you
are saying?
When do you write on their wall?
When do you …?
How do you decide which to do (to write on their wall or to write a message)?
a. What, if anything, is difficult for you to do on Facebook?
b. What languages do you use to talk with friends on Facebook?
c. Why do you use Facebook today?
d. Do you use something like Facebook in your native language?
If no, would you want to use one in your native language now?
2. It is so interesting to hear how you use Facebook and other sites like it. I know from
looking at people’s Facebook pages they are all a little different.
a. Can you describe your page?
b. When was the last time changed something on your page? (if never skip
to question three)
c. What did you change?
d. Normally, when do you change your page?
3. I have learned so much about your page. Thank you. Now, I have a few questions about
friends on Facebook.
a. Describe your friends on Facebook.
Prompt: Who are your friends?
b. How did you become friends with them?
Prompt: Do you know them in real life?
c. How close are to your Facebook friends outside of Facebook?
Prompt: How often do you see them in person? Talk to them on the
phone?
d. Where do your friends live?
e. What languages do they speak?
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4. We have talked about what you do on Facebook now, but I want you to remember back
to when you first joined Facebook.
a. Why did you join Facebook?
b. What was it about the Facebook software, if anything that attracted you to
it?
Rephrase: Did features, like chat or photo sharing, made you want to join
Facebook?
c. What was it about your friendships and social life, if anything that attracted you to it?
d. How did your language learning goals, if at all, affect your choice to join
Facebook?
5. Now, that you have told me why you joined Facebook. You said you joined for
_________ reasons; do you think you use the site in that way?
a. What, if anything, helped you use Facebook? For example, language
knowledge or computer skills.
b. What, if anything, stopped you from using Facebook?
c. How, if at all, has Facebook helped you learn English?
d. How, if at all, has Facebook helped you make friends?
6. You said it did/didn’t help you learn English or make friends. Would you recommend other ESOL students to join Facebook?
a. If your friend decided to join Facebook, is there any advice you would give
them?
7. Again thank you for all of your answers. I have a few questions about you and then we’re
finished.
a. How old are you? When were you born?
b. What country are you from?
c. What languages do you speak? How well?
d. How long have you learned English?
e. How long have you been in the US?
f. What is your educational history?
g. How often do you use the computer?
h. How often do you use the Internet?
i. What do you usually do on the Internet?
Prompt: Do you email, message, shop? What do you do?
8. This information has been very helpful. Is there anything else you would like to say about
Facebook?
9. When we were going over the consent form, we talked about you adding me as a Friend
on Facebook. Do you still feel comfortable doing that? I have my computer here. Please sign
on and you can add me as a friend.
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AUTHOR’S BIODATA
Kathleen Mitchell is an instructor at Oregon State University where she teaches Academic
English to speakers of other languages. She is also the Technology Adviser. Before working
at Oregon State University, she received her Masters in TESOL at Portland State University
and taught in the Portland area and abroad at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Her
research interests include digital literacy, second language writing instruction, and computer
assisted language learning.
AUTHOR’S ADDRESS
1701 SW Western Blvd
Corvallis, OR 97331
E-mail: [email protected]
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