Journal Screenshot

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

Using Twitter to Enhance Writing Skills among ESL Undergraduates: A Casual Learning Approach

Enba Jenani Thandevaraj, Nur Azizah Nagoor Gani, Haida Umiera Hashim, Melor Md Yunus, Harwati Hashim

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v11-i12/11766

Open access

Writing is a fundamental skill in language learning yet it is the biggest challenge for students these days. Students are discouraged to write their own thoughts and it leads them to become demotivated. Students' involvement is limited in any learning process, however, with the implementation of a casual learning approach, it could be possible to get students to participate in the classroom. In this 21st century era, educators have been using various techniques and materials to enhance students’ writing. Therefore, educators believe that using social media as a platform for teaching and learning might be helpful to make the lessons fun and interactive. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the use of Twitter as a casual learning approach in enhancing students’ writing skills. A study was conducted among 20 undergraduate students to investigate if Twitter makes any difference in enhancing their writing skills and their motivation to write. ESL lessons via ZOOM were conducted with the integration of Twitter’s threads as the casual learning approach to help students to be more interested in writing, which in a way will help to enhance their writing skills. A questionnaire was later distributed to the students to investigate their feedback on the use of Twitter as a platform to help them to enhance their writing skills. Findings have shown that students are more comfortable to have Twitter as one of the platforms to help them to enhance their writing skills. It can be seen that the students participated more when Twitter was used in the lessons as part of the writing activity. One of the reasons might be because of the flexibility and the casualty. The end result of this study shows that utilizing Twitter in ESL teaching and learning gives a positive impact for both educators and the students.

Ahmed, M. A. (2016). Using facebook to develop grammar discussion and writing skills in English as a foreign language for university students. Sino-US English Teaching, 13(12), 932-952.
Altakhaineh, A. R. M., & Al-Jallad, M. Z. (2018). The use of twitter and Facebook in teaching mechanics of writing to Arabic-speaking EFL learners. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 13(09), 4-14.
Ang, L. H., & Tan, K. H. (2018). Specificity in English for academic purposes (EAP): A corpus analysis of lexical bundles in academic writing. 3L The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 24(2), 82–94.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1986, 23-28.
Blattner, G., & Dalola, A. (2018). I Tweet, You Tweet,(S) He Tweets: Enhancing the ESL Language-Learning Experience Through Twitter. International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching (IJCALLT), 8(2), 1-19.
Busch, T., & Shepherd, T. (2014). Doing well by doing good? Normative tensions underlying Twitter’s corporate social responsibility ethos. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 20(3), 293-315.
https://doi.org/1354856514531533.
Chandran, Y., Plaindaren, C. J., Pavadai, S., & Yunus, M. M. (2019). Collaborative writing: An integration of snack bars and hi-five fingers via social media. Creative Education, 10(02), 475.Available at: https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2019.102034.
Dunlap, J. C., & Lowenthal, P. R. (2009b). Tweeting the night away: Using Twitter to enhance social presence. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20, 129-135.
Enonbun, O., (2010). Constructivism and web 2.0 in the emerging learning era: A global perspective. Journal of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability 6 (4), 17-27.
Fithriani, R., Dewi, U., Daulay, S. H., Salmiah, M., & Fransiska, W. (2019). Using Facebook in EFL writing class: Its effectiveness from students’ perspective. KnE Social Sciences, 634-645.
Hashim, H., Yunus, M. M., Ibrahim, N. S. M., E., J. I., Sukr, M. A. M., Ilahi, N. S. N., & Hassim, M. A. N. (2018). Social media and its impact on students’ writing skill. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(4.21), 102-106.
Hashim, H. U., Yunus, M. M., & Hashim, H. (2018). Bitesize learning: Whatsapp status for English communication skills. EduInnovation Proceeding. pp, 8-10.
Hattem, D., & Lomicka, L. (2016). What the Tweets say: A critical analysis of Twitter research in language learning from 2009 to 2016. E-learning and Digital Media, 13(1-2), 5-23.
He, T., Huang, Q., Yu, X., & Li, S. (2020). Exploring students’ digital informal learning: the roles of digital competence and DTPB factors. Behaviour & Information Technology, 1-11.
Hyland, K. (2003). Second language writing. Ernst Klett Sprachen.
Junco, R., Heibergert, G., & Loken, E. (2011). The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27, 119-132.
Lim, J., & Richardson, J. C. (2016). Exploring the effects of students' social networking experience on social presence and perceptions of using SNSs for educational purposes. The Internet and Higher Education, 29, 31-39.
Locke, E. A. (2018). Long range thinking and goal directed action.
Lopez, A. (2017). The Influence of ICT in the Development of Writing Skills through an Online Platform 1. 10.15446/11.71852.
Mahboob, A. (2014). Epilogue: Understanding language variation: Implications for eil pedagogy. Springer, Switzerland.
Mansoor, S. (2005). Language planning in higher education: A case study of Pakistan. Oxford University Press Karachi.
Marlina, R., & Giri, R. (2014). The pedagogy of English as an international language: Perspectives from scholars, teachers, and students (Vol. 1). Springer.
Morris, M. R., Counts, S., Roseway, A., Hoff, A. & Schwarz, J. (2012). Tweeting is believing? Understanding microblog credibility perceptions. In Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 441-450). ACM.
Naveed, F., & Bhowmik, A. (2016). Definition and Techniques of Writing Skill. Retrieved fromhttp://www.masscommunicationtalk.com/definition-and-techniques-of-writing-skill.html
Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom.
O’Reilly, T., & Milstein, S. (2009). The Twitter Book. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media Inc.
Osharive, Peter. (2015). social media and academic performance of students.
Rahman, T. (2002). Language, ideology and power (Vol. 1). Oxford University Press, United Kingdom.
Richards, J. (2015). The Changing Face of Language Learning: Learning Beyond the Classroom. RELC Journal. 46. 10.1177/0033688214561621.
Rinaldo, S. B., Tapp, S., & Laverie, D. A. (2011). Learning by Tweeting. Journal of Marketing Education, 33(2), 193–203. doi:10.1177/0273475311410852
Rosell-Aguilar, F. (2020). Twitter as a Language Learning Tool: The Learners' Perspective. International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching (IJCALLT), 10(4), 1-13.
Salehi, M., & Jafari, H. (2015). Development and validation of an EFL self-regulated learning questionnaire. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 33(1), 63-79.
Schunk, D. H., & Usher, E. L. (2019). Social cognitive theory and motivation. The Oxford handbook of human motivation, 11.
Stalin, L. T., & Kim Hua, T. (2020). Use of Snapchat to Enhance Primary School English as Second Language Learners in the Writing of Personal Information. International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, 9(4), 330-338.
Taskiran, A., Gumusoglu, E. K., & Aydin, B. (2018). Fostering foreign language learning with Twitter: Reflections from English learners. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 19(1), 100-116.
Torres, José. (2019). Positive Impact of Utilizing More Formative Assessment over Summative Assessment in the EFL/ESL Classroom. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics. 09. 1-11. 10.4236/ojml.2019.91001.
Vidyakala, K., & Nithyakala, K. (2016). An Analysis of Usage of Social Networking Sites Among College Students. International Journal of Informative & Futuristic Research, 7(3), 34 -41.
Wil, C. S. C., Yunus, M. M., & Suliman, A. (2019). The use of social media to assist writing skills among secondary pupils. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 8(3), 224-236. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarped/v8-i3/6388.
Yunus, M. M., Salehi, H., & Chenzi, C. (2012). Integrating social networking tools into ESL writing classroom: Strengths and weaknesses. English language teaching, 5(8), 42-48.

In-Text Citation: (Thandevaraj et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Thandevaraj, E. J., Gani, N. A. N., Hashim, H. U., Yunus, M. M., & Hashim, H. (2021). Using Twitter to Enhance Writing Skills among ESL Undergraduates: A Casual Learning Approach. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(12), 293–306.