Improving Students’ Interaction in Speaking Class Through Web-Based Social Networking

The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for EFL students. Students consequently often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English class on the basis of how well they feel they have improved in their spoken language proficiency. Related to this, competency based curriculum which was issued by Ministry of Education reflects the objective of teaching English at vocational senior high school is to develop communicative competence and in order the students to be able to communicate in English orally and writtenly at pre-intermediate level. In fact, the proficiency in English communication of vocational senior high school students still create disappointment among the teachers, parents, as well as, the students themselves. The students are structurally competent to produce grammatically correct sentences, but not able to perform a simple communicative task.

A common problem for EFL teacher is dealing with a passive class, where students are unresponsive and avoid interaction with the teacher and other students. This is especially true when a teacher seeks interaction in teacher-class dialog, such as asking question to the class as the whole and expecting at least one student to respond. This can be frustrating for both parties. Students do not answer the teacher’s questions even if they understand the question, know the answer, and are able to produce the answer. Furthermore, students can often be very reluctant to give feedback or ask the teacher a question in front of the class.

The study examines an initiative taken at the My English (ME) namely the creation of a ME Facebook group to encourage students to interact in English. This study investigates the benefits of using this web-based social network site as a forum for students to communicate. Cahyono (2011) stated that the use of Internet are technologically and academically sound. Moreover, the writer hypothesize that the use of this popular technology can provide real opportunities for language use and also lower the anxiety and nervousness associated with low proficiency when using a second language. Facebook, in particular, has become hugely popular among students since its inception in 2009. While participation in sites like Facebook has raised some concerns, the use of Facebook, as a tool to enhance interaction for second language learning remains relatively unexplored. The tool has the potential to help learners use the language at their own leisure and at their own convenience. Due to its interactivity, the use of social network such as Facebook can encourage students’ participation and interaction to use the language in real communication situations. Accordingly, Facebook is of interest to us in two respects: (1) as a mass social phenomenon in itself where it functions as a communication tool, and (2) as a unique window for observation and analysis on the interaction through the feedbacks and responses in the Facebook.

This study focuses on the utilization of Facebook to enhance students’ interaction using English in My English. In undertaking this study, the writer has two research objectives: (1) to understand the ways that social network namely Facebook can be used to provide the students with opportunities to use English as a medium of communication, and (2) to reflect on and improve our own practice with an aim to create a Facebook environment that can continue to be used to enhance opportunities to use the language.

Based on the writer’s observations, it was identified that one of teaching learning problems that should be critically improved is the students’s interaction in speaking class. The problems were identified as follows: many students become very nervous and embarrassed when asked to speak English. They do not have self-confidence to speak. They are afraid of getting mistakes. They can not arrange the sentences. When the teacher asks questions, nobody responses. They have lack of motivation to practice English either with the English teacher or friends. When the teacher asks them to practice with their friends, they tend to use Indonesian language or they just keep silence. In the line of above considerations, the problem is formulated as follows:“ How can web-based social network site be used to enhance the skill in speaking class of the third year students of SMKTI Bahrul Ulum Tambakberas Jombang?”

RESEARCH METHOD

A qualitative action enquiry method (McNiff & Whitehead: 2006) is employed to gather the evidence and data. The selection of action research is a natural choice because it is a type of research that presumes that an action will be initiated and is practitioner based. It involves a reflection on one's practice, a plan of action to improve one's practice, the implementation of that plan and then reflection on how the action worked. It also involves communications with others so that one's action is informed and committed. It also gives rise to more reflection and action and suggests the sharing outcomes of this research. Issues such as equality, both socially and educationally are fundamental to us and these values underpin our beliefs as a researcher and ME Facebook moderator. As mentioned by McNiff & Whitehead (2006: 5):

“Action research is about the practitioners creating new ideas about how to improve practice, and putting those ideas forward as their personal theories of practice. It is a form of enquiry that enables practitioners everywhere to investigate and evaluate their work.”

A content analysis of the interactions on the ME Facebook group is conducted. Content analysis is one of the sources of information that can be invaluable to qualitative researchers. In this study, the entries, interactions and comments for two consecutive months from January 2012 to February 2012 on the ME Facebook group are analyzed. The analysis was based on the interaction between the moderator and the learners and among the learners with their peers. An interview with 20 participants is also conducted during the second phase of the research (February to March 2012). The interview questions are open, informal and semi-structured questions. A semi structured, informal interview allowed for greater flexibility. At the same time, semi-structured interviews could take many directions according to the information being sought by the interviewers and the responses provided by the subjects. In addition, a semi-structured interview was employed to allow for richer interactions and more personalized responses.

Nevertheless, the writer, as the interviewer, remain in control of the direction of the interview at all times. Being aware of the ethical issues of protecting individual rights and preserving anonymity, permission to use the materials on the Facebook were sought from the participants. In addition, participants were kept fully informed of our intentions and progress, and the writer took a sensitive approach throughout the enquiry, an absolute necessity when working with the students.

This classroom action research was aimed at finding solutions for one of problems in teaching speaking namely lack of students’ interactions in the class through web-based social networking. The research was conducted at SMKTI Bahrul Ulum Tambakberas Jombang, East Java. The subjects of the study were the third year of Technology class. The class consisted of 28 students. Most of them are living at residential college of Bahrul Ulum Tambakberas Jombang.

Aspects of the Action

A. What is the writer’s concern?

The writer’s concern is that students do not have enough opportunities during non-contact time (outside the classroom) to practice and use the language (English) they have learned during the contact time (in the classroom). Besides, they have no chance to interact with each other in English at their residential colleges and also that they did not have many authentic opportunities beyond the teacher and academic classroom.

B. Why are the writer concerned?

The writer is concerned because the students need to gain language competency in English as a second language, especially in speaking skill, and they are not provided with sufficient opportunities to do so beyond their experiences outside the classroom. It is also our desire to help the students in residential colleges in Bahrul Ulum to improve their confidence in using English, especially in nonformal contexts.

C. How does the writer show the situation as it is and as it unfolds?

In a pre-interview with some of the students, the writer has found that some of the students lacked confidence and struggled to sustain a conversation in English. The writer  can conclude that they appeared very nervous and lack the language proficiency to respond to her questions. Students also do not use current technology as a resource to help them

in improving their language proficiency.

D. What can the writer do and what did the writer do?

Based on her discussion with students, she outlined the contexts of language use and the aspects she would like to improve. After examining various options and based on students’ interest, she decided to set up an ME Facebook group to maximize opportunities for students to communicate and interact in English.

FINDINGS

To ensure that the findings she make are reasonably fair and accurate, she discussed her results with some of the students involved in the ME Facebook for purpose of validation of the content analysis. The researcher and residential college tutors acquainted with the students also commented on the language proficiency and language confidence of students involved in the action. The results show that the interaction on the ME Facebook can be divided into three phases (See Figure 2). The first phase corresponded with the initial period of the ME Facebook group being set up (January 2012). Almost all the ME Facebook members were students from the same residential college, in this case Bahrul Ulum, where the ME Facebook was launched. The initial period also saw a lot of activities. Participants were active in giving their responses and feedbacks on the ME Facebook especially in relation to other ME activities. Participants were excited by the novelty of the ME Facebook group. Participants were also curious to know the identities and members of ME Facebook group as well as the moderator of ME Facebook.

Between January and at the beginning of February 2012, there was a decrease in the entries and interaction in the group. Only a very small group of students gave their responses and feedback to the posts in the ME Facebook. This phase corresponded with a period where students were busy with their teachers and assignments and have also become in different to the ME Facebook group. To overcome this, she interviewed some of the participants for suggestions to improve the ME Facebook and to make it more interesting and attractive so that members would continue to post and new members can be recruited. Based on the suggestions, she started to take the action to improve the ME Facebook. Active invitation to new members, utilization of Facebook applications and also the frequency of new issues posted by the ME Facebook moderator are among suggestions implemented.

Between February to March 2012, the interactions among the ME Facebook members begin to increase with a lot of responses and feedback from various Facebook users. In this phase, the ME Facebook group was large enough for continual and sustained interaction among members with occasional introduction of new topics by the moderator.

The interviews with 20 students revealed the students’ perception and awareness of the ME Facebook group, students’ perspectives on accessing the Facebook and also students’ suggestions and ideas on improving the ME Facebook.

About 90% of the interviewees stated that they participate actively in the ME Facebook group and are aware of the features. The students' awareness of the applications not only can encourage them to utilize Facebook, but also help them to make the interaction become more interesting, exciting and enjoyable. There is also little problem with access as most students in the residential college have their own notebooks and could access the wireless Internet connections in their residential college. Students also agreed that the development of customized tools within Facebook increases the usability of Facebook, expanding the capabilities beyond just a social networking tool, and making it a more versatile tool for language learning. Students are also encouraged by the interesting questions and posting by the moderator and also other members in the ME Facebook Group.

DISCUSSION

Some researchers and experts such as Finnochiaro (1994), Burns and Joice (1997) and Widowson (1994) have tried to clarify what the speaking is. Speaking is a complex skill in interaction between a speaker and a listener. It involves an active process. A speaker should think idea to express while there are many aspects should be considered such as vocabulary, grammar and situation. According to Widowson (1994) speaking is the active production skill and use oral production. It is capability of someone to communicate orally with others. The one who has skills in speaking can be identified from his/her ability in using the oral language fluently, clearly and attractively. Moreover, Brown (2007) says that speaking is a skill in producing oral language. It is not only an utterance but also a tool of communication. It occurs when two or more people interact each other, which aims at maintaining social relationship between them.

The term “interaction” in the field of language teaching has been defined in a variety of ways. Abarca (2004), for example, defines interaction as a process whereby two or more people engage in reciprocal action. This action may be verbal or non verbal. This idea is supported by Robinson (1994). He says that interaction is the process referring to “face to face” action. It can be either verbal, channelled through written or spoken words or non verbal channelled through touch, proximity, eye contact, facial expression and gesturing. Another definition of interaction is proposed by Couniham (1998) who says that interaction as an activity which involves both social and personal input and forms the basis of vast majority of everyday talking.

The result of this study revealed that learning English involving web-based social networking site was prefered by students. The students had more opportunities to ask and answer questions, to practice the language being learned without a psychological burden. These findings strongly supports other recent studies that web-based social networking is important for creating students interaction in the class. The students were all happy to do the activity because it was fun and because they knew that it was helping them to increase their confidence in speaking. It also increased their motivation and make efforts to keep speaking not only to the teacher but also the other students. This finding challenges English teachers to apply and create classroom activities that require learners to interact to the teacher and their friends. The students’ interaction on what they have posted and commented in the ME Facebook can be seen in Figure 3.

CONCLUSION

This study has set out to enhance students’ opportunity for using the English language in an informal setting using a web-based social networking site. From this enquiry, we have found that the social networking site can provide opportunities for language interaction. However, participant could develop indifference to the technology. To overcome this, new features and applications must be added from time to time. We also learned how important the moderator could be in making the ME Facebook more interactive and encourage more participation among the Facebook users. Students also claim that the social network provided them with a forum for language use which they would otherwise not have. The technology has provided participants with a means of informal language use.

REFERENCES

Abarca, M. 2004. Interaction in the English Classroom. http://revistainie.ucr.ac.cr/articulos/1-2004/archivos/interaction.pdf. Retrieved December 10, 2011.

Brown, H. D. 2007. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (3rd Ed.). White Plains, New York: Pearson Education.

Burns, A., & Joice. 1997. Focus on speaking. Sidney: National centre for English Language teaching and research.

Cahyono,  B. Y. 2011. Using Facebook to Enhance English department Students’ Skill in Writing English Essays. In B. Y. Cahyono & N. Mukminatien (Eds), Techniques and Strategies to Enhance English Language Learning (pp. 147-160). Malang: State University of Malang Press.

Couniham, G. 1998. Teach students to interact, not just talk. The Internet TESL Journal. 4, 7: 25 –29.

Finnochiaro, M., & Bonomo. 1994. The foreign language learner; A guide For teacher. New York: Regent Publishing Company.

McNiff, J. & Whitehead, J. 2006. Action Research: Principles and Practice. London: Routledge Falmer.

Robinson, H.A. 1994. The Ethnography of Empowerment: Tranformative power of Classroom Interaction. London: The Falmer Press.

Widowson, H.G. 1994. Teaching Language as Communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press.