การเสริมสร้างความเต็มใจในการสื่อสารด้วยภาษาอังกฤษของผู้เรียนโดยใช้สังคมออนไลน์

มีเฉพาะ(ภาษาอังกฤษ)

This study puts an emphasis on the use of social media as a form of computer-assisted language learning activity, investigating its effects on willingness to communicate (WTC) in the target language, English, of Thai English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. The study, adopted the pseudo-empirical research design with a pre-test-post-test structure and a follow-up component, was carried out with 40 third year undergraduate students enrolled in a course of English for Information Technology 1 and 2 at Dhurakij Pundit University, Thailand. The data were collected by means of a quantitative technique (i.e. questionnaires). The questionnaire responses were then analyzed to provide the evidence of how willing they were to communicate in English.  Comparison between participants’ willingness to interact in English in class activities in general with their willingness to communicate in English in social media revealed that the level of WTC appeared to be enhanced by taking part in the social media, as positive perceptions of WTC, low anxiety when interacting in the target language, high self-perceived communicative competence, and high frequency of target language use, were reported. Interestingly, this effect was also confirmed in a follow-up study, indicating that language learners benefited from less stressful environments within the social media and, thus, was willing to use the opportunities provided to practice and use the target language.

In light of these findings, this study draws attention to the role and effectiveness of social media in encouraging target language use for authentic communication and willingness to use the language. The study offers some suggestions and concludes with implications of the results for further research and classroom practice.  

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