My Reflection (Chapter One)

The story of chapter 1...

"RESEARCH METHOD... Oh my... I have to go through this again?"

That was the first thing that came to my mind when I first entered the Research Method class. 

Its not that I don't like the subject, but I have had a bad experience way back then when I was doing my thesis for degree. I felt like so 'unintelligent'... I didn't learn much on how to do a research, I don't know how to write a proper proposal, I don't know the difference between qualitative and quantitative. All I know at that time was, I must have a topic that is related to the educational field, and conduct a survey. The data analysis??? Even worst I don't even know how to use the SPSS. I felt like a loser...Thank God I have a friend who can teach me how to use the SPSS. But still, I didn't learn much about research method. I don't want to blame anyone... But still I think if provided the right person, at the right time and at the right place, I will learn something valuable about how to come up with a good research... Never mind, past is past. Life must go on. 

EDU702- This is my opportunity to become a better researcher in the future. This is the place, the class where I promise myself to really concentrate and learn about the proper way to conduct a research and to improve my research skills. Dr. Aziah is my lecturer for this subject. The first day she entered the class, I started to see the light. The way she explains the basic rules of research captures my interest. I became excited to learn... :D

So the first week, Dr. Aziah introduced us to the first chapter. What is required in the first chapter : 

                1) Introduction

                2) Problem statement

                3) Research Objectives 

                4) Research Questions

                5) Definition of Terms

                6) Significance of the study 

                7) Limitations to a study

Now I know. Frankly speaking, before this, I couldn't even differentiate between the Introduction and the Problem statement. I thought it was just the same thing; problem statement is just the 'extension' for the introduction. But actually, introduction is just to start the research with general issues and statements but for the problem statement, I have to include the scope of the study and to discuss on the issue specifically. As for the definition of terms, for my previous research, I defined ever single word from the title but actually that is not the right way... I just have to define the essential terms or legal terms of the field I am researching...    

And now the topic for my research...
The moment Dr. Aziah told us to search for a topic, a few topics popped-up in my mind but the most interesting one is related to the integration of social network services (SNSs) in the ESL classroom. The topic decided is: 

"Social Network Services (SNSs) in the ESL Writing Classroom"

I wanted to know how the lecturers actually perceive the use of SNSs in teaching English language specifically in the writing classroom. When I was working as a lecturer, many of my lecturer friends complained about integrating technology to teach language. Some say that students will not learn in a proper manner if we use the social network sites such as Facebook. The students are not fully guided and without supervision, they students will not be doing what they are supposed to do. They also argued that some students don't have internet access due to poor internet connection in the campus and it will be difficult for them to get information about their writing activities. In the end, the lecturer will just conduct the writing lesson in class. However, not all lecturers perceive this negatively. Some do integrate social network sites in their writing classroom because they believe that all students have a Facebook account and its easier for them to share anything to enhance the students' interest to write in English. 

So my reason why I chose to do this topic is to study in depth how the lecturers' perceive the uses of SNSs in the ESL writing classroom. I would also want to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of integrating SNSs in the ESL writing classroom from the lecturers' perspective. Apart from that, I also want to find out the social-network related activities used by the lecturers to enhance students writing skills. 

This is my finalized Chapter 1: 

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.0       Introduction

Recently, technology has influenced the pedagogy of teaching especially in ESL classrooms. With the rapid growth of technology, social network services (SNSs) have spread and become a new addiction among the young people around the world. Social network sites such as Facebook, blogs and Twitter are being used worldwide. It has become one of the most useful tools not only to establish social interactions among individuals but also to enhance the teaching and learning process especially in promoting the students’ writing skills in the ESL classroom.

Although SNSs could be one of the interactive tools to help promote students’ writing skills and encourage the learning of English, but there are strengths and weaknesses in integrating its usage in the ESL writing classroom.  In a study conducted by Mohaganeswary & Parilah (2013), the findings discovered that teachers’ attitude towards the use of technology in class is positive whereby the results revealed that 70% of the respondents agree that computer is a valuable tool for them to teach and they completely agree that it will help change the way students learn in class.

However, with the advancement of technology, it could lead to some disadvantages that could be the causes of why lecturers do not want to make use technology in their classrooms. According to Melor & Hadi (2012), they stated that the main challenge of integrating technology in the classroom, specifically the use of social network site, such as Facebook is that teachers must be aware of the distractions by other features in the Facebook such as Facebook games, chats and other types of application available through Facebook. We need to adapt and make improvements accordingly to integrate the use of technology in language classrooms so that the teaching and learning process will become more fun and interactive for not only the students but also for the teachers. 

1.1       Research Problem

Present-day, educators and researchers are starting to apprehend that the learning of the second language should be meaningful and interactive through the use of technology. They stress that, with the combination of technology in instructions, it will influence the educators way of teaching and provide room for improvements for educators to become more effective, hence the minute educators become confident in using technology, they can handle the challenges in education and motivate students to work their very best to learn English Language (Wartinbee, 2009).

With the rapid growth of the world and technology, English language teaching and learning has become more important from day to day. Recently, technology has indeed influenced the new pedagogy of teaching. Social network services (SNSs) have spread rapidly throughout the world and have become phenomenon not only among the teenagers but all level of ages of people around the world.  Boyd & Ellison (2007) defined social network services (SNS) as “Web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile bounded within a system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site. Social network services (SNS) are increasingly popular among youngsters in Malaysia, especially among the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) students. One of the most common social network sites are Facebook and Twitter. Students not only establish social interaction among individuals in the social network sites but they also created groups for their courses for educational purposes. 

Educators are starting to realize that importance of integrating social network in ESL classroom. Nowadays, everyone have a Facebook account. It will be easier for educators to teach using tools which students are engaged in. The use of Facebook by students opens up a great opportunity for educators in UiTM especially English lecturers to identify the strength and weaknesses of social network services as a tool to teach writing in an ESL classroom. Previous studies have revealed that teachers found that integrating social network services (SNSs) in ESL writing classroom could advantage students in terms of broadening their knowledge, build up their confidence and increase their motivation level in the ESL writing classroom (Melur et al., 2012).

However, integrating social network services (SNSs) in the ESL writing classroom could also lead to other problems. According to Melur Md Yunus, Hadi Saleh & Chenzi (2012), students may face difficulties in concentrating to the materials when they use the computer, not enough facilities and problems related to internet access and furthermore, teachers’ insufficient time to interact with the students. By identifying are the strengths and weaknesses, taking into consideration the lecturers’ perception of integrating social networks services (SNSs) in ESL writing classroom, , we could make improvements and enhance the use of technology for better teaching in the future and encourage the ESL students to love writing. 

Research reveals that there is a need for more studies to explore the teachers’ and students’ attitude towards the use of technology, specifically in terms of integrating social network services (SNSs) in ESL writing classroom to provide better insights. Due to that, there is a must in conducting this research in order to identify what are the lecturers’ perceptions towards the use of social network services (SNSs) in ESL classroom to promote students’ writing skills. This study is undertaken to investigate the lecturers’ perception on integrating social network services (SNSs) in ESL classroom, specifically the English lecturers teaching in the UiTM campuses in Malaysia. This study will also review the strength and weaknesses of using social network services (SNSs) in promoting students’ writing skills and suggestions of activities that could be integrated using the SNSs in the ESL writing classroom.

1.2       Research Objectives

The objectives of this study are to:

1)        investigate to what extent do the UiTM APB English lecturers perceive the use of Social Network Services (SNSs) to be relevant in the ESL writing classroom.

2)         identify the strengths and weaknesses of integrating social network services (SNSs) in the ESL writing classroom from the lecturers’ view.

3)       identify the types of Social-Network related activities conducted by the lecturers to enhance students’ writing skills in the ESL writing classroom.

1.3       Research Questions

The study will attempt to answer the following questions:

1)        To what extent do the UiTM APB English lecturers perceive the use of Social Network Services (SNSs) to be relevant in the ESL writing classroom?

2)        What do lecturers view as the strengths and weaknesses of integrating Social Network Services (SNSs) in the ESL writing classroom?

3)      What type of Social-Network related activities are being use by lecturers to enhance the students’ writing skills in the ESL classroom?

1.4       Definitions of terms

Social Network Services (SNSs):  refers to the use of social networking sites such as Facebook or blogs in the ESL writing classroom to enhance the quality of learning especially in promoting students’ writing skills.

Perception: is defined as how English lecturers become aware of the use of social network services (SNSs) and the way they interpret it’s usage in the ESL is writing classroom.  

Lecturers: The APB (Akademi Pengajian Bahasa) English lecturers teaching in the UiTM campuses in Malaysia who make use of social network services (SNSs) in the ESL classroom to improve students’ writing skills.

1.5       Significance of the Study

The study is apparently one of the first few attempts to investigate how UiTM APB English lecturers’ perceive the use of social network services (SNSs) and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of integrating SNSs in the Malaysian ESL writing classroom context. Therefore, this study may provide some insights which will allow for further research in this area of interest. It will provide some perceptions concerning the integration of SNSs in the ESL writing classroom in the Malaysian context and furthermore offer lecturers some ideas for activities to improve the students’ writing skills through the use of SNSs in the ESL writing classroom.       

1.6       Limitations to a Study

This study investigates the lecturers’ perceptions on the use of social network services (SNSs) in the ESL writing classroom. It will be limited to only the UiTM APB English lecturers from UiTM campuses in Malaysia. This research based only on structured interview conducted. Though effort was made to certify respondents give true and honest answers, their validity of their views cannot be established. Furthermore, this is a qualitative research hence the findings could not be generalized.