Innovation in Language Learning

Smartphones have become more sophisticated allowing several apps to be built in or installed on them. This has facilitated connectivity as well which has paved the way for more interaction especially among student community through social media like Viber, What’s up, Telegram and so on. Thus, taking this opportunity, teachers have started to use these devices as a means of instruction in many parts of the world particularly for L2 learning. This has raised a question about the effectiveness of using these apps as teaching tools for language learning. This mixed method study attempted to 1) investigate the impact of using Telegram on providing feedback and improving writing accuracy in L2 and to 2) discover students’ perceptions toward using this app for writing purpose. For this purpose, two advanced classes taking a general English course at a language institute were selected. The intact classes, 15 female participants in each, were divided into two groups: One of them as a control and the other as an experimental group. Having posted their writing on Telegram, the students in experimental group received feedback from their peers and finally the teacher. The control group received feedback on paper. Both independent and paired-t test were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the experimental group using Telegram significantly outperformed the control group (p≥.05). Data were triangulated with focused group interview regarding student perceptions of the feedback received through Telegram. Two themes were emerged from focused group interview, usefulness and satisfaction, which will be discussed in the paper. This study may cast a light on usefulness of integrating technology into L2 classes to accelerate learning among today’s technology-oriented generation.

Key words: smarthphones, written corrective feedback, social media, Telegram