Innovation in Language Learning

The emergence of the Internet has created platforms where people from all ages meet, communicate, socialize, and become friends. Therefore, the role of Web 2.0 tools on learning a foreign language has been widely researched. One of the most frequently researched online tool is Facebook, which is used by about 1 billion people from all over the world. The researcher of the current study created two different groups on Facebook for his students in two different classrooms, interacted with them through Fall Term of 2014-2015 education year. The main purpose of the researcher was to investigate if Facebook can be used in helping learners improve their writing skill in an EFL context by using peer feedback practice. The experimental group consisted of 20 students. The group size for the control group is the same, as well. The participants in the experimental group were required to post 7 writing tasks on the Facebook group which are all parallel to the coursebook and comment on each other’s writing. On the other hand, the participants in the control group received only teacher feedback for the same tasks on Facebook. For each writing assignment, the researcher posted sample texts and informed learners about what the focus on while writing and for each writing task, learners in the experimental group were also informed about what to focus on while commenting on peers’ papers. In the first week, all participants were required to create a text about their best friends in 40 minutes with a word limit of minimum 80 words. The same procedure was implemented in the last week. The tasks were graded by using the criteria of the school by two ELT instructors, none of them was the researcher himself. Paired-samples t-test (SPSS) was applied and the difference between the scores of two groups was calculated. The researcher posted a 5-point-Likert scale questionnaire -prepared by himself- for the experimental group to see what the participants thought about the procedure via Google Docs. The findings showed that the participants in the experimental group who received peer feedback on Facebook improved their writing skill more than the participants in the control group who received only teacher feedback on Facebook (4, 6 %). Also, the answers of the participants revealed that the majority of students also believe in the benefits of peer comments via Facebook on improving their writing skill (about 80 %).To conclude, it can be inferred from the current study that all instructors can build anxiety-free learning environments where writing skills of learners develop in a more fun learning environment.