Innovation in Language Learning

Using the new social media platforms in higher education institutions has become an issue of interest to many teachers and researchers recently. Several studies have concluded that they can provide learners with informal learning opportunities that can be fused with formal learning to maximize the amount and the quality of learning inside or outside classrooms. This presentation will narrate and reflect upon a case study in which the researcher used twitter in a 4-month course of English in the foundation program at Sultan Qaboos University. A twitter account was created for the course and the students were the builders of content on that page under the supervision of the teacher. Each one of them was responsible for designing useful activities for the class following a previously agreed-upon schedule. The aim was to enable the learners and motivate them to learn more by creating their own materials and interacting with each other in a much more effective way. The researcher (teacher) later collected data using semi-structured group interviews to get the perceptions of the students and to evaluate the overall experience of using twitter as an innovative tool in teaching English.

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