Page 1 of 6
172
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.7, No.7
Publication Date: July 25, 2020
DOI:10.14738/assrj.77.8593.
Alsheehri, N., Alenezi, H. A., AlMutairi, A., & Almaqrn, R. K. (2020). Literature Review of The influence of Integrating Social Media as E- Learning Tools into Teaching and Learning the English Language. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(7) 172-177.
Literature Review of The influence of Integrating Social Media as E- Learning Tools into Teaching and Learning the English Language
Nada Alsheehri
Faculty of English Language and Translation
University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
PhD, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
Hayfa Ali Alenezi
Faculty of Education, King Saud University,
Riyad, Saudi Arabia
Awatif AlMutairi
College of Applied Studies and Community Service,
King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
PhD, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Riam K. Almaqrn
Faculty of Education Majmah University,
Majmah, Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACT
This study as a literature review aimed to explore the impact of the
integration of social media (SM) tools into universities’ English language
classrooms. Currently, the English language plays an essential and
fundamental role in education. Therefore, it is crucial for learners to
obtain a good understanding of the English language in the academic
environment. Teaching students by traditional methods might not help
to improve their English language skills. One technique that can be
applied to improve learning skills quickly is utilising E-learning tools
and SM in teaching strategies. Hence, this paper examines the influence
of the integration of E-learning tools and strategies such as SM in
teaching and learning English language in Saudi university classes. This
new strategy has been chosen as it allows learners to access information
anywhere without restrictions of time, and it can support them to obtain
an in-depth understanding of English language content. Finally, this
study will provide some recommendations and suggestions for future
work.
Keywords: Technology, Institutions, English, Social Media, Literature and
Saudi Arabia.
Page 2 of 6
173
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol.7, Issue 7, July-2020
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, teachers who teach English language in universities and schools are looking for new
effective teaching methods that can help them to improve the learning of their students. The
strategies and techniques employed by teachers could have an enormous effect on the level of
understanding of learners. Instructors acknowledge that learning the English language is not easy
for some students; as a result, they seek new teaching methods, styles, strategies, techniques and
training courses that can support them to meet the instruction needs of English language learners.
In 2007, the use of technology was introduced into Saudi educational institutions by the Ministry of
Education. However, according to Algahtani (2019), educators do not usually depend on technology
when they teach students English language, despite the benefits of the adoption of technology in
teaching and learning English language. These benefits include saving time, the ease of obtaining
information and communicating between teachers and their learners, and thus improving the
quality of the education process. Also, it enables students to see the practical use of English in the
real world (Murphy, 2016). Instructors should concentrate on improving their teaching style for
English Language since this may encourage and motivate learners to engage in the lesson activities.
One of these improvements is integrating E-learning tools such as SM into education methods, as
this may assist students with understanding the English language quickly and easily and improve
their achievement. Therefore, this literature review will focus on previous research that
investigated the influence of the integration of SM technology, such as Twitter, Facebook Google,
Classroom Tools etc. into the teaching and learning of the English language, particularly in Saudi
educational institutions.
Outline of paper.
This paper shall begin with introduction of the use of social media in teaching and learning English
language. The purpose of the paper shall then be outlined. And then some advantages and negatives
of the use of social media in learning education will be shown. After that some studies, especially
the recent research that carried out in Saudi Arabia context will be presented. Conclusion and
recommendation shall follow after the discussion of the methodology. Ultimately, the limitations
and future research will be discussed.
THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This research is a literature review to explore and examine the impact of implementing E-learning
(SM) tools into teaching and learning English language in Saudi educational institutions. In more
detail, this study provides a comprehensive review of recent papers conducted and published in the
Saudi setting. In addition to this, the paper aims to determine the benefits and drawbacks of the
adoption of E-Learning tools (SM) in the teaching and learning of the English language in higher
education institutions in KSA. By providing in-depth information about the limitations and benefits
of the employment of E-learning tools in teaching and learning styles and techniques, it is hoped
that new technology will be increasingly employed and used effectively.
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this section the advantages and disadvantages of the use of SM in the teaching and learning
environment will be mentioned. Also, some studies conducted recently in the Saudi context, will be
presented
Page 3 of 6
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.77.8593 174
Alsheehri, N., Alenezi, H. A., AlMutairi, A., & Almaqrn, R. K. (2020). Literature Review of The influence of Integrating Social Media as E-Learning Tools into
Teaching and Learning the English Language. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(7) 172-177
The advantages of the use of SM for learners of the English language.
Literature review revealed a number of advantages of the use of SM in the education environment.
For example, SM can provide an attractive environment for learners where interactive
communication with their peers or educators can occur. Moreover, SM allows educators to post
activities and ask questions of their students at any time. In addition to this, students can submit
their assignments any time of the day without having to be in a certain place. Alharbi et al. (2019)
conducted a literature review about the benefits of the use of new technology in Saudi education
and the results indicated that the use of new technology such as Google Classroom tools can help to
improve the quality of teaching and learning. Also, Alsolamy (2017) found that the use of SM can
assist students with using a more critical and reflective way of thinking. Also, the author mentioned
that SM can help in terms of exchanging knowledge and experience between learners.
The negatives of the use of SM in learning English
The most negative aspects of the employment of SM can be distraction and misleading information.
In other words, when educators teach students by using Twitter as a tool for learning, they may find
it difficult to make all the learners pay attention to the lesson. Also, students might learn wrong
information from websites which affects their prior knowledge and information. Moreover, there is
no face-to-face communication between the teachers and their students with E-learning, which may
cause students to lose motivation and feel discouraged. Finally, privacy issues have been mentioned
as a problem facing users of SM in the learning environment (Cruzd, Staves and Wilk, 2012).
Studies conducted in the Saudi environment on the use of SM for the teaching and learning
of the English language
Salih and Elsaid (2018) carried out research in Albaha University, specifically the College of Sciences
& Arts - Biljurashi Department. They aimed to examine learners’ perceptions and attitudes towards
the use of SM in the learning environment. They used a survey as a data collection tool and the
sample was thirty students. The study findings revealed that students had positive attitudes
towards the integration of SM in their learning practices. This is because most of the participants
(80%) indicated that they found that the use of SM for learning English enhanced and improved
their learning. In addition to this, around 50% of them mentioned that using SM for learning the
English language made their learning more attractive and interesting. Also, 94% stated that they
found the use of SM useful as they felt that it helped them to improve their English language skills.
Moreover, the students indicated that using SM for learning the English language helped them in
terms of communicating and interacting with their peers and their educators, especially outside the
classroom. Along the same lines, Sharma (2019) conducted a study at Jazan University. The main
purpose of the research was to investigate learners’ perceptions about the adoption of SM in
learning the English language. The data were collected through a questionnaire. The sample was 60
students in the preparatory year. The study findings indicated that the participants held a positive
attitude towards the use of SM as a tool for learning the English language. Other results were that
the learners were willing to learn English through SM and this made them feel confident and less
anxious. However, the participants preferred to learn by using YouTube, WhatsApp, Snapchat,
Facebook and Twitter more than other tools such as Skype.
Allam and Elyas (2017) carried out research in two Saudi universities with 75 educators (40
females, 35 males). The primary goal of the paper was to investigate the advantages of and the
barriers to the use of SM in teaching the English language. The main results of the research were