Students’ English Language Usage of Facebook during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract:

Social network sites such as Facebook are constantly experiencing enormous changes, arousing the attention of many researchers who wish to integrate technology into education and create innovative methods in English Language Teaching; several technological devices can facilitate teaching and serve learners’ needs. Therefore, teachers started to use and adopt modern techniques in education, mainly because of the pandemic of covid-19and, thus making the teaching process safe and effective. The current study aims to investigate students’ perceptions of using Facebook to enhance their learning during an acute crisis. The main questions that established the research work are what are the students’ perceptions of using Facebook to enhance their learning? What are the benefits of Facebook during the pandemic of covid-19? To answer these questions, the researcher conducted a case study of 2^nd year English as Foreign Language students in the English Department at Tlemcen University, Algeria. The researcher used two research instruments to collect data; a questionnaire addressed to the students and a structured interview administered to the English teachers. Findings revealed that Facebook adoption has a significant positive relationship with usefulness and ease of use; there was also a considerable influence of Facebook adoption on educational usage. Additionally, both teachers and students stated that Facebook could improve students’ academic   performance, and recognized its importance during this crisis period in making teaching and learning more accessible and productive. Based on the findings, the researcher made some recommendations about using Facebook in education, and future research can deal with more communities.