Self-Directed Vocabulary Learning in Facebook: From the Perspective of Social Presence

Abstract

This work-in-progress study, part of a granted research project that aims to assist university students of English as a foreign language (EFL) to use Facebook for self-directed vocabulary learning (SDVL), is to explore (1) to what extent Facebook motivates learners’ participation and (2) to what extent Facebook motivates learners’ engagement in the online learning community so as to achieve learners’ satisfaction. As the key factor of using Facebook for self-directed learning is what its social presence affords, the research design reported in this paper is a replication of the Kim’s study (2011) that developed an instrument to measure social presence in distance higher education: The research project is conducted in an English department in a Taiwanese university. Approximate 180 first-year students are recruited. After the three-week SDVL experiences in Facebook, they respond to the social presence scale of four measures – mutual attention and support, affective connectedness, sense of community and open communication. In addition, the participants’ postings are examined for cross-reference data to capture learning behaviors. For post-intervention evaluation, the modified learning satisfaction scale (Arbaugh, 2000) and the perceived learning achievement (Eom, Wen, Ashill, 2006) are used. Results from the study’s investigation will shed lights on why Facebook can assist language learning. The pedagogical implication is that social presence supports self- directed learning in such a social networking community.