Social Networking in Second Language Learning

The PLE Conference

11th-13th July 2011 Southampton

Maria Luisa Malerba Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3)

Learning in the current digital scenario

• Learner Generated Content (Alshehri, 2007)• Invisible Learning (Cobo, 2010)• Informal Learning (Cross, 2007)• Lifelong Learning (Colardyn, 2002)

Novice Worker Mature Worker Senior Worker

Directed Self-Directed Helping Others

Class Discovery Coaching

Course Searching/search engine

Mentoring

Teacher Trial-and-error Storytelling

Test Collaborating Giving feedback

Grades Asking Nurturing

Curriculum Skimming Modelling

Listening Observing Reflecting

(Cross, 2006:82)

From Formal to Informal Learning

FEATURES OBJECTIVESIt is multifaceted, complex, chaotic and requires a plurality of opinions, ideas, inputs

Up-to-date knowledge. What is incorrect can be corrected through a bottom-up process

Learning is "to come to know" and is an ongoing process

Make choices and decisions is learning

Technology helps learning Ability to identify patterns and connections (intelligere) developing critical skills

Networks contain knowledge Responsibility and independence to discover and know more is more important than what you currently know

Learning in the Web 2.0 Era

(Chatti, 2007)

Connectivism is the new learning theory of the digital age. According to it, learning takes root in a system of bottom-up interconnections that foster the knowledge flow (Siemens, 2004)

An important learning skill today is to “synthetize and recognize connections and patterns”

(Siemens, 2004:3)

Under the conceptual framework of the connectivist paradigm, where learning is a process of forming connections among nodes, MOTIVATION is what determines connections and at the same time is enhanced by being receptive to these connections. (Siemens, 2005)

Social Network Sites (SNS)

• Participatory• Immediate • Engaging the community• Supporting group

identity• Using Web 2.0 tools

Social Networks are Communities of Practices (CoP) where spontaneous relations, conversations and behaviors arise among people who share common interests and topics and whose learning motivation is spontaneous.

Social networking favors self-narrative and conversational practices and, as a consequence, self-reflection and meta-cognitive skills. (Pettenati & Ranieri, 2006).

Social Networks are

Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) (Siemens, 2006; McLoughlin & Lee, 2007)

Monochronic Learning Polychronic Learning

One thing at a time Multiple things at once

Adhere to plans Adapt to environment

Linearity Non-linearity

Commitment to task Commitment to relationships

Repetition and memorization Problem solving and creativity

Homogenic Heterogenic

Seeking one right way to do things Acknowledging multiple paths

Often out of context Highly contextual

Designed approach Emergent approach

Synchronous communication Asynchronous communication

VLE/LMS Social Software/PLE

Information technology Interaction technology

Selecting tools based on design Selecting tools based on process

Focus on outcome Focus on process

(Arina, 2007:2)

My Research Deals with:

• Informal Learning• Second Language (L2)Learning• Social Network Sites’ (SNS) communities as PLEs

(Halvorsen, 2009; McBride, 2009; Roblyer, 2010; McCarty, 2009; Kelley, 2010;)

Objectives

• To map out the best cases that characterize this scenario where informal L2 learning takes place in online SNS for language learning;

• To examine the construction of opportunities for L2 use and L2 learning and how this use is socially and contextually constructed and negotiated;

• To investigate on the potential sustainability and effectiveness of online social networks for long-term learning outcomes;

• To analyze affordances and constraints of current social network sites for L2 learning;

• To design guidelines in order to suggest how to improve these online SNSs environments for L2 learning under the technical and the pedagogical point of view.

Research Questions

1. What opportunities for L2 use and L2 learning occur in the learners’ natural conversations on their online social networks and what factors contribute to the characteristics of these opportunities?

2. What are the affordances and constraints of online social networks in relation to their potential sustainability and effectiveness for long-term learning outcomes?

Use of a cross-methodological approach

Exploration of the active L2 communities present in online SNS

Identification of the best cases according to given criteria:Pedagogical, socio-interactional, environmental and technical usability issues

Selection of: Livemocha, Busuu

• Virtual Ethnography in the framework of social-constructivism, interpretative paradigm

• Participant observation of the community• Survey submission • Social Network Analysis (SNA) Tools: Net-Map (pen-paper)VennMaker (digital)• Conversational analysis (CA)

Longitudinal micro-analysis of the learner discourse with network interactants (macro-context)

• Semi-structured in-depth interviews

Interpretation and synthesis

• Combination, comparison and interpretation of the results

• Drawing conclusions

• Preparation of guidelines

Ethical issues

• Restrictive terms of contract• To get informed consent• To cloak learners’ identities• Citing and crediting (Kozinets, 2010)

Missteps and blind spots

• In order to gain consent, I will influence in some way my research• Learners will be aware of the researcher’s presence. I expect resistance to

being controlled, interviewed and recorded

Expectations

• To do a little step towards a better understanding of PLEs• To put learners into the condition of taking the most in terms

of autonomy• To address to platform designers suggesting how to address

the quality of interaction and the opportunity to learner in a personal and independent way

• To make an eventual little contribution to more appealing formal activities for language learners

QUESTION

How suitable is a mixed questionnaire (both open-ended and closed-ended items) to the exploratory

approach of my research?

Maria Luisa Malerba Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

(UOC)Internet Interdisciplinary Institute

(IN3)

mmalerba@uoc.edu