Using Facebook as a Platform in Foreign Language Teaching Vera Leier Senior Tutor in German

History of Social Network sites (SNS)

Background Authentic German environment German as part of students private sphere >> natural relationship to target language (German)

By inviting learners to extend their use of familiar technologies to L2 settings, we are empowering them and giving them the opportunity to develop their sense of agency and authorship, as well as to construct their identities as competent speakers of the target language (Lafford, 2009, p. 690).

Choice of Social Network Site (SNS) Ning Only creator of site can invite Closed group, password protected Unfamiliar platform Up to 150 members / $45 year Facebook Creator + group members can invite > native speakers invited by members, as interlocutors Closed group, accessible through private FB site* Group function> by invitation only Familiar to students Free of charge > Challenge of open platform

Projects 2010: Grmn252 Intermediate Learners: Film competition and Facebook 2011: Grmn152 Beginners: Youtube Video and Facebook

Grmn252: Facebook and the film competition Annual Goethe Institut film competition as part of the overall assessment (10%). B1 – proficiency level 28 Students Duration: 2 months (8 weeks)

Assignment Students get together in groups of 3-4. They choose an original name. Each group has to make a 5-minute long film, with the topic: Die Nachbarn (The Neighbours). The half finished videos are loaded onto FB. Students have to comment. Films get taken off again and finished. The finished films are shown in an in-house film competition and the best three films are chosen and sent to the Goethe Institut in Wellington.

Features on the FB group List of members: Students make each other administrators

Features on FB group used for assessment Kommentieren: comments up to 50 words. Gefällt mir: positive ticks were counted and added to the final mark of the entry.

Examples of film postings

One of the winning entries:

Assessment A.Group assessment: all the finished films were judged by a committee of two teaching staff. B.Individual mark: group interview, diary.

Unsere Film war ursprünglich ueber zwei Pärchen sie hatten probleme mit einander. Aber mit der Erbeben ist alles anders gelaufen.ursprünglichPärchen Tages Buch: – Ich habe das Thema Nachbarn bekommen und meine Gruppe auch bekommen. Alex und Jen – Heute war unsere erste Versammlung. Wir hatten ein paar Ideen gesammelt, und wir viel hatten! Aber wir konnen uns nicht entscheiden – Heute haben wir die idee bekommen und wir haben angefangen zu schreiben. So fur die Idée haben wir zwei Parchen und eins von den Parchen ist troubled und mit den anderen ist alles in Ordnung. Wir filmen den Film vielleicht in einem Restaurant – Ich habe mein Freund Travis gefragt, ob wir in seinem Restaurant filmen konnnen. Und Travis hat ja klar gesagt. Guter Mann! Ferien – Wir hatten ueber was wir anziehen und nochmal ein bisschen euber den Script gesprochen. Aber wir hatten nicht so viel gemacht, weil wir zu viel zutun mit anderen Sachen hatten – Erdbeben. Unfreundlich – Heute haben wir gehort dass das Restaurant wo Travis arbeitet beschaedigt ist – Heute haben wir ein meeting gehabt. Und jetzt machen wir einen neuen Film. Einen Zahnbursten Fillm – Ich habe heute den neuen Film geschrieben. Es ist ein bisschen anders aber hoffenlich es ist ok. War schnell und einfach – Heute haben wir den Film gedreht. Es ist gut gelaufen aber es hat ein paar krauftausdrucke dabei. Das ist nicht so gut. Vielleicht der editing will beep them…?? So an diesen Tagen hat Jen den Film geedited – Die ganze Klasse hat unseren Film gesehen… Was lustig.! For some.

Student Feedback Pre-survey: Q6: Would you like to be a member on Facebook? I dont hate it, but I dont want to join I dont enjoy working in a group Post-survey: Q5: Did you find Facebook useful for the film project? FB worked really well as reminders as opposed to Learn or student . I liked the project a lot, it helped me to interact with other students.

UC surveys Use of technologies like podcasts and Facebook was really good. Use of Facebook was good. I liked the multimedia in class, variety of material.

Grmn152: Facebook and Youtube videos We set up a FB group. Students become administrators, they had to invite one additional German friend. Students had to find a German video clip (Youtube*) and post it to FB group. They had to write 3 complete sentences in German about the chosen film. They also had to make 2 more comments about the entries of fellow students. Archiving: Webarchiving function in Safari or screenshot Favourite German music videos (5%) A1/A2 – proficiency level 26 Students Duration: one semester (12 weeks)

Features on the FB group

For enhanced authenticity and immersion: interface features: Kommentieren, Gefällt mir

Outcome: Improved writing skills

Outcome: Enhanced Motivation Student comments: Based on post- survey created by instructor: Q1: did you enjoy using FB as a platform to present your German video clip? I think its an excellent idea Its a good idea to establish links with more people in your class Was fun and entertaining aspect of course Fun Assignment helped to stimulate interest in German, daily exposure helped with new grammar structures Helped me making friends in class, that meant I enjoyed it more No negative comments

Considerations Balance of percentage in overall assessment and workload Task needs careful adjustment to learners proficiency level. Choice of multimedia needs to be familiar to students or easy to use. In future: SNSs used for collaborative or individual assignments.

Discussion What level of proficiency would profit the most from SNSs? How much interaction should the instructor/moderator have? What other activities are useful for SNSs?