Four Characteristics of Facebook Activities for English Language Learning - A Study of Malaysian University Students’ Needs and Preferences

Oct 15, 2026

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This paper identifies Malaysian university students’ needs and preferences for online English language activities within a Facebook group supporting formal coursework. Data were collected through content analysis of Facebook interactions and semi-structured interviews. Four activity characteristics are described: teacher-led tasks and learning content, teachers’ presence as authority figures, topic/content options such as grammar quizzes and opinion discussions, and an optional, ungraded group structure. Findings show passive learners benefit communication, while active learners gain confidence to use English publicly; outcomes also suggest students need technological changes yet rely on teacher guidance to initiate them, demonstrating partial autonomy in negotiating structure.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Theoretical background

Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 8 No. 3; June 2017 Australian International Academic Centre, Australia | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | Flourishing Creativity & Literacy | | | | | | Four Characteristics of Facebook Activities for English Language Learning: A study of Malaysian University Students’ Needs and Preferences Shaidatul Akma Adi Kasuma School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malasia E-mail: [shaidatul@usm.my](shaidatul@usm.my) Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.3p.155 URL: [http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.3p.155](http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.3p.155) Received: 19/04/2017 Accepted: 14/06/2017 Abstract This paper identifies Malaysian university students’ needs and preferences for online English language activities on a Facebook group that supports their formal learning. Two methods of data collection were employed; content analysis of the Facebook interactions, and semi structured interviews. Four main learning preferences or characteristics of online activities are identified; a) teacher-led activities (tasks and learning content provided by teachers), b) teachers’ presence (one or two authority figures to facilitate learning and keep group lively), c) topics or content (entertainment-oriented, grammar quizzes, opinion-based discussions), d) structure of the group (optional and ungraded) . The passive participants found the activity beneficial in improving their online communication ability, while the more active participants felt a boost of confidence to use English in a more public space like Facebook. The findings indicate that the students are in need of technological changes in learning, but are dependent on teachers’ instructions to initiate the process. They exert selective interests in learning topics and content, and demonstrate partial autonomy in negotiating the online group’s structure. The theoretical and practical implications, and recommendation for future research are briefly presented. Keywords: Facebook, language learning preferences, selective interests, online communication skills, topics, teacherled activities 1. Introduction The proliferation of social networking sites (SNS) in education is a phenomenon in higher institutions. Of the various SNS, Facebook is the most popular with approximately 1.86 billion active users (Zephoria Digital Marketing, 2017) . Facebook is especially attractive to university and college students’ demographic due to its initial association with Harvard. As students are spending more time on SNS, it is time that higher academic settings harness the potential of these revolutionary technology to better serve the needs of the students (Davis III, Deil-Amen, Rios-Aguilar, & González Canché, 2015) . In realising this, it is necessary to address the gap or tension that exists between formal literacy in schools, and students’informal learning interests (Jenkins, Ito, & Boyd, 2015; Manca & Ranieri, 2013) . Schools often have the traditional, standardise needs that they have to meet, in the forms of syllabus, curricula, and exams; while the current generation of students thrive on online recreational activities, i.e. video games, SNS, and creative tools (Halverson, Kallio, Hackett, & Halverson, 2016) . The way that students learn on Facebook is not always conceptualised similarly to the traditional way of learning. Using Facebook as their personal domain, they communicate peer-to-peer to negotiate academic topics, group discussions and assignments, but they do not often see these as learning (Donlan, 2014) . Therefore, they feel that that their teachers disapprove of their use of Facebook for academic purposes (Fewkes & McCabe, 2012); thus, there is a discrepancy in the way that teachers and students view Facebook in educational settings. Furthermore, while many agree that Facebook is beneficial for language learning (Buga, Căpeneaţă, Chirasnel, &

FAQs

What learning preferences are identified for Facebook-based English language activities?

The study identifies four characteristics: teacher-led activities, teachers’ presence, topic/content choices, and the group’s optional and ungraded structure.

How were the data collected for the study?

Content analysis of Facebook interactions was used alongside semi-structured interviews.

What differences did the study find between passive and active participants?

Passive participants found the activities beneficial for improving online communication, while active participants reported increased confidence to use English in more public spaces like Facebook.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Cipher