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 selfdirected learning in such a social networking community.