ABSTRACT
Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites among users worldwide. It is commonly used by various groups of users to meet their different purposes. In term of education, Facebook can be an effective tool to facilitate the process of face-to-face teaching and learning in a classroom. This study aimed to investigate the capability of Facebook for encouraging better performance of English language skills among students (n=149) and enhancing English language learning environment in a classroom. As a result, an individual “Facebook group” was created by teacher and was used as a major channel of communication between students and teachers who were taking in “Agricultural Science English” course throughout the semester. And, every students was required to be a member of the Facebook group. Both pre-test and post-test on English achievement were used to evaluate students’ performance at the beginning and end of studied period. Related English learning resources from various online media, together with in-class- assignments, were gathered and posted on the Facebook group. The students were assigned to learn and give their feedback to posted topics/ materials. After 15 weeks of the semester, the study revealed that students’ achievement in English was significantly higher (p<0.01) than the beginning of semester, especially the performance in grammatical structure, vocabulary, reading and writing skills. Moreover, the students expressed positive satisfaction toward the uses of Facebook as a tool in EFL classroom which promote their awareness in English learning and developing English skills by themselves.
KEYWORDS
Facebook, English skills, EFL classroom, learning environment