Abstract
This chapter reports on the evaluation of language learning SNSs carried out by “expert students” who
are training to become Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at both undergraduate and
postgraduate levels. While stressing the positive features available on these sites and novel ways in which
they can enable personalised language learning, this study also focuses on some troublesome aspects
that occur when learners engage with Web 2.0 tools. It discusses how initial motivation towards these
tools can turn into frustration, mirroring the results of a previous autoethnographic study carried out on
SNSs. It also illustrates how these global ubiquitous platforms pose a dilemma for language practitioners
who work within institutional teaching settings. Teachers recognize the language learning potential of
these tools, but are also worried by the ethical threat they can pose, which can normally be avoided, or
at least moderated, within institutional proprietary and “less exciting” platforms.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Computer-Assisted Foreign Language Teaching and Learning: Technological Advances |
Editors | Bin Zou, Minjie Xing, Yuping Wang, Mingui Sun, Catherine H. Xiang |
Place of Publication | Philadelphia, USA |
Publisher | IGI Global |
Pages | 40-53 |
ISBN (Print) | EISBN13: 9781466628229, 9781466628212 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 2013 |