The Potential of Integrating Social Media in Saudi EFL Context

Abstract

Language learning is going through a new dimension with advancement of new technologies. Social media integration with language learning has added a new insight in this field. The main objective of this study is to determine the position of social media in Saudi Arabia and then verify the probability of its use in language learning. This study is based on quantitative method using a questionnaire to collect data from 50 randomly chosen female students and 10 teachers of King Khalid University. Two different structured questionnaires consisted of eight questions based on different satisfactory level of Likert scale was used among the learners and teachers to know their opinion. Primarily it was assumed that most of the students would not agree to use social media for language learning due to their highly conservative socio –cultural background. However, later on it was found that majority of the students showed their interest to engage social media with language learning for the betterment of their learning skills. They also agreed that social media application would increase their practical knowledge related to real life situations communication. Still a few of them showed disinterest to these intermingling initiatives and thus disagreed with this endeavor. This study suggests a careful implication of suitable language learning features of social media with the EFL students and thus encourage them to be involved actively in language learning procedure.