Investigating the impact of facebook on developing English language proficiency at the tertiary level students in Bangladesh

Abstract

It has been a very controversial topic in today’s world that, whether Facebook is helping or hampering in students’ education. It is mostly affecting the students who tend to learn ESL with the assistance of social media. This research paper specifically focused on how Facebook is affecting Bangladeshi tertiary level ESL learners. Furthermore how students are getting affected unconsciously or subconsciously by it. In Bangladesh using Facebook as an educational tool has still yet to become a common matter. But students are still getting affected by it subconsciously. For collecting the data mixed method was applied. So the research consist both quantitative and qualitative data. For research the survey was conducted among 51 students from different departments of a reputed university and interviews were also taken from same university’s senior students majoring in ELT. The research suggested, Facebook has become quite beneficial for the Bangladeshi students. It is helping them to stay connected with their studies. With proper guidance from the facilitators, it can be used as a very productive educational tool. Although it is not possible to turn the whole language learning system based only on Facebook, but blending Facebook with traditional teaching style can be very effective and helpful for both the students and facilitators. From saving time to creating a good relation among everyone, it can make a huge difference in learning method. If the disadvantages of this can be controlled properly, this blending method can be a turning point for the students of Bangladesh who are learning English as a second language.