Facebook Interaction (FBI) and

essay writing pre-task: Yemeni

EFL students’ perceptions,
attitudes and challenges
Mohialdeen Alotumi, PhD Scholar, School of English Language
Education, EFL University, Hyderabad, India

Abstract
This study investigates Yemeni EFL students’ perceptions, attitudes and challenges
on integrating Facebook Interaction (FBI) to improve their essay writing. The teacher
researcher conducted this study to provide a platform to uncover pedagogical
implications that would allow the students to improve their writing skills in a Yemeni
EFL context. Fifty Yemeni higher-intermediate EFL learners participated in this study.
The researcher created three FB groups and the respondents were required to take
part in FBI. An online questionnaire, encompassing 17 closed-ended questions and
three open-ended ones, was used to measure students’ perceptions, attitudes and
challenges. The findings indicated, besides positive attitudes, that FBI helps students
effectively in becoming familiar with the writing topics, forming better thought,
brainstorming and mind-mapping, reducing spelling errors, as well as acquiring and
practising new vocabulary. Though this study shows that typing and time pressure
are major challenges faced by students, further research should be recommended
to investigate other challenges that arise as a result of FB integration.

Introduction
With the current innovative technology and the easy access to information,
present generation learners are fundamentally different from past generation
learners. According to Prensky (2001), people who grew up with technology
around them are called ‘Digital Natives’ for “our students today are all ‘native
speakers’ of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet”
(Prensky ibid: 1). People who grew up in a different world and have later adapted,
sometimes with difficulty, to the new digital world are called ‘Digital Immigrants’ as
he defines “Those of us who were not born into the digital world but have, at some
later point in our lives, become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects
of the new technology are Digital Immigrants.” (Prensky op.cit.).

The easy access to and abundance of information available through cyberspace

and the different communication means (synchronous or asynchronous) have
changed learners’ perceptions of the world, the relationships between educators
and learners, as well as learning styles. As a consequence, there is now a
widespread agreement among foreign language educators that technology
should be utilised in instruction, a premise that is supported by scientific research

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 (Chapelle 1989, 2003, 2005; Warschauer 1997; Warschauer and Meskill 2000;
Zhao 2003; Blake 2009; Goertler 2009).

Computer mediated communication and social networks

For Warschauer (2001: 207) CMC refers to “reading, writing and communication via
networked computers”. He pinpointed the types of CMC as synchronous “whereby
people communicate in real time” or asynchronous “whereby people communicate
in a delayed fashion by computer, e.g. by email” (Warschauer op.cit.). Chun (2008)
stated that synchronous CMC encompasses text-based instant messaging, Internet
Relay Chat (IRC) or simply chat, and multiuser virtual realities. On the other hand,
asynchronous CMC subsumes text-based email, bulletin boards, newsgroups,
forums, blogs and wikis.

Social Network Sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Google+,

Twitter, and LinkedIn are examples of CMC. According to Boyd and Ellison
(2007), these SNSs have attracted millions of Internet users, many of whom have
incorporated these sites into their daily practices. Facebook (FB), the most popular
SNS, serves a huge online community. According to FB (2014), it has 1.23 billion
users worldwide as of December 31, 2013, out of which the Republic of Yemen
has 1,200,000 active users (Social Times 2014). Its feature of allowing its users to
post information and comments, chat with others, as well as collaborate within the
system is worth investigating in ESL/EFL, especially in the area of writing.

FB and writing
The interactive feature of FB is believed to provide students with great
opportunities to practise their writing. In other words, students post their written
pieces, receive comments, write and post their own comments, replying to other
FB group members. Therefore, this interactive communication enables students
to actively engage in the writing process and improve their writing skills (Schultz
2000, as cited in Zhao 2003). Also, the computer-based grammar checkers and
spelling checkers, that students use from time to time while interacting on FB
groups, are considered to be powerful ways of providing immediate feedback on
their written output (Jacobs and Rodgers 1999, as cited in Zhao 2003). Further,
the use of FB is deemed to have a positive impact on boosting students’ motivation
and attitude (Kabilan, Ahmed and Abidin 2010).

However, there are a number of challenges that should be taken into account when
incorporating Web 2.0 tools in teaching/learning. These challenges are embedded
in the risks that are associated with the use of SNSs in general and FB in particular.
Those risks include users’ safety (Selwyn 2007), identity theft, bullying, stalking,
even blackmailing (Gross and Acquisti 2005, as cited in White 2009). Besides, time-
management is another issue that may emerge as a result of students’ using FB to
‘hang out’ (Selwyn 2007).

In this study, the teacher researcher looked at a task-based learning (TBL)

framework proposed by Willis (1996) and a task-based language teaching (TBLT)

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framework proposed by Nunan (2004) and tried to investigate the following
questions:

1. How does Facebook interaction (FBI) assist Yemeni higher-intermediate

students in writing their essays?
2. What are the Yemeni students’ attitudes towards FBI integration in the writing
class?
3. What are the challenges faced by Yemeni EFL students while utilising FBI in the
writing class?

Methodology
FB utilisation
This study was carried out at AMIDEAST-Sana’a, which is a US-funded non-profit
educational service organisation based in Sana’a, in July 2012. For the writing
pre-task, the teacher researcher created three different FB groups (see Table 1)
and required the students to participate in those groups for 20 minutes, in the
computer lab, every time they had an essay writing task. Having finished their FBI,
students were required to go back to their classes and start writing their essays
(the task).

Table 1: Facebook groups

Facebook groups
Fun for Interaction https://www.facebook.com/groups/fun4interaction/
Interaction for Fun https://www.facebook.com/groups/interactionforfun/
Interaction is Fun’ https://www.facebook.com/groups/interactionisfun/

In the FB groups, the teacher researcher posted an essay topic, each time there
was an essay writing task, for students to enrich with their views as well as images,
videos and other relevant hypermedia of their own choice. The time of each
writing session was two hours (one hour for the teacher’s writing lesson delivery
plus one hour for the writing task) and the total number of the writing sessions
was six, as a part of a six-week course, at the end of which students were asked to
respond to an online survey.

Participants
Fifty higher-intermediate students, 28 males and 22 females, studying English as a
Foreign Language (EFL) in three classes participated in this study. The respondents
were in three different classes (same EFL level) and had three different FB groups,
created for the purpose of an essay writing pre-task.

Instrument
An online mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) survey with Google Forms
was utilised in this study. This survey was made up of three parts, the first of which
is about students’ personal information (demographic data) such as name, age,
and gender. The second part of the survey encompassed 17 items with a four-

Innovation in English Language Teacher Education | 127

 point Likert Scale of ‘Strongly agree’,’ Agree’, ‘Disagree’, ‘Strongly disagree’. This
part was prepared to collect the respondents’ views on certain aspects related
to the ways in which FBI might help in essay writing pre-task, the respondents’
attitudes towards the use of FBI, and the challenges that might come to surface
when utilising FBI. The third part contained three open-ended questions to enable
the respondents to subjectively state the ways in which FBI might have helped
them in an essay writing pre-task, and the ways in which FBI motivated them, as
well as the challenges they faced when using FBI.

Procedure
The teacher researcher administered the online Google Forms survey at the end
of the six-week course by sending its web address link to the FB groups. Then,
he convened all the students in the computer lab. After providing them with
clear instructions and advising them to read all the items carefully, the teacher
researcher urged the students to respond to all of the items to the best of their
knowledge and honestly. All 50 students responded to the online questionnaire
and, therefore, the return rate was 100%.

Results and discussion

Results presented below address the students’ responses to the questions set
by the teacher researcher regarding their perceptions of the different ways in
which FBI might help them in essay writing pre-tasks and their attitudes towards
the experience of using FBI as an essay writing pre-task as well as the challenges
facing them while utilising FBI.

Demographic Data
The majority of the students responding to the questionnaire were between 18 and
20 years old 56% of the students were male and 44% were female.

Students’ perceptions of improving their writing through the use of FBI as a pre-task
Items 1-7 of the questionnaire were designed to find out the respondents’ views
on how FBI helped them improve their writing. Those responses are grouped under
two main categories ‘Cumulative Agree’ and ‘Cumulative Disagree’ as shown in
Table 2 below.

Table 2: Students’ perceptions of improving their writing through FBI

No. Item Cumulative Cumulative

Agree (%) Disagree
(%)
1. FBI comments and posts helps with topic 88.0 12.0
familiarity
2. FBI helps in brainstorming and mind-mapping 82.0 18.0
3. Spell-checker assists in reducing errors 85.0 15.0
4. Comments made through FBI help form better 86.0 14.0
thought before writing

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 5. FBI makes essay writing easy 80.0 20.0
6. Reading comments and posts on FBI helps acquire 87.0 13.0
new vocabulary
7. Replying and commenting through FBI helps 90.0 10.0
practise vocabulary

From the table above, it is clear that the majority of the students (above 80%)
agree that FBI is of great help when it is utilised in essay writing pre-tasks. The
responses indicate that FBI can help students become familiar with the writing
topic, brainstorming and mind-mapping, reducing errors, forming better thought
before they start writing, acquiring new vocabulary, as well as practising this
vocabulary.

The responses above are also in line with the answers to the first question of
the qualitative section of the questionnaire. Gaining new vocabulary, practising
vocabulary, flow of ideas, and improving spelling were mentioned frequently in
respondents’ answers. Examples of those comments are as follows:

• The repetitive practice for writing helps teach us practically the correct way for
using vocabulary.
• Usually, interaction on Facebook gives me more information and more new
ideas. First, the interacting in the Facebook helps me in finding new ideas for
my topic. Second, I can get two or more different opinions from interacting in
Facebook.
• The more I write comments in English, the more I get acquainted to thinking in
English and writing directly my comments without the need to translate.

It appears from the above-mentioned comments that FBI helps students a lot
in their writing when it is used as a medium for writing pre-tasks particularly in
brainstorming, mind-mapping, obtaining and practising new vocabulary, as well as
improving spelling.

FBI impact on students’ attitudes

To explore the effect of the use of FBI as an essay writing pre-task on students’
attitudes, items 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 posited some predictions that might link FBI
and students’ attitudes. Item 8 explores whether there is a connection between
respondents’ anxiety and working on FB group. Item 9 investigates respondents’
comfort while commenting on FB group. Item 10 looks at whether the respondents
find it convenient that other FB group members read their comments and posts.
Item 11 examines respondents’ motivation when their comments and posts are
read by other FB group members. Finally, items 12 and 13 investigate respondents’
readiness and liking, respectively, on discussing topics on FB before starting doing
their writing.

Innovation in English Language Teacher Education | 129

 Table 3: FBI impact on students’ attitudes

No. Item Cumulative Cumulative

Agree (%) Disagree (%)
8. Feeling anxious and worried while posting on 20.0 80.0
FB group
9. Feeling easy and comfortable while 75.0 25.0
commenting on FB group
10. It is convenient that FB group members read 96.0 4.0
and comment on each other posts
11. Feeling motivated when FB group members like 98.0 02.0
his/her comments and posts
12. Feeling ready and prepared for writing after 80.0 20.0
topic discussion on FB group
13. Liking topic discussion on FB group before 84.0 16.0
meeting in the classroom

As shown above in Table 3, the highest percentages are associated with motivation
(98%) and convenience (96%). Students feel motivated and encouraged when
other FB group members like their comments and posts and they do not seem to
mind that other FB group members read and comment on their posts. Additionally,
when students interact with each other over topics on FB group, the majority
like to discuss on FB group before meeting in the classroom (84%), feel ready
and prepared to write after discussing topics on FB group (80%), and find it
comfortable commenting and receiving comments on FB group.

Respondents’ answers to the third open-ended question of the qualitative section

of the questionnaire to whether FBI makes them motivated support the findings
reported above. Students stress that they feel motivated, comfortable, happy and
encouraged while interacting on FB group. Examples of their comments are as
follows:

• Yes, it is. In making me willing to study more and discuss with friends, I mean it
helps me exchange ideas and opinions.
• Yes it does. It helps motivate me when using new vocabulary, also when I
comment and respond to others’ comments. This motivates me to write and
practice more.
• Sure it does. If my group-mates like what I say and I will be happy and
encouraged to write what we discuss.

Challenges faced by students utilising FBI for essay writing pre-tasks

To find answers to the third question of this paper, the teacher researcher
used items 14-17 of the questionnaire to elicit the challenges that might face
respondents while utilising FBI for their writing pre-task. The first possible
challenge is whether or not the students find typing challenging while interacting
on FB. The second is whether they find FB graphics, hyperlinks as a source of
distraction. The third is whether they use an e-dictionary while interacting on

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FB. The fourth is whether they double-check their pieces of writing before they
post them to their FB group. The cumulative percentage for those who agree or
disagree is presented in Table 4.

Table 4: Challenges faced by students while utilising FBI for their writing pre-task

No. Item Cumulative Cumulative

Agree (%) Disagree (%)
14. Typing on the keyboard is a challenge 68.0 32.0
15. FB graphics and hyperlinks are a source of 48.0 52.0
distraction
16. Frequent use of e-dictionary 72.0 28.0
17. Double-checking before posting 65.0 35.0

As can be seen in the table above, the majority of the respondents (68%) agree
with the researcher’s prediction that typing on the keyboard is one difficulty
the students have to deal with and the teacher has to address and bear in mind
when utilising FBI. Contrary to the researcher’s prediction that FB graphics and
hyperlinks are a source of distraction, the majority of the respondents (52%)
disagree with that. However, the majority of the respondents (65%) agree that they
have to double-check before they post any comment or other pieces of writing
and frequently use an e-dictionary while interacting on FB.

The findings above are also in line with the answers to the second question of
the qualitative section of the questionnaire. In their answers to this question, the
respondents highlighted typing, double-checking, consistency of ideas, time limit,
and misunderstandings as major challenges they face while working on FB. Here
are some examples:

• Typing! Typing! And typing!

• To find the good answer for each on the Facebook group QUICKLY.
• Sometimes I didn’t find the correct vocabulary while I am discussing

Conclusion and recommendations

From this study of 50 Yemeni EFL students’ perceptions, attitudes and challenges,
it seems clear that the utilisation of FBI in writing pre-tasks is of great help to them
when writing their essays. Students’ responses indicate that FBI assists them a lot
in becoming familiar with the writing topics, forming better thoughts, brainstorming
and mind-mapping, reducing spelling errors, as well as acquiring and practising
new vocabulary. In addition, their responses reflected their positive attitudes
toward FB use as they felt motivated, comfortable, and ready to write after they
had been engaged in FBI. The main challenges, which the students faced and
teachers should tackle, are typing on the keyboard and providing more time for
the students, since they prefer to double-check and consult e-dictionaries before
posting comments on the FB group. It is recommended that further research
should focus on the role and perceptions of language teachers on utilising FBI as

Innovation in English Language Teacher Education | 131

 writing pre-tasks and the challenges of integrating FB to improve students’ other
language skills such as reading.

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