Social networks as a tool in the English writing skill development

Abstract

The research Project “SOCIAL NETWORKS AS A TOOL IN THE ENGLISH WRITING SKILL DEVELOPMENT” aimed to analyze how social networks influenced in the English writing skill development in students at higher education level. To determine the relationship between these two variables, several books magazines and articles were read in order to get enough information about each variable. A survey entailing ten questions was applied to twelve English teachers and two hundred ninety tree students at the Pre- intermediate level. The results were analyzed and tabulated carefully. Also, through the use of Spearman’s Rho test, it was possible to determine that there is enough statistical evidence to accept the alternative hypothesis, it means that the use of social networks influences in the English writing skill development. Furthermore, the results showed that a great number of students had problems to express their ideas in a written way in English. In addition, students think that the use of social networks such as Facebook and WhatsApp are useful tools to the improvement of the writing skill, however teachers do not use social networks for this purpose. The use of a handbook with different guided, controlled and free writing tasks was suggested in order to help students to improve their writing skill in English using Facebook and WhatsApp.