Understanding language learning experiences on an educational social networking platform beyond the classroom from an ecological perspective

Abstract

Studies have reported that language learning beyond the classroom enhances learners’ language acquisition and positive affective outcomes. Technologies provide many opportunities for language learning and are actively used by students beyond the classroom. Social networking sites (SNSs) are one such technology that holds great potential for language learning. However, despite their potentials, educational SNSs, such as Lang-8, have seldom been examined. At the same time, although the literature has provided some insights into the dynamic and complex nature of learners’ construction of personal language learning ecologies with technology beyond the classroom, few studies have examined how learners’ longitudinal use of a particular technology, especially an SNS, related to the (re)construction of learners’ personal learning environment. The current study examined learners’ self-directed language-learning experiences on an educational SNS (Lang-8) to understand: (1) What are language learners’ experiences on an SNS in an informal learning context over time? (2) How do their experiences on the platform interact with their language learning ecology? A mixed-method design was adopted, involving the use of narrative interviews with 11 active users and their behavioral data on the platform, as well as survey responses from 140 randomly recruited users on Lang-8. ii The study revealed that the participants displayed two distinct types of experiences on the platform: language-learning-oriented (i.e., learners engaged in instructional activities, such as writing practice) and social-oriented (i.e., learners engaged in social networking activities, such as socializing with native speakers). Furthermore, learners’ experiences on the platform were not stable, but rather changed over time. A survey study among 140 learners randomly recruited platform users showed they shifted from social-oriented experiences to language- learning-oriented experiences, over time. In contrast, six active learners in the qualitative study, who had been using the platform for an average of six years, shifted from language-learning-oriented experiences to social-oriented experiences, over time. For the second research question, the findings suggested that the nature of peer feedback, sense of community, the learners perceived affordances of the platform, learners’ perceptions of the platform, the diversity of identity presentation on the platform, and learners’ beliefs about language errors were critical in enhancing learners’ engagement, especially in socialization and diversified experiences, on the platform. Moreover, learners’ experiences on the platform further induced changes in their discursive resources (learning needs; attitudes towards errors), social resources (social interaction on and beyond the platform), and material resources (perceived affordances of the platform and other material resources) in the participants’ language learning ecology (re)construction. This study’s main theoretical implication is its providing an analytic framework for exploring why and how language learners interact with a technological platform in their personal learning environment. Its practical implications highlight the factors that enhance self-directed learning with instructional social-oriented technologies beyond the classroom, including encouraging social-related interaction, improving sense of community on the platform, enhancing learners’ ability in perceiving the affordances of the platform, and diversifying learners’ identities on the platform.