To tweet or not to tweet: Practices and outcomes of using Twitter for language learners and teachers

1. Gillian Lord (glord@ufl.edu) Lara Lomicka (lomicka@sc.edu) To tweet or not to tweet: Practices and outcomes of using Twitter for language learners and teachers

2. Outline of presentation • Introduction • What is Twitter? • Previous use of Twitter in FL • Methodology • Research questions • Two contexts • Data and analysis • Results and Conclusions • Questions?

3. introduction

4. Background • What is ? • A social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. • Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers (followers). • Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access.  • A service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

5. Twitter in FL learning and teaching • Many overviews of what Twitter is and why educators might benefit from it (i.e., Stevens 2008), but few empirical studies regarding its impact on language learning, social presence or other academic endeavors • Others who vouch for Twitter’s use in the classroom (but not empirical studies): • Alan Haskvitz, “Twitter in the Classroom,” Reach Every Child • Kate Messner, “Making a Case for Twitter in the Classroom,” School Library Journal (December 1, 2009) • National Education Association, “Can Tweeting Help Your Teaching?” NEA Today Magazine (2009) • Laura Walker, “Nine Reasons to Twitter in Schools,” Tech & Learning (April 16, 2009).

6. Twitter in FL learning and teaching • Selected empirical studies • Corbett, Mace & Regehr 2008 • Can be used to build community and support learning in the classroom (engagement and social use) • Perhaps not as effective at impacting learning • Antenos-Conforti 2009 • Creates a virtual extension of the physical classroom • Fostered strong sense of community; encouraged participation • Dunlap & Lowenthal 2009a • Instructional benefits include connecting classmates and instructor • Dunlap & Lowenthal 2009b • Encourage free-flowing just-in-time interactions and thus enhance social presence in online courses • Connect with a professional community of practice Many claim Twitter can increase social presence, connectivity and a sense of community, but few have set about to empirically and systematically test these claims.

7. Research questions • Can Twitter participants develop a sense of community through this medium? • How is social presence indicated, if at all, through students’ tweets?

8. methodology

9. Current projects • Twitter in two contexts • Context 1: Intermediate French class • 1 semester (fall 2009) • Students tweeted among themselves and with native French speakers • Context 2: Foreign language teaching methods class • 1 semester (fall 2009) • Teaching assistants tweeted among themselves and with 75+ other TAs in the US and Canada

10. Intermediate French • 13 students (11 female, 2 male) • Students tweeted 3x weekly for 9 weeks • 2 tweets in the TL • 1 tweet in the NL • Used common hashtag (#RDE09) • Tweets represented status updates and current happenings in their lives • GOAL: build community among learners in the US and in France; extend learning outside of classroom

11. Foreign Language Teaching Methods • Graduate course for new language TAs • At UF: 9 students (1 male, 8 female) • Elsewhere: over 75 tweeters from US and Canada, variety of backgrounds and institutions* • Tweeted 3x weekly • 2 original posts • 1 @reply • Used common hashtag (#FLTeach) • GOAL: build community to share, reflect on experiences as new teachers *Data analyzed here are from the tweets of 7 UF students who gave their permission and 31 survey respondents (including those 7 UF students)

12. Methodology - surveys • Unique surveys used in each class • Different aspects surveyed: • Useful aspects of Twitter • Frequency, purpose and content of tweets • Common aspects surveyed: • Familiarity with Twitter prior to project • Reactions to Twitter project • Open-ended opinion questions

13. Methodology – tweet analysis • Content analysis • Following Rourke et al. (2001) and Lomicka & Lord (2007), coded for indicators of social presence • Percentages of indicators that were Affective, Interactive and Cohesive determined • By participant • By class

14. Intermediate French Class SURVEY Results

15. Intermediate French class • Had you heard of Twitter prior to this class? • Yes = 13 • No = 0 • Did you already have a Twitter account? • Yes = 3 • No = 10 • Are you comfortable using new technologies? • Yes = 12 • No = 1

16. Intermediate French class • Opinions on using Twitter pre/post

17. Intermediate French class • Advantages to using Twitter

18. Intermediate French class • Opinions on Twitter for learning French language and culture

19. Intermediate French class • Opinions on Twitter as a social tool

20. Intermediate French class • Open-ended questions • What did you like most about Twitter? • Reading the French students’ tweets • Knowing about the French students lives • Relevant to real life language use • Random comments were fun • Could reply to others • Helped feel more comfortable speaking • What did you like least about Twitter? • Using hashtags • The word limit • Sometimes feel like there is nothing to say

21. Intermediate French Class Content analysis Results

22. Intermediate French class

23. Intermediate French class

24. Teaching Methods Class SURVEY Results

25. Teaching Methods class • Institutions represented* • University of Florida = 7 • University of South Carolina = 7 • University of North Carolina = 13 • Indiana University = 2 • Lakeridge Jr. High School (Orem, UT) = 1 • Missionary Training Center, Lone Peak High School = 1 *Recall that over 80 participants were involved in the tweeting, but only 31 filled out the final survey, through which permission to analyze data/tweets was granted. Therefore, only these 31 survey responses are considered here. In the content analysis, only the tweets of the 7 UF students who gave permission and did not cancel their Twitter accounts were analyzed.

26. Teaching Methods class • Languages taught • Spanish = 25 • French = 2 • Italian = 2 • Portuguese = 1 • German = 1

27. Teaching Methods class • Prior familiarity with Twitter • Yes = 4* • No = 27 *Of those 4, only two had Twitter accounts that they used with any regularity.

28. Teaching Methods class • Frequency of posts (out of 31 responses) • Required 3x/week = 17 • 3-5x/week = 10 • More than 5x/week = 2 • Fewer than 3x/week = 2 • Frequency of replies (out of 30 responses) • Required 1x/week = 13 • A few times/week = 12 • Several times/week = 1 • More often than that = 1

29. Teaching Methods class • With whom did you connect most through your tweets?

30. Teaching Methods class • What would you say were the main topics of your tweets?

31. Teaching Methods class • Opinions on using Twitter

32. Teaching Methods class • Open-ended question Is there anything else you would like to share with me about your experiences with Twitter and/or your teaching methodology course this semester? • It was a really fantastic idea and a good experience for me as a first semester teacher… I really hope it continues into next semester! • It really helped all of the TA's bond and gave us a way to share our experiences and encourage each other. • I thought it was really helpful to read other people's tweets. Even if I didn't get concrete support/suggestions/advice, it was really nice to know that everyone was struggling with the same sort of things I was. It made me feel less alone. • I think Twitter would have been more beneficial to my university if our professor cared that we used it. • It was great to be able to take the time to reflect. • A lot of people wrote remarks about their classes that had absolutely no value for other people to read. That gave me the feeling that I was spending time reading a lot of text that I didn't learn from, or that didn't make me think new thoughts. I did get one good idea from someone's tweet, though, that inspired me. • I think using Twitter was less beneficial to me as a teacher than writing longer reflections and actually thinking about what I was doing as a teacher. The 140 character limit does not lend itself to deep thought.

33. Teaching Methods Class Content analysis Results

34. Teaching Methods class

35. Teaching Methods class *Of the 400 tweets, a total of 71 (17.75%) were not coded as indicating any type of social presence. Others were coded with more than one indicator.

36. Discussion

37. Attitudes and Opinions Intermediate French Teaching Methods Generally favorable Appreciate community Frustrated with trying to reflect in limited characters • Generally favorable • Appreciative of opportunity for additional communication • Frustrated that the French students tended not to use twitter as much as the Americans

38. Social presence Intermediate French Teaching Methods More interactive than affective Some cohesive More cohesive indicators than in the language class • More affective than interactive • Hardly any cohesive

39. Conclusions • Return to research questions: • Sense of community? • A sense of community was established through the Twitter interactions but differed in each class. • Social presence? • Social presence was demonstrated largely through affective and interactive indicators (in differing proportions in the two classes, due to task demands and population make-up), with fewer indicators of cohesion.

40. To tweet or not to tweet? Presentation available at www.slideshare.net. (search for keywords “lomicka lord calico twitter”)

41. Selected references • Antenos-Conforti, E. (2009). “Microblogging on Twitter: Social Networking in Intermediate Italian Classes.” In L. Lomicka and G. Lord (Eds.), The Next Generation: Social Networking and Online Collaboration in Foreign Language Learning (pp. 59-90). San Marcos, TX: Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium. • Corbett, S., Mace, K. & Regehr, G. (2008). “Twitter in the online classroom: Case study report.” Retrieved from www.kevinmace.net/media/.../ED690_data_analysis_Twitter_Group.pdf. • Dunlap, J., & Lowenthal, P. R. (2009a). “ Instructional uses of Twitter.” In P. R. Lowenthal, D. Thomas, A. Thai, & B. Yuhnke (Eds.), The CU Online handbook. Teach differently: Create and collaborate (pp. 46-52). Raleigh, NC: Lulu Enterprises. Retrieved from http://www.cudenver.edu/Academics/CUOnline/FacultyResources/Handbook/Documents/2009/Chapter_8.pdf • Dunlap, J. C. & Lowenthal, P. R. (2009b). “Tweeting the night away: Using Twitter to enhance social presence.” Journal of Information Systems Education 20(2). • Lomicka, L. & Lord, G. (2007). “Social presence in virtual communities of foreign language teachers.” System 35, 208-228. • Rourke, L., Anderson, T., Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing social presence in asynchronous text-based computer conferencing. Journal of Distance Education, 14, 51-70. • Stevens, V. (2008). “Trial by Twitter: The rise and slide of the year’s most viral microblogging platform.” TESL-EJ 12(1).

43. Remaining issues • Will students use Twitter again? • French class • For learning French • 4 yes; 2 no; 6 maybe • For personal use • 5 yes; 5 no; 2 maybe • Teaching Methods class • For professional reasons • 12 yes, 10 no; 5 maybe • For personal reasons • 7 yes; 11 no; 7 maybe

44. Remaining issues • Students did not take advantage of all the options available through Twitter (French class) • Retweeting • Infrequent • Direct messaging • Used occasionally with teacher but not with other students • Following • Were encouraged but not required to follow others. Not all students followed all classmates.

45. Remaining issues • Students did not take advantage of all the options available through Twitter (FL Methods class) • Retweeting • 27/31 didn’t know they could/didn’t know how • Direct messaging • 23/31 didn’t know they could/didn’t know how • Following • Only 15/31 followed other users • (With ONE exception, these only followed their local classmates, and only because they were required to)