Social Network Sites Effectiveness from EFL Students’ Viewpoints

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between EFL students’ experience, attitudes, perceptions, and expectations toward the effectiveness of Social Network Sites (SNS), namely, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Flickr, Classmates, Academica, MySpace, English baby, and Google+, in English language learning. A survey of 103 participants from different higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia was conducted. The study’s results revealed that the participants had an average SNS experience. The findings also indicated that participants had overall positive attitudes, perceptions, and expectations toward SNS. In addition, the correlations between experience and attitudes, and experience and expectations were statistically significant. Data analysis also showed that the correlations between attitudes and perceptions, attitudes and expectations, and perceptions and expectations were statistically significant. However, experience did not significantly correlate with perceptions. The findings also indicated that the model of the three variables (attitudes, perceptions, and expectations toward SNS) predicting the variable (experience in SNS) was statistically significant: The significant predictor was expectations.