The use of social-networking sites in English language education: An exploratory study using SWOT analysis technique

Abstract

The global importance of English as the language of international communication needs no description. English has gained competitive edge and is considered a requirement in order to make progress in the global world. There is bulk of research dedicated to finding better means of learning and teaching English language. The current research aims at exploring the potential of using social networking sites for improving English language skills especially in the skill areas of reading and writing. The research proposes to analyze the opinion of the participants by using SWOT analysis technique. This techniques dissects the themes from the data under strength, weakness, opportunity and threat in order to draw the picture of the potential of anything, In the current research, SWOT analysis technique was used to organize the data in the themes mentioned here. The study concludes that the use of social networking sites in English language education has marvelous potential as the students learn with ease of mind. The language is learnt in without any affective filters like anxiety or lack of motivation. Though social media sites can be effective platforms, their use may also distract the language learners with all their misinformation, ungrammatical content, and artificial human interaction. The study implicates that there is need to formulate effective strategies for proximal advantage of the strengths and countering the weaknesses and threats in order to make the best of the opportunities provided by social media sites in English language education.