emotional support and as a resource to find information. According to Rita, Facebook can have a positive influence in improving learners‟ literacy.
25
She explains in her paper that learners can comment and get a good feedback from others. The
helpfulness comment and peer reviewing can be a strong expert input for learners. Facebook can be a meaningful environment for learning English for language
learners. There are many applications that are available to use. Facebook is not only for fun, but also can be
a useful site to improve students‟ language skill.
F. Teaching Writing Through Facebook
Teachers can use Facebook as a media to motivate students to write. Facebook is popular among students that they will find it is fun to practice their writing on this
site. Learners may not realize that they are learning through their everyday routine which is many of them using Facebook as a media to write their informal writing.
The teacher can ask the students to do writing task as homework since there is not enough time to practice writing in the classroom.
In Facebook, there is an application named Facebook group. It can be used by teachers to share materials to the students in a whole class.
„FB groups‟ provides a space where ideas are posted in view of all, to be open to criticism as well as praise.
26
Higher order thinking skills are needed in organizing, synthesizing and analyzing the ideas whether by individual, peers, or groups in constructing new knowledge. Then,
„FB groups‟ provides ample opportunities for students to practice and improve their writing skills.
27
Students can learn many new sentences from reading their friends‟ comment and they feel obliged to respond them which it can enhance their writing
skill.
25
Rita Inderawati Rudy, “From Classroom to Peer Comment in Facebook: Bridging to Establish Learners‟ Literacy”,International conference “ICT for language learning”,Sriwijaya
University Palembang: Pixel, 4th edition , 2011, P. 1.
26
Melor Md. Yunus and Hadi Salehi, “The Effectiveness of Facebook Groups on Teaching and Improving Writing: Students‟ Perceptions”, International Journal of Education and Information
Technologies Issue 1, 6 2012, p. 90
27
Ibid.
Undeniably, students often use their social networking account to write some informal writing to express their ideas or personal thoughts. Strangely, students
considered these types of informal writing as “communication” and not likened to the “writing” tasks that are given in schools.
28
The researcher believes that FB has potential benefits
to improve students‟ writing skills by being the link between academic “writing” and outside “communication”.
G. Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Facebook in Teaching
Writing
There are some advantages and disadvantages of using Facebook in teaching writing according to Yunus, Salehi, and Chenzi:
29
1. Advantages:
a. Most students now are digital natives, so Facebook engage them by presenting
material in a way that is familiar and comfortable for them. b.
Students can get enough input from Facebook so they will develop students‟ writing skills. In Facebook, teacher‟s notes can be viewed with chronological
order. This is very convenient when preparing lessons that build upon previous materials taught in the class.
c. Students will have a larger audience when they use Facebook. Working online
fosters a sense of global interaction. Students can communicate with their teachers and friends by Facebook. This is especially helpful for shy students who
might not otherwise reach out. d.
Facebook allow for multimedia interaction which brings together pictures, videos, links and so on.
28
Ibid.
29
Melor Md Yunus, Hadi Salehi, and Chen Chenzi, “Integrating Social Networking Tools into ESL Writing Classroom: Strengths and Weaknesses”, English Language Teaching 5, 8, 2012, p.
44-45
