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Conclusion
There are some recommendations that the teacher should consider before deciding to use SNSs as an educational to ol: the students‟ age and the SNS‟s age related policy; neither teachers nor students should provide their very intimate information on SNSs; the teacher‟s tone should remain professional in online communication; professionalism should also be the key word related to photos, materials, videos and all the comments and messages posted and delivered to students via a SNS; students, in turn, should display a professional, respectful conduct, too; displaying information online about educational activities should avoid embarrassing students or the displaying of the teacher‟s preference for some student or another; whereas the students in a class may have their own online group, teachers, too, may join various professional online groups related to their field of ac tivity. We shall further present our ideas and recommendations regarding the teaching of English as a foreign language, which may be adapted and adjusted to suit various age and skill levels, as well as other disciplines.
During the first class which is a lso, usually, introductory, the teacher may take 5-10 minutes to introduce the students to his /her SNS profile, briefly present the features of the respective SNS which could be used for educational activities and invite students to create their own online profiles and add the teacher as a friend; subsequently, the teacher may create an online group to include all the students in the respective class ; the teacher should also establish the rules concerning the language used online as well as what is expected in terms of the students‟ virtual behaviour; we believe that through this short introductory part, the teacher may raise the students‟ awareness and interest in using SNSs in school -related activities and projects.
The teacher may invite students to participate in activities similar to those conducted in the classroom, for example: comment upon a quotation, express opinions concerning a literary fragment, give their own explanations for newly introduced words, notions and concepts. Such activities, conduc ted online via SNSs ,are a continuation of classroom tasks, as well as an opportunity for students to express opinions, an occasion which they may not have during the real lesson as the time is usually limited to 50 minutes.
Moreover, such activities may bring out the best in (shy) students, improving their self-assertion and self-expression potential.Also on SNSs, the teacher may post links to additional studying material or to learning resources and distribute them to the entire group/class of students. Online links may guide students to materials regarded as essential for the study of English as a foreign language, such as: online dictionaries and encyclopedias, official pages of the authors studied, museums websites, works by different authors which are available online, critical approaches to the authors studied. Such links lure the students into their own search for knowledge, selection of information, discovery of new facts, eventually contributing to creating their own, unique, learning style. Students may be challenged, by the teacher or by other students, into undertaking online projects, for example, creating a Facebook/Twitter/ Bebo account for their favourite literary character using the English menu of the respective social network as well as the English language in all communication via the respective SNS: each student will sign in the respective SNS account by using the name of his/her favourite character and fill in the profile information, post status updates, comments, pictures or photos which the student may regard as related to the respective character. Such a project may end with voting for the best character SNS account.
Other ways in which SNSs may be used in teaching English include:
- students may be encouraged to share their book reviews or favourite quotes online with the rest of the group or, they may simply keep their classmates informed on the latest book they have read; this type of activities supports students in finding common interests and points of view, stimulates discussio ns on the literary fragments or books mentioned, building the corresponding skills, for example analytical and critical thinking; moreover, the sense of equality among students increases as everybody in the class/online group is invited and expected to par ticipate in sharing opinions and discussing upon the materials posted in the virtual environment;
- on SNSs, which constitute a perfect environment for collaboration and team/group work, students may be involved in brainstorming on topics related to upcoming lessons or tasks, with the implicit improvement of language related skills;
- the teacher should act as a model by staying constantly active o n the SNS account, motivating students to maintain their online interaction and knowledge sharing;
- calendar related options on SNSs may support the teacher in keeping the class informed on upcoming school and national contests, due dates, tests, assignments, school, community, artistic, sporting events;
- grammar related issues may also be approached and discus sed online: if students have difficulties in solving a certain grammar exercise at home or in finding the proper use of a given noun/verb/adjective/adverb etc., they may ask for help from their colleagues and answers and explanations may be received in res ponse;
- the teacher may create online lists of books, as well as quizzes related to the books included on the compulsory reading list for the subject of English Language; the feature through which SNSs allow users to upload files is supportive of the spre ad of supplemental reading materia l, assignments or class syllabi; when it comes to distributing study materials to students, SNSs may turn into the teacher‟s right hand, leaving students with no excuse for not having found a certain book/article. Studentswould be “faced” online with the respective material .
Besides language related skills, SNSs also support the building of general communication and interaction skills, such as team and group work, cooperation, assuming responsibility within a group, undertaking individual learning and searching for information, complying with deadlines, asking for and giving advice in a friendly, or at l east neutral, tone and attitude, „learning to learn‟ from others.
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