Developing reading skills through pedagogical use of Facebook in EFL classrooms in high school.

Abstract

This study analyzes the development of reading skills through the pedagogical use of Facebook in EFL classrooms. An EFL teacher and 66 senior high school students from a public institution. The study was conducted in Loja city. Particularly, the purpose of this mix-method research is to determine how this technological tool helps students to enhance reading skills, and to find out teachers’ and students’ perceptions about using Facebook. In order to achieve these goals, a classroom Facebook page was created. The students were asked to complete different reading activities like to read and summarize information or write comments and reflections. The intervention lasted four months. The students’ progress was assessed by using a rubric in order to measure their ability to discover the main idea of the texts, to understand, to report the event sequence, to use correct grammar and vocabulary and to summarize information. Furthermore, a survey was applied to know students´ perceptions about the use of Facebook in this context. The results show that the pedagogical use of Facebook is positive; it catches students’ attention to develop reading in a collaborative way.