Online Social Media Applications for Language Teaching and Learning

Social media consist of interactive forms of media that allow users to interact with and publish to each other, generally by means of the internet. Daily observations and recent scholarly traditions suggest that a certain amount of learning takes place beyond the confines of the individual mind. Learning a different language involves social aspects which influences the way in which individuals learn language. Language learners are able to enhance their language skills due to the different avenues in which new social media have created. Social media provides the learner with the possibility of participating in actual, real-time, relevant conversations taking place online, and practicing the target language with or without the help of an experienced teacher by his or her side.

There are so many applications supports in teaching and learning language as follow:

1.      Edublogs (https://edublogs.org/)

A blog created for educational purposes. Edublogs archive and support student and teacher learning by facilitating reflection, questioning by self and others, collaboration and by providing contexts for engaging in higher-order thinking.

2.      Edmodo (https://www.edmodo.com/)

Edmodo is a global education network that helps connect all learners with the people and resources needed to reach their full potential. The Edmodo network enables teachers to share content, distribute quizzes, assignments, and manage communication with students, colleagues, and parents.

3.      Moodle (https://www.moodle.org/)

Moodle is a learning platform designed to provide educators, administrators and learners with a single robust, secure and integrated system to create personalized learning environments. Moodle is used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other e-learning projects in schools, universities, workplaces and other sectors.

4.      Google Forms (https://www.google.com/forms/about/)

A Google Form is a great way to gather information related to meetings or conferences, for example. Before a meeting, collect the names and contact information for attendees. The day of a meeting, survey people to streamline your lunch order. After the meeting, use a survey to get feedback on conference sessions and gather suggestions for improvement.

5.      Animoto (https://www.animoto.com/)

Animoto is a cloud-based video creation service that produces video from photos, video clips, and music into video slideshows.

In addition, there are other applications recommended for teachers.

1.      For teaching students how to present , create and code.

·         TED-Ed: to spark student curiosity and explore presentation literacy skills.

·         Haikudeck: create interesting presentation.

·         Duolingo: a free language learning application.

·         Draw and Tell: can increase students’ creative confidence.

·         iMovie: video creation.

·         Instructables: share ideas and intructions.

·         Hopscotch: learn computer science fundamentals.

·         Tinkercard: design 3D project.

2.      For everyday classroom needs.

·         Evernote: modern workspace.

·         Expalin Everything: interactive whiteboard.

·         Educreations: create new videos fro learning.

·         Oxfod Dictionaries: an online English dictionary.

3.      For collaborating on school project.

·         Slack: make communication easier in collaborating with other teachers.

·         Google Apps for Education: collaboration apps include Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs and Sites, and a GAFE account.

·         Mindmeister: quickly visualize and create a project outline together.

·         Wikispaces

4.      For communicating with students ( and their families).

·         Remind

·         Edublogs

·         ClassDojo

5.      For giving (and receiving) student feedback.

·         Edmodo

·         Socrative: simplifies grading and reports.

·         Moodle

·         Google Forms