Social media use for teaching English in Higher Educational Institutions

Abstract

Complete society informatization results in wide popularization of social media, which in turn makes the online communication of young people easier and more elaborated. All of this prompts the teacher to revise their own teaching methods. This research focuses on the possibility to use social media in teaching the English language to youth. Social media enables free, cheap, simplified and direct contact with the learning audience; promotes discussions, the studying of new topics, acquiring and strengthening of new knowledge and skills, the evaluation of own and colleagues’ work, and critical thinking. This study aims to analyse identify the ways of using social media in education, and in teaching English in particular, revealing both the benefits and drawbacks. The study proves the importance of using social networks in general and Facebook in particular while working with students, since young people are the target audience of these websites.