Chapter Five Discussion Example

Chapter Five Discussion Example Chapter Five: Discussion â€" Essay Example > CHAPTER V â€" DISCUSSIONIntroduction The discussion chapter deduces, expounds and discusses the findings of the study in regard to the research questions. These are how Facebook as a medium for instruction and communication enhances student’s learning. The other question deals with how Facebook as a medium for communication and instruction strengthens students’ self-efficacy beliefs. In the research conducted, it is noted that social networking sites are very important and effective in learning (Atwong Hugstad, 1997). The research, aimed at using Facebook to instruct Saudi Arabian students on a new language which is English, depicts social interaction as very important in enhancing understanding and positive self-efficacy beliefs. The discussion is based on results obtained from an open ended questionnaire with responses from the participants. The questionnaire had 18 items sub-divided into sections on the participant’s views, beliefs as wells as perceptions. Summary of Mai n ResultsMany researchers have conducted research on the importance of social interaction and a community of learners. Among the well-known theories are the sociocultural theory and the community of practice theory. Both theories assert that learning objectives are effectively achieved when learners are placed in learning situations that give them an opportunity to engage and interact with each other (Vygotsky, 1978) and (Lave Wenger 1991). Facebook is a social networking site that allows learners to socially interact in a common practice or with the same agenda. Facebook has many features that allow students to interact. For instance, there is a comment option where people can comment on ideas; there is a like option for liking information posted on a page. Additionally, people can share meaningful information through the share feature. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory describes cultural tools, language and social interaction as important components of learning (Vygotsky, 1978) . Through these components, students interact and learn new things. Community of practice theory refers to a group of people sharing a similar idea in this case learning (Lave Wenger 1991). They interact together to achieve their learning objectives. In the research one instrument of study has been used, which is an open ended questionnaire. The open ended questionnaires were distributed to participants and each had 18 items. These items were subdivided into three parts: views, beliefs and perceptions. The participants’ views are important as they have been used to give a subjective discussion. Bearing in mind that people differs in their outlook on things; the views are compared with current studies conducted to discuss the findings. Beliefs are what everyone thinks to be true in their own manner (Bandura, 1995). In this research beliefs are an important part of the discussion, which have been used to answer the research questions on, how Facebook as a medium of communication s trengthens student’s self-efficacy beliefs. The perceptions of the participants have been important in determining how they think Facebook has helped in their learning (Uslues Mazman, 2008). How Facebook as a Medium for Communication and Instruction Enhances Students’ LearningThe results of this study show that Facebook increases student’s learning. According to Ophus Abbitt (2009), Facebook as a medium for communication, has been noted to result in increased interaction among people than any other form of communication. As a result it acts as a very effective medium of passing meaningful information from one person to another. Among the questions asked to the participants was the perceived usefulness of Facebook in learning. Using the responses attained from two of the participants, it is noted that both students saw Facebook as a means of learning, which makes learning easy and that permits interaction as well as cooperativeness. Ease of learning is achieved through the ability to share ideas, different education material can be shared, the learners are more exposed and learning is easy due to sharing and engaging. Facebook permits interaction as well as cooperativeness because differing individuals can be brought together to contribute their differing viewpoints. In Facebook, a large number of people are engaged, which results in a wide array of information.