ESL 학습자의 문화이해 및 의사소통능력 향상을 위한 마이크로블로그 학습활동 사례연구

Abstract

This study explores how microblogging can be utilized to enhance ESL students’ cultural knowledge and increase their motivation to write in English. Nine ESL students and the author incorporated the most popular microblog, Twitter, in a mandatory ESL course during a summer session at an art college in New York. Twitter enables its users to follow all members, exchange messages of up to 140 characters, and track every post in the social network. For a five-week period, 326 tweets were collected and qualitative semi-structured interviews regarding the postings were conducted. A mix of quantitative and content analysis was used, and this study reports that microblogging was effective in encouraging students to exchange information about life, culture, etiquette, and art. Data analysis results showed that students focused more on content than on grammar while writing tweets and were opt to share personal difficulties and emotions and offer affective comments. The informal nature of posting and the social network of twittering were perceived as positive aspects that increased students’ motivation to write in English, while the character limit and the response delay were seen as negative factors in writing activities. This article discusses instructional methods using microblogging to employ a supportive community in which to practice and optimize technology-enhanced English writing.