Võ Hà Trúc Ly 19131083 Phạm Thị Hằng 19131044

Võ Hà Trúc Ly - 19131083
Phạm Thị Hằng - 19131044
Nguyễn Ngọc Hân - 18131031

Researchers are interested in the development of social media. These sparked numerous research that investigated the potential of social media as a tool for education, particularly English language learning. This essay's comparison and contrast section will highlight the similarities and differences between the three pieces on using social media to learn English.

The first paper published in 2017 conducted by Hanan Ismail K Kutubkhanah Alsaied from Women’s Main campus King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, she titled the paper: "Perceived Effectiveness of Social Media as an English Language Learning Tool" (hereinafter referred to as Article 1). After then in 2019, the second paper entitled “The Use of Social Media for English Language Learning: An Exploratory Study of EFL University Students'' (hereinafter referred to as “Article 2”) researched by: Tubagus Zam Zam Al Arif from University Jambi, Indonesia. One year later, in 2020, the 3 authors Botan Othman Amin, Ruma Rafiq, Nohaiz Mehmood from Cyprus International University, Northern Cyprus also conducted a similar study with the article: “The impact of social media in english language learning” (hereinafter referred to as “Article 3”)
With regards to the similarities, quantitative research methods were used in both Article 1 and Article 2, though sharing the same research methods, they do hold differences in the instruments, Article 1 goes with survey while Article 2 goes with questionnaires and interview, which is in fact used in Article 3 too. The two articles 2 and 3 both have qualitative research methods in common with interview asking questions in order to collect data indicated how can Social media can come in hand when it comes to English language learning.
The most visible variation is the quantity of participants in each article. For Article 2, researchers chose 67 people who were previously and formally asked to participate in the study. For Article 3, a total of ten participants were chosen, including high school students, language teachers and instructors in both public and private schools and colleges, ESL teachers, and a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages practitioner (TESOL). All the participants were chosen on purpose. Article 1 had the most participation, with 283 persons and solely women, representing 15.8% of the target demographic of female Saudi students enrolled in a distance learning course at King Abdulaziz University.
The difference in the three articles' purpose is the next point. While Article 2 and 3 aimed to investigate the impacts and consequences of utilizing social media in English learning, Article 1 was more concerned with looking at the relationship between the independent variables (including the extent to which one uses social media, how much one interacts with classmates and teachers, how much one engages in active cooperative learning, etc.) and the dependent variable (i.e., learning performance).
Besides, the research approach used in three Articles are not similar. Articles 1’s researchers applied a quantitative methodology, whereas Article 3 researchers used a qualitative one. Unlike the other two pieces, Article 2 used both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Furthermore, each article’s study design is different. The study's research design of Article 2 was Descriptive Phenomenology. Article 1 exclusively took the descriptive approach, whereas Article 3 researchers used the interpretative method.
The outcomes of each study are the last distinct point. Both Article 1 and 2 demonstrated favorable attitudes about the usage of social media in English language acquisition that social media plays a vital role in helping them enhance their English language abilities. Article 3, on the other hand, exposed both the pros and cons of social media, presenting the readers with broader and clearer findings.
In brief, three articles have produced mixed outcomes. Social media is crucial for acquiring language ability, as stated in Article 1 and 2. However, according to Article 3. Social media, while having some advantages, is also a potential threat. With all the false information, non-academic, non-grammar content, persistently profane language, and artificial human-to-human interaction patterns, it might be confusing for language learners. Each article's conclusion makes specific remarks but three of them basically argue that social mediamedia is a useful technique for language learning.

References

Alsaied, H. I. K. (2017). Perceived Effectiveness of Social Media as an English Language Learning Tool. Arab World English Journal, 8 (1).

Al Arif, T. Z. Z. (2019). The use of social media for English language learning: An exploratory study of EFL university students. Metathesis: Journal of English Language, Literature, and Teaching, 3(2), 224-233.

Cenoz, J, & Gorter, D. (2011). Impact of Social Media in English Language Learning: Utilizing S.W.O.T Analysis. Focus on Multilingualism: A Study of Trilingual Writing. The Modern Language Journal, 95 (3), 356–369.