In modern world the intensive development of Internet technologies and various information and communication networks has led to the emergence of new means of communication. Over the past ten years, foreign language teachers have been actively using Internet resources in the classroom to immerse students in the language environment. Free access to a variety of modern materials provides teachers of a foreign language with exceptional opportunities.
A blog is a modern way of social interaction through mainly written communication; therefore, it is advisable to use it in the educational process already at all stages of learning a foreign language. The primary purpose of blogs is to exchange information, opinions, ideas, advice, comments between representatives of the public. Using the material of such a social service will help students develop the ability to understand written sources, considering the communicative tasks implemented in them. One of the most popular networks that focuses on microblogging is the world-famous Twitter network.
Twitter helps the student to focus on the ability to write competently and concisely. Students can read what others write and take part in discussions on Twitter. Regular writing of messages on Twitter helps to learn how to compose short and accurate phrases in English. The high communicative potential of Twitter is of great importance since one of the tasks of modern education is the formation of students’ communicative competence using all academic subjects. Students can learn a foreign language and read other people’s blogs on interesting or professional topics.
Twitter provides an opportunity to develop speech competence, which involves the development of communicative skills in four main types of speech activity such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Twitter provides an opportunity to develop writing skills, including expressing thoughts concisely in English. (Malik et al., 2019). To stimulate the speech of students, it is advisable to use tweets that contain suggestions for reasoning, expressing one’s opinion, agreement, or disagreement.
Another advantage of Twitter is the emphasis on building skills and understanding different types of statements. In addition, students get the opportunity to construct sentences using lexical and grammatical phonetic means logically and convincingly correctly. Speech interaction in a foreign language is carried out according to certain speech norms regulating verbal exchange in the relevant community. The use of Twitter in the learning process is an essential way of forming all components of communicative competence, which can significantly increase motivation to learn a foreign language and modernize the educational process.
Reference
Malik, A., Heyman-Schrum, C., Johri, A. (2019). Use of Twitter across educational settings: A review of the literature. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 16(36), 1-22. Web.