CALICO 2015, University of Colorado, Boulder – May 29, 2015

1. Micro-Input: Effects of an Instructor
Model on L2 Student Practice on Twitter
Fabrizio Fornara
Florida State University
May 29th, 2015
CALICO 2015 - University of Colorado, Boulder

2. Back to 2009…

3. …and 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

4. Why Twitter?
Twitter is one of the most
popular social media sites
in America and the most
popular microblogging
service (Duggan et al.,
2015).

5. Why Twitter? (cont.)
Twitter is a knowledge-sharing tool that enables
users to share short texts, engage in message
broadcasting, and interact with other users
(Dennen & Jiang, 2012).
Twitter is participatory, authentic, and immediate
(Antenos-Conforti, 2009) and engage a
community of users in social interactions that are
similar to the ones that language instructors try to
reproduce in class to foster language acquisition
(McBride, 2009).

6. Twitter for L2 Learning
Twitter can be a useful tool to integrate and
support L2 instruction:
• Increase students’ exposure to L2 input.
• Students produce and reformulate L2 output
for a real audience.
• Having a real audience, students may be
encouraged to use the target language for
authentic communications rather than only for
practice (Chapelle, 1998).

7. Twitter for L2 Learning (cont.)
Students’ interactions on Twitter lie between
asynchronous and synchronous communication.
Students’ entries may model formal writing,
everyday speaking, and everything in between.
(Barrett, 2009)

8. Twitter for L2 Learning (cont.)
In a formal higher education setting, Twitter for
language learning has been used to foster:
• Student attitude (Antenos-Conforti, 2009)
• Communicative and cultural competence (Borau,
Feng, Shen, & Ullrich, 2009)
• Community building (Lomicka & Lord, 2011)
• Interaction with native speakers (Castro, 2009)
A structured practice helps increase student noticing
in input and output of target language features and
interaction (Hattem, 2012).

9. We Have a Problem
Students occasionally experiment with new
grammar and vocabulary, they usually
prefer to use language features that they
have already acquired and practiced.
How can we increase student use of new
grammar and vocabulary without disrupting
the dynamic of the activity and losing the
authenticity and spontaneity of student
interactions?

10. Trying to Solve the Problem
The purpose of this study is to observe whether
the presence of an instructor model encourages
student use of new grammar and vocabulary.
Of particular interest is whether students who
have an instructor who models L2 features
recently covered in class (experimental group)
use them more than students who have an
instructor who models other L2 features (control
group).

11. The question is…
Does the presence of an instructor who
models L2 features affect student L2 use
on Twitter?
The findings of this study might help L2 instructors
to design microblogging tools-based learning
activities that foster student authentic use of the
target language.

12. Let’s Tweet!
1
5 12

13. Let’s Tweet! (cont.)
Students follow on Twitter all their classmates and
the researcher.
Unstructured activity, no content restriction:
• Reduce student anxiety and let them freely
experiment with the language (Krashen, 1997).
• Spontaneous, informal, and authentic
communication.
Student participation is graded on the frequency of
postings, not the quality of their writing.

14. Tweeting Students
Sample:
• Six sections, Italian 2 course: 93 students
Nonprobability, convenience sample
Entire sections were assigned to one of the
two conditions:
• Experimental: 4 sections, 52 students
• Control: 2 sections, 41 students

15. Collecting Tweets
Data sources:
• Tweets: 5000+ total
• N=1121
• 650 experimental condition
• 571 control condition
• Pre- and post-course surveys: 92 students
Data collection:
• tweetdownload.net, free online tool

16. What the Students Say?
Data analysis:
• Content analysis of the students’ tweets
Grammar Vocabulary
Indirect object pronouns Bar, restaurant
Double pronouns Cooking
Adverbs Leisure activities
Impersonal verbs Sports
Imperfetto Health
Future Clothes

18. Results

20. What About Twitter?
3.3
21.7
43.5
9.8
Twitter is a useful tool to practice Italian
Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree
12
23.9
34.8
15.2
I liked using Twitter to practice Italian
Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree
N=92

21. What About Twitter? (cont.)
2.2
7.6
59.8
16.3
The activity on Twitter gave me the
opportunity to use Italian in my daily life
Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree
4.3
16.3
38
20.7
The activity on Twitter helped me practice
Italian when I normally wouldn’t have
Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree
N=92
N=92

22. What About Twitter? (cont.)
2.2
15.2
46.7
19.6
The activity on Twitter gave me the opportunity to
practice new grammar and vocabulary
Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree
N=92

23. What About Twitter? (cont.)
6.5
21.7
37
12
The activity on Twitter helped me to
assimilate Italian grammar
Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree
4.3
18.5
41.3
16.3
The activity on Twitter helped me to
assimilate Italian vocabulary
Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree
N=92
N=92

24. Good
“Made me use Italian every day”
“It forced me to speak Italian at
least once a day”
“helped me become more fluent”
“I learned to use Italian in an
everyday context rather than just in
class”
“It gave me a chance to practice
using new grammar and vocab.”
“it makes speaking italian kinda fun”
“I started to think in Italian”
“I like how twitter let me have a
conversation with my classmates in
italian that was not prompted by a
textbook”
“It’s an easy grade”
“I like how the twitter activity got me
more interested in Italian culture, not
just the grammar and vocabulary”
“Became more comfortable speaking
and writing Italian conversationally”

25. Not so good
“Forgot to tweet everyday”
“I don't think I was engaged with the
other classmates”
“I don't have a smartphone”
“Not getting grammatical feedback
on content”
“Everyone posted the same kinds of
things over and over.”
“People being overall negative on
the assignment was annoying.”
“it does not help me learn”
“I don't like having to use a social
media site for a class”
“It can be difficult to figure out how to
say what I want to say in Italian”
“I didn't like being forced to tweet
once a day”
“I don't think it should be a grade”
“Everyone just copied everyone else's
tweets”

26. What I Learned
Although students in the experimental group use new
grammar and vocabulary more often than students in
the control condition, the presence of a co-tweeting
instructor does not significantly influence student use of
these features.
An unstructured practice on Twitter does not help
increase student noticing in input and output of target
language features.
Overall, students have a positive perception of the
Twitter activity – it encourages them to use the L2.

27. Implications for Design
If we want students to consistently use new grammar
and vocabulary, we should design a structured
practice that encourages its use (Hattem, 2012).
Structuring student-instructor and student-student
interactions might encourage students to use targeted
grammar and vocabulary.
Reduce the duration of the activity, reward correct and
frequent use.

28. I Have Some Questions For You
• Would you use Twitter for L2 practice?
• How would you structure the activity?
• Would you make the activity mandatory
or optional?
• What can this kind of data tell us about
student language acquisition?
• Can similar data help answer other
research questions?

29. Thanks #calico2015!
Fabrizio Fornara
ff11@my.fsu.edu @ffornara
May 29th, 2015
CALICO 2015 - University of Colorado, Boulder