Using Facebook in and Outside of Classroom for Language Education in Rural Areas of Bangladesh: Prospects and Challenges

Nujhat Nuari Islam

Abstract

Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 are now in discussion all over the world. Web 3.0 is the recent addition in the World Wide Web. Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are the tools of web 3.0 technology. SNSs are mainly used for communicative purpose. Educators, scholars and researchers are trying to use these sites for educative purpose as well. Many of them have done research on this purpose. This paper focuses on using facebook in and outside of classroom for education in rural areas of Bangladesh. There are computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc. electronic devices that can be used to access facebook with 3G/4G connection of internet. Mobile phone service providers like Grameen phone, Banglalink, Robi, Airtel, Teletalk, Citycell, along with Wimax service provider like Qubee, Banglalion, Ollo etc. are there to serve everyone with the fastest internet connection. Therefore, it is easy to access facebook in and outside of the classroom for educative purpose. Some language learning mobile applications are also part of it. After Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL), people are very eager to investigate the ways of using social networking sites in language classrooms. In this age, Facebook, Skype, Twitter, Friendster, youtube, and several blogs are very popular among everyone. This paper is a classroom based research. It delineates how facebook can be used for English Language Teaching (ELT) in language classroom for the students of Hamdard University Bangladesh which is located in Newtown, Sonargaon, Narayanganj. This problem will eventually address the present status quo of internet facility in rural areas of Bangladesh. The researcher used facebook to make a practice of writing and reading English among the students. As the students answer in their mid and final term in writing; therefore, the researcher focused on these two skills.

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