STUDENTS' UTILIZATION OF FACEBOOK FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING EFFICACY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The emergence of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace has paved way for educators to expand their teaching and learning process beyond their classroom environment. This study aims to investigate the frequency of Facebook use amongst Malaysian polytechnic students and how they use Facebook for language learning efficacy. The findings in this study show that all the respondents engage in Facebook activities at least 1 hour a day and almost all of them used Facebook for communication and social networking. Nonetheless the use of Facebook in teaching and learning has a significant impact on students' language learning efficacy and achievement. The use Facebook could be an optional platform for language learning and further motivate students towards a better performance. A quantitative research approach was employed with the administration of a Likert Scale questionnaire on 200 polytechnic students. According to the results, the immense use of Facebook amongst these students are clear evident of how teenagers especially college-goers are grossly involved in networking activities. In addition, the use of Facebook for language learning efficacy is another manifestation how it could be a platform for teaching and learning at institutions of higher learning. The use Facebook could be an optional platform for language learning and further motivate students towards a better performance.