1

Facebooking and Students’ English proficiency

Chapter 1

Introduction to the Study

This chapter is made up of five (5) parts namely: (1)

Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study, (2)

Statement of the Problem and the Hypotheses, (3)

Significance of the Study, (4) Definition of Terms, and (5)

Delimitation of the Study.

Part One, Background and Theoretical Framework of the

Study, provides an overview of the study and presents the

importance of conducting the study. It also shows the

theoretical framework which serves as the bases of the

study.

Part Two, Statement of the Problem and the Hypotheses

of the Study, states the general and specific questions to

be answered as well as the hypotheses to be tested.

Part Three, Significance of the Study, states the

essence and importance of the study and its positive

benefits to the recipients.

 2

Part Four, Definition of Terms, defines the important

and key terms used in the study in both their conceptual and

operational definitions.

Part Five, Delimitation of the Study, enumerates the

limitations, scope and boundaries of the study.

Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study

Among many social networking websites, Facebook has

indubitably emerged as one of the most vibrant ubiquitous

phenomena for decades. Facebook, American online social

network service that is part of the company Meta Platforms.

Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo

Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, all of whom

were students at Harvard University. It became the largest

social network in the world, with nearly three billion users

as of 2021, and about half that number were using Facebook

every day. The site has many components, including Timeline,

a space on each user’s profile page where users can post

their content and friends can post messages; Status, which

enables users to alert friends to their current location or

situation; and News Feed, which informs users of changes to

their friends’ profiles and status. (Encyclopedia

Britannica, 2021). In the last few years, the output of

 3

social media networking especially Facebook has exploded

both in English countries and non-speaking English

countries. English language as the main communication medium

became a prerequisite and a provision for people to learn

and master it as it also became the basic language for

business, technology, and entertainment. This is noticed and

evidenced by the extensive amount of academic and scientific

research documented in English. The English Language has an

important role in several occupations, so several

educational studies have confirmed the effective way to

attain progress and advancement in language fluency and

accuracy through reading and writing to improve these skills

upon which the whole learning process depends (Al-Tamimi et

al., 2018).

Social Networking sites like Facebook have been used

for a variety of educational purposes and helps students in

educational settings. The social spaces available to

students can enable a more individual life experience for

learning in an online environment and can supply what is

taught in a traditional classroom setting. Social networking

sites improve technology Excellency, enhance social skills

and motivate students to communicate in new ways with new

people. Facebook improves one’s personal development;

 4

increases students’ successes; assists both teachers and

students when use as a supportive material in lessons;

allows to share information between colleagues; makes

learning more enjoyable; helps teachers and students to know

each other better via profile pages; increases students’

motivation by allowing them to communicate with each other;

encourages colleagues to learn more; increases students’

will to learn by sharing extra resources about their

homework (Bacuyan, 2015). A study pointed out that students

nowadays have many concerns rather than studying and they

are addicted to different kinds of technology. They like

chatting with friends using their Facebook accounts which in

turn make it easy to use Facebook in how to write

effectively. In lieu, their academic performance in English

writing is not as proficient as it should be because they

don’t have the passion to learn through traditional methods.

Facebook can be a new learning strategy to motivate

students to learn the English language since young people

today live media saturated lives, spending an average of 6.5

hour a day using media, and are exposed to media more than

8.5 hour a day. Through Facebook, teachers can embed

multimedia to splash colorful experiences to serve learners’

various learning preferences and styles in unconventional

fashions. Social networks create a collaborative community

 5

and facilitates students to become critical thinkers who

learn from one another, active participants, curious

explorers, creative designers, and better communicators.

Therefore, the enormous potential of this versatile online

learning tool is highly possible to strengthen teachers’

credibility into students’ culture and community, foster

students’ individualized opportunities for deeper and

meaningful intercommunications with teachers, peers, native

speakers, and authentic sources. In addition to textbook

content, supplementary learning activities, exercises,

readings, and writings especially courses related to

language, technology can be blended for academic purposes to

color learning experiences and facilitate more opportunities

in practice to increase students’ language proficiency.

Thus, online activities can be designed to facilitate

intercommunication and social interaction. Studies regarding

multimedia learning reveal that students’ attention,

participation, proficiency and long-term memory increase

significantly, when they learn from a platform where

pictures and words are combined. Therefore, technology with

various media components such as texts, sound, images, and

videos can be used as a meaningfully embedded learning tool

to foster reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills,

especially when their peers give feedback.

 6

Such casual learning outside class supports knowledge

acquisition and construction as found in many studies.

Comparatively, Facebook was deployed for digital-based

learning to facilitate student’s learning along with

working. The outcomes demonstrated student achievement with

higher scores, active participation, and more learning

enjoyment in the course. (Ekahitanond, 2018). It is an open

platform for knowledge exchange from scholars with minimum

cost but maximum effectiveness. In this study, the

researcher discusses the effects of Facebook on students'

proficiency in the English subject. This study investigates

the result of Facebook as an English learning tool in and

outside of the face-to-face classroom in the process of

learning writing skills and developing vocabularies in

English by Jamindan National grade 12 High Schoolers in STEM

strands.

Figure 1 below shows the variable relationship in the

study.

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

 7

Amount of time spent Students’ Proficiency

using Facebook in English

Figure 1. Students’ Proficiency in English is affected by

the amount of time spent using Facebook.

Statement of the Problem and Hypotheses

This study will determine the relationship of Facebook

exposure and the English proficiency of Jamindan National

High School grade 12 STEM students in School Year 2021-2022.

Specifically, it seeks to find answers to the following

questions:

1. What is the level of Facebook usage in Jamindan

National High School students as an entire group and when

grouped in terms of sex?

2. What is the students’ level of English proficiency

as an entire group and when grouped in terms of sex?

3. Are there any significant differences in the level

of Facebook usage of students when classified according to

sex?

4. Are there any significant differences in the level

of English proficiency of students when classified according

to sex?
 8

5. Is there a significant relationship between

Facebook usage and English proficiency of Grade 12 STEM

Students?

Based on the preceding problem problems, the following

hypotheses will be tested:

1. There is no significant difference in Facebook

usage in Jamindan National High School Grade 12-STEM

students as an entire group and when grouped in terms of

sex.

2. The students’ level of English proficiency is the

same as an entire group and when grouped in terms of sex.

3. There is no significant difference in the level of

Facebook exposure of students when classified according to

sex.

4. There is no significant difference in the level of

English proficiency of students when classified according to

sex.

6. There is no significant relationship between

Facebook usage and English proficiency of Grade 12 STEM

Students.

Significance of the Study

 9

This study will provide essential information in

Facebooking and students’ English Proficiency. The result of

this study will be useful to the following namely; students,

teachers, school, and future researchers.

Students. This study will help persuade or change the

perspective of students towards use of social media websites

for educational purposes, it can help students select the

content they browse and help establish a better learning

ground for students online. It can also assist students

improve their vocabulary and communication skills, which can

be a huge benefit in their English classes and in their

academic performance.

Teachers. This study may help teacher’s especially

English teachers, to easily communicate and teach lessons

effectively to their students. It will also provide them

information about the impact of Facebooking to the students’

English skills and comprehension due to their exposure in

Facebook app.

School. It will provide future context to the school

curriculum on where students absorb English skills and where

they lack, as well as more context on how to fit their

curriculums to students' English skill set.

 10

Future Researcher. This study will benefit future

researchers in conducting a relatively similar study because

they will gain some knowledge and guidelines that can help

them to improve and conduct their own study that is related

to this topic.

Definition of Terms

For better understanding, the following terms were

defined conceptually and operationally:

Facebooking - Refers to the act of logging on and using

Facebook, a popular social media website. Facebooking can

include making status updates, posting videos, photos or

links or commenting on posts made by the user's Facebook

"friends" (Techopedia Inc., 2022).

In this study, "Facebooking" refers to the scores

obtained by the students using a research-made

questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of (20) statements

on frequency of use and content encountered by the students

when browsing Facebook to be interpreted using the 5-point

Likert Scale as Very Frequent (4.21-5.00), Frequent (3.41-

4.20), Neutral (2.61-3.40), Rarely (1.81-2.60), Very Rarely

(1.00-1.80).

English Proficiency - Is the ability of Students to use

the English language to make and communicate meaning in

 11

spoken and written contexts while completing their program

of study (University of Southern Queensland, 2016).

In this study, "English Proficiency" refers to the

scores obtained by the students using an English Proficiency

Test adapted from transparent.com. The questionnaire

consists of (30) questions on students’ proficiency in

English to be interpreted using the 5-point Scale as Very

High (24.01-30.00), High (18.01-24.00), Moderate (12.01-

18.00), Low (6.01-12.00), Very Low (0-6.00).

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study aims to determine the relationship between

Facebooking and proficiency in English of grade 12 STEM

students from Jamindan National High School for the school

year 2021-2022 with respondents composed of 58 from a total

population of 67 selected through simple random sampling.

This study utilizes descriptive-correlational research

to determine the effect of Facebooking on a student’s

proficiency in English.

The data in this study will be gathered using a

research-made questionnaire and an English Proficiency Test

adapted from transparent.com. The first part is the

frequency of use and content encountered by the student when

 12

browsing through Facebook and the second part is the

students’ proficiency in English test. A personal data form

will be included to determine the students’ sex.

The independent variable is the frequency of use and

content encountered while browsing through Facebook;

alternatively, the dependent variable is the proficiency in

English.

The statistical tools that will be utilized in this

study are the frequency count, percentage, mean, and

standard deviation, T-test, and Pearson’s r.