Faculty and student perceptions of the use of web 2.0 tools to develop communication skills in English

• Autor(a) principal: Chagas, Laura Vala
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Pedro, Neuza
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/6742
• topic: English language learning; Web 2.0; Communication skills; Higher education; Technology integration

As the use of Web 2.0 proves to be beneficial in foreign language learning contexts, this quantitative study focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools for the development of communication skills in English, specifically in higher education. In order to investigate the participants’ perceptions, 341 undergraduate students and 70 faculty members from Portuguese higher education institutions responded to an online survey. They were asked to associate a list of Web 2.0 tool types with the communication skills that they believed could be developed in English language learning. The general results from both groups show that video sharing tools (for listening and speaking) and presentation tools (for reading and writing) are the ones that the respondents consider to be the most used in class. A deeper analysis allows us to identify other tools that are mostly used in face-to-face and distance learning contexts. We suggest that this list can work as a guideline for faculty members in their practice.