Most parents and teachers are frustrated with the popularity of social media among the students. Students spend their days on Facebook and Twitter, updating statuses and writing short sentences full of slang and typos – what’s good in that?
Well, actually while social media can be distracting and addictive, they can help students too. It might seem surprising, but they could be a great tool for strengthening students’ writing skills and improving their motivation. Of course, this happens only when you know how to make the most out of it.
So how exactly social media help students improve their writing?
1. They give Students their Audience.
How much feedback do students get for their writing? Probably, not much, and it all comes from one person – a teacher. Spending hours on writing texts that would be read by one person only might seem frustrating and discourage too many.
However, writing a blog post and sharing it on social media or simply writing a social media update is completely different. Students’ writing is viewed by so many people – their friends, their followers, and occasional readers who stumble upon their social media page. Moreover, they also can get a lot of feedback for their writing – or not get any at all, of course. However, in the second case, it would probably encourage them to write something better or more interesting to their target audience.
2. They help Students Develop their Own Voice.
Writing for an audience means you have to speak to this audience. In school and college students are usually taught to write in a very specific manner; however, no one will be able to use academic language and style to communicate with their peers successfully.
This means students have to develop their own language – less formal, more modern, more “theirs”. Of course, some might say that a student can do so without social media too: for example, writing in a diary. However, writing and knowing that people will see and appraise it is a completely different thing. It encourages students to work harder and to polish their existing style.
3. They Teach Students how to Deliver their thoughts in a different manner.
All social media are different. You are able to write a long detailed post on Facebook, but it won’t fit on Twitter, and it won’t look good on Instagram. Most of the students are present in all existing social media, therefore learning to deliver their messages in all of them.
And that is more interesting and beneficial than you might think at first. For example, Twitter helps students formulate their thoughts very clearly and precisely, so they would fit into the 140-symbol limit. If they use Twitter a lot, they’ll probably have fewer troubles with summary writing later. Moreover, most people still prefer to tweet without mistakes, so grammar is not always as big of a problem as it might seem.
4. They Allow Students to Learn from the Best.
One of the greatest things about social media is that they allow communicating freely. Instead of wasting hours trying to contact a person by email or phone (if you even have their contacts at all), you can ask them a question directly on social media. You can also watch YouTube videos with various writing and language tips. And, of course, you are able to see how other people write and communicate, using them as an example.
5. They help Students Feel Appreciated.
I’ve already mentioned that feedback is important. However, right feedback is not simply important – it could do wonders to students’ self-esteem. Imagine a talented student sharing their writing online and getting tons of feedback. Without a doubt, they’ll feel appreciated and inspired, encouraged to write more and more.
That’s probably the best thing about social media: talented ones have a real opportunity to shine there. It could take years for someone from the real world to notice how good a student is in writing and to praise them for that. However, on social media, it could happen much quicker. And who knows, maybe the student will decide they want to become a writer or a blogger after receiving such amazing feedback.
So I think that social media can be more important and useful than many of us think. However, in order for this to happen the students need to understand that social media can be used not only for fun. So if you are a parent or a teacher, you could try delivering this message to the students (and maybe even coming up with social media related home assignments) and see what will happen. Of course, some students would probably still keep using social media for fun only. Some, however, may find your advice useful and make something great out of it.