Tweet circle: Effects of twitter on EFL students' writing skill development

Despite the fact that the concept of utilizing social networking sites [SNS], micro blogging in specific, in foreign language learning process is a relatively new field in the literature, SNS are well appreciated among our students who are 'digital natives' as Prensky (2001) coined the term. In fact, SNS currently turn into an indispensable part in the lives of today's learners. Social media has now widespread participants among students who manage to access and express themselves almost anywhere and anytime of the day. Taking into consideration of contemporary situations, ever changing educational technologies and emerging social media sites, the current experimental study deals with the possible effects and outcomes of using Twitter - a micro blogging and social networking site- on students' writing performances. Enrolling from university's different faculties to OKU Prep classes, 63 EFL students in total who had 24 English course hours per week, constituted the experimental and the control groups. The students in the experimental group were asked to follow instructions, 'Twitter hashtags' which were given by the teacher in the light of the courses covered in the class. For example, with #DreamJobs heading, the students were required to write English sentences about their dream jobs, and throughout the study, the teacher provided immediate feedback to those sentences. The control group students continued their standard learning process without any intervention of Twitter usage. Writing achievement test was implemented to both the experimental and the control group at the beginning and end of the term, and a motivation questionnaire was applied to the experimental group. In addition, retrospective interviews were done with some of the students in the experimental group and they were asked about their feelings and opinions about Tweet Circle activity. The results emerged at the end of the study revealed substantial effects of Twitter usage on EFL students' overall success in writing courses. According to the results, it is suggested that Twitter usage in writing classes may be integrated into the curriculum.