AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL NETWORKS AND ENGLISH ATTAINMENT OF BOARDING STUDENTS IN DUBAI

AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL NETWORKS AND ENGLISH ATTAINMENT OF BOARDING STUDENTS IN DUBAI

Sabawi, Aimon
Yildiz, Yasemin

This study explores the effects of social networks on English progress in a UAE international English National Curriuclum (ENC) boarding school. The observed population consisted of a case study of 11 boarding students, three female and eight male, who completed their first year of International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) curriculum in Year 10. Social network data was collected through the administration of a customized questionnaire, in addition to a semi-structured teacher questionnaire conducted with their English as an additional language (EAL) instructor. The results indicated that the plexity of social ties and the number of relations who used the target language had the highest positive relationship to the students’ English progress across most skills. An increased frequency of ‘non school friends’ in the social network had the strongest negative impact on language progress. This study proved that there may be various significant links between social relationships and language acquisition.

Article
PeerReviewed

International Burch University

2015

2978