ABSTRACT

The benefit and harm of social networking sites had been disputed among communicationists
and educationists for years, but a solid conclusion was never surfaced. In rural Malaysia,
social networking sites such as Facebook (FB) gradually embraced into the contemporary
lesson system as one of the main approaches to support the students’ educational
communications of written English language. Relevantly, many of the previous studies
claimed that rural children frequently discovered with poor performance in the English
language communications, in particular of written form. However, it is evident throughout
the studies that most of the related assessment were conducted in school stuctured
environment which highly triggered to the increase of anxiety level among the students
subsequently led to the decrease of motivation toward written English communication
(WEC). Furthermore, the connectedness of rural students to technology and the penetration
to social network were proven to increase, further helped the researcher to disclose
interesting discovery of the current English usage for communication purposes among them.
Therefore, this research aims to investigate the extent of written English for communication
by FELDA primary school students through their interaction (posts and comments) on
Facebook wall (FBW), followed by how far the communication is developed. Data for the
study obtained from upper primary level students between 10 and 12 years through
instigation of multiple methods: (1) interviews, (2) questionnaires, and (3) wall postings. The
collected data were further processed and transformed into several meaningful information
based on the structured variables and objectives. The findings revealed that some of the
unexpected results were drawn. Some of the infrequent FB login users were among the top
English users because they liked to write longer statuses updates on their FBWs. It was also
found that the intermediate achievers group surpassed the high achievers group use of
English in communication. These findings show that those who did not perform in more
structured environments do not necessarily perform poor in other writing areas such as the
natural environment of FB due to factors such as providing a pleasant experience and a
learning platform. Ultimately, the students proposed their desire for the integration of FB
application into formal English Lesson to make English communication more fun, effective,
and motivating. The findings of the current study will definitely enrich the corpus of work
conducted on the influence of social networking sites toward present children English
language development and encourage further detailed research in this area. It will also,
hopefully attest the idea of well-integrated technologies of social networking in educational
processes to develop Malaysian rural students English proficiency in literacy can be
successfully executed in natural communication environment.
 ABSTRAK

Kebaikan dan keburukan laman rangkaian sosial telah bertahun menjadi pertikaian
dikalangan ahli komunikasi dan pendidik tetapi tuntas yang kukuh belum ditemui. Di
kawasan luar bandar Malaysia, laman rangkaian sosial seperti Facebook (FB) mula diserap ke
dalam sistem pembelajaran terkini sebagai satu pendekatan menyokong pendidikan
komunikasi bertulis Bahasa Inggeris pelajar. Banyak kajian terdahulu mendakwa kanak-
kanak luar bandar sering ditemui dengan prestasi kurang baik dalam komuniksi Bahasa
Inggeris, terutamanya dalam bentuk tulisan. Telah dibuktikan bahawa kajian dan penilaian
berkaitan dijalankan di persekitaran yang berstruktur sekolah yang berkecenderungan
meningkatkan tahap kerisauan dikalangan pelajar seterusnya menyebabkan penurunan
motivasi dalam komunikasi bertulis Bahasa Inggeris (WEC). Tambahan pula, penggunaan
teknologi dan akses ke rangkaian sosial di kalangan pelajar luar bandar terbukti meningkat
justeru membantu pengkaji menemukan dapatan menarik berkaitan penggunaan Bahasa
Inggeris terkini untuk tujuan komunikasi di kalangan mereka. Oleh demikian, kajian ini
menyiasat sejauh mana Bahasa Inggeris bertulis bagi tujuan komunikasi di kalangan pelajar
sekolah rendah FELDA digunakan melalui interaksi mereka (di ruangan status dan komen) di
dinding Facebook (FBW), diikuti sejauh mana komunikasi tersebut berkembang. Data kajian
diperolehi daripada pelajar fasa 2 berumur diantara 10 dan 12 tahun melalui kaedah: (1)
temubual, (2) borang soal selidik, dan (3) paparan dinding FB. Data kemudiannya diproses
dan diubah menjadi beberapa maklumat yang bermakna berdasarkan kepada pembolehubah
dan objektif yang dirangka. Hasil kajian menunjukkan keputusan tidak dijangka telah
diperolehi. Beberapa pengguna yang jarang log masuk ke akaun mereka merupakan antara
pengguna kerap Bahasa Inggeris kerana mereka gemar menulis status yang lebih panjang.
Kajian juga mendapati kumpulan pelajar sederhana telah mengatasi penggunaan Bahasa
Inggeris kumpulan pencapaian tinggi dalam komunikasi. Dapatan ini menunjukkan bahawa
pelajar yang tidak menunjukkan prestasi yang bagus di dalam persekitaran yang lebih
berstruktur tidak semestinya akan menunjukkan prestasi yang rendah dalam bidang penulisan
lain sebagai contoh persekitaran semulajadi FB disebabkan faktor-faktor seperti pengalaman
yang menyenangkan dan platform pembelajaran. Pelajar juga menyuarakan keinginanan
untuk mengintegrasikan FB dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Inggeris formal supaya komunikasi
dalam Bahasa Inggeris lebih seronok, berkesan, dan memotivasikan. Penemuan kajian
semasa ini pastinya dapat memperkayakan korpus kerja yang dilakukan terhadap pengaruh
laman rangkaian sosial terhadap perkembangan Bahasa Inggeris kanak-kanak semasa dan
menggalakkan penyelidikan lebih terperinci dalam bidang ini. Ianya juga, diharap dapat
membuktikan bahawa penggunaan teknologi yang terancang dalam proses pendidikan untuk
membangunkan penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris pelajar luar bandar boleh dijalankan dengan
jayanya dalam persekitaran komunikasi semulajadi.