English Writing via a Social Networking Platform

This study examined students' perceptions of completing an English writing class via a social networking platform. Participants were 162 aboriginal students between 18 and 23 years of age at a nursing college in southern Taiwan. Different ethnicities were defined and represented by different memberships of indigenous groups or tribes, also known as the aboriginals. The participants were completing a required English language course and were required to pass an English Proficiency test as an exit requirement of the university. Participants' pretest scores indicated that they had a positive perception of taking a web-based class. At the conclusion of the study, based on posttest scores, students' positive perceptions decreased noticeably for six of the thirteen items on the instrument. The findings of the study also indicated that tribal membership had no significant impact on students' perceptions of completing an English writing class via a predominantly web-based environment.