How Social Networks Can Psycholinguistically Help Iranian Young Learners of English Improve: Communication through Telegram in Focus

This study aims to highlight the effects of communication through social networks specifically Telegram on language learning of young learners of English. Following a qualitative design, a group of young learners of English at Iran Language Institute was chosen. Besides learning formally in the class, the participants were given the chance to keep in contact with their classmates and teacher outside the classroom setting in a Telegram group; and thus, they were both linguistically and psychologically motivated. This was done during a period of three months (one semester). Results showed that this informal context could psychologically help the learners gain confidence to speakand transfer this confidence to the formal classroom setting; in other words, they became more intimate with their classmates and teacher, and this intimacy led to an active participation in the formal setting of the classroom. Moreover, there was a lively and friendly atmosphere among the learners in the classroom, since they showed less fear or unpleasant emotions about talking. They were not worried about making mistakes in the classroom setting because they had experienced it in the virtual setting. The obtained results corroborate the need for extending the learners’ formal classroom contact with their teacher as well as the target language to an informal setting outside theclassroom.

Keywords:

social networks , telegram , virtual setting , classroom setting