Conference+Paper+1+Özgür+Can+Kaya

Özgür Can Kaya, 1734946 Conference Reflection The conference I have watched on the internet is Facebook – a Friend or Foe by Evelina Miščin. The aim of this workshop is to show the ways how to use Facebook in class, which can be used both in General English, as well as in Business English classes. First of all, I would like to say that it was a lengthy conference, almost 50 minutes. It was a little bit hard for me to listen to the presentation from the start to the end, but I can say that I am glad I watched it. The topic is quite interesting and recent, the effect of Facebook on students' language. The presenter mainly talked about the advantages and disadvantages of Facebook. As far as I could observe, there were a lot more advantages than disadvantages. I believe that one of the most important points in the presentation was the vocabulary items she presented: defriend, social swarming,Fakester, tweetup,Meformer, mindcasting,MoSoSo, social networking fatigue,pity friend, SoLoMo,socially produced and social notworking. I was really impresses by just how many different vocabulary items she was able to find about the topic. For example, I only knew defriend, Fakester, tweetup, pity friend, and a few others. Even then, they were mostly the ones that I was able to guess their meaning more or less with great success. On the other hand, the ones like MoSoSo (mobile social software; a program that enables you to use your mobile phone to find and interact with people near you), SoLoMo (mobile phone apps that combine social networking and location data. [//Social// + //location// (or //local//) + //mobile//.]) or even mindcasting (Posting a series of messages that reflect one's current thoughts, ideas, passions, observations, readings, and other intellectual interests) were completely new to me. I must say I also like the way she presented the advantages, they were simple and easy to comprehend. For the advantages of Facebook, she presented items such as ‘’fun’’, ‘’free’’, ‘’sharing beyond the classroom’’ and ‘’online resources’’. I agree on all of the items that, if we manage to create a proper environment, Facebook can be really beneficial for our students. As for the applicability and validity of the ideas in the Turkish EFL context, I think that it is not very easy to implement in our country. First of all, while it is correct that many students use social network sites such as Facebook, implementing a proper way so that it is beneficial for them is not an easy job. Also, I think that the mindset in our country is not really ready for such an advancement; many people still think that surfing over the net and on Facebook is just a waste of time. Before going full-scale, I think that a small-scale pilot program can be applied in a specific school to see the effects of Facebook on the students. If it is indeed feasible and beneficial, I think we can improve the system and start implementing in other schools as well, but as I have said, I don’t think neither students nor the schools themselves are completely ready for such a system yet. In conclusion, I can say that I enjoyed this conference thoroughly. The topic was interesting, and to see it in ELT was also a good experience for me. I hope to see more developments like this in our schools as well.

Here is the link for the conference: http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2012/sessions/2012-03-20/facebook-friend-or-foe/


 * Comment by Mehmet Ali başak**

First of all, I would like to say that I liked the way you prepared your conference reflection very much. It is well designed, easy to understand and most importantly, coherent. The topic of the conference is very interesting in my opinion. I also think that Facebook may have many advantages for students, but I believe that it is not easy to implement like you said. In my opinion, it is not really possible for our students to make full use of Facebook for EFL at the moment; I think that there is still some progress that needs to be done. I would also like to add that the conference was very entertaining, despite its long duration. I think the reason behind this is the fact that the topic was rather unusual and something popular. In conclusion, I liked both the conference and the reflection paper very much, it was very good for me to have a chance at look at them.