Table 1
Types of social media relevant to language learning – adapted from Conole and Alevizou’s typology (2010).
| Social media for language learning | Media sharing | Instant messaging, Conversational arenas and chat | Social networking | Blogging and Microblogging |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example | Peer to peer; link sharing; e.g. Spotify TuneIn radio, Flickr, Youtube Instagram | Paltalk, Oovoo, Skype | Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning | Wordpress BlogSpot Twitter |
Table 2
Use of different types of social media by the participants.
| Learner | Level | Media sharing | Instant messaging Conversational arenas and chat | SNS | Blogging Micro-blogging | SSIW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Paul | E | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| 2 Ann | E | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| 3 Mat | B | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| 4 Jane | I | ✓ | ||||
| 5 June | B/I | ✓ | ||||
| 6 Carol | I | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| 7 Jim | E | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| 8 Ian | E | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| 9 Anna | B/I | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| 10 Jean | B | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| 11 Sally | B | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 12 Sam | I | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
[i] Key: All learners’ names are pseudonyms. Learners declared their own level as ‘beginner’ (B), ‘intermediate’ (I) or experienced (E). SSIW refers to the online Welsh learning course and community ‘Say Something In Welsh’.