Impact of Using Facebook on Improving English Communication Skills - The Case of Implementing the English Language Course as a model at Al-Quds Open University

This study aimed to investigate the effect of using Facebook on improving the communication skills in English through a blended teaching approach. The subjects were 50 second-year students majoring in Methods of Teaching English at Al-Quds Open University (QOU) in Palestine who were studying a course titled Language Use in the first semester of the academic year 2013-2014. The students were divided randomly into a control group and an experimental group. The control group studied the course through the traditional face-to-face instruction while the experimental group used both face-to-face lectures in addition to using Facebook through a Facebook group entitled Language Use QOU Palestine. Both of the two groups sat for a pre- test at the beginning of the experiment and a post-test at the end of the experiment. The results revealed statistically significant differences in the achievement of the experimental group due to using Facebook in addition to significant differences in the achievement of the experimental group before using Facebook and after using it.