Formative Assessment within Social Network Sites for Language Learning

Abstract

As increasingly complex blends of tools and technologies — including chatlines, online video applications, multi-touch tablet computers and immersive virtual worlds — continue to take hold throughout second-and foreign language education (Lotherington and Jenson, 2011; Thorne, Black and Sykes, 2009), understanding the role of assessment in SNS for language learning has become ever more urgent. As socialization becomes central to language acquisition, how can learner efforts -whether individual, in pairs, or in groups — be seen to progress? How can success be determined?