EXPLORING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT’S USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF READING SKILLS

ABSTRACT

This study explored undergraduate students’ use of social media for the development of reading skills. A case study of the University of Benin. It also examined the differences in perception among students via age and sex on the use of social media for the development of reading skills. Four research questions guided the study. This research will adopt a survey design. The study adopted the survey research design where a sample of 100 students from the Faculty of Education participated. The instrument used for data collection for the study was a questionnaire tagged “exploring undergraduate students’ use of social media for the development of reading skills; a case study of the University of Benin” The instrument is made up of two sections; A and B section. Section A is structured to elicit demographic data from participation such as gender. Section B focuses on exploring undergraduate students’ use of social media for developing their reading skills. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics as mean and standard deviation. The study revealed that there are different social media platforms. It also revealed what undergraduate students use social media for. The study showed that students use social media for various reasons such as communicating with friends, communicating with family members, learning new things, improving reading habits, acquiring new knowledge, and following current trends (fashion, movies, music, etc.). The study also shows that social media is used for different reasons as it appears to them. While some are beneficial, some are not. Finally, the findings suggest that student do not use social media for the development of their skills in the English language. The study recommended that since most student’s access social media with a wireless network, authorities in tertiary institutions should establish rules and regulations that will curtail or restrict students’ use of social networking sites during lectures and library sessions. Students must endeavour to spend most of their time reading their books rather than surfing social media. They can use wikis (a kind of social media) like Wikipedia that promotes learning and academic research. And above all, the campaign xi on the adverse effects of social media must be intensified to inform students about other issues such as the health threat of using social media.