SOCIAL NETWORKS AS A PEDAGOGICAL RESOURCE IN LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Abstract

The contemporary digitalization of higher education necessitates the use of innovative pedagogical resources that enhance the effectiveness of teaching English and contribute to the development of students’ foreign language communicative competence. One such resource is social media, which has become an integral part of students’ everyday life and simultaneously serves as a tool for fostering language, communicative, and intercultural skills. This article theoretically substantiates the pedagogical potential of social media as a resource for teaching English in higher education institutions. The study analyzes current theoretical approaches to the use of digital technologies in pedagogy, examines student-centered and constructivist learning concepts, and considers principles of andragogy in the context of integrating social media into the educational process. The article demonstrates that social media contribute to the development of motivational, communicative, cognitive, sociocultural, and reflective potentials of students by combining classroom and extracurricular language practice, providing access to authentic materials, facilitating intercultural interaction, and promoting self-regulation skills in learning activities. Pedagogical conditions for effective use of social media are identified, including clear formulation of learning objectives, organization of pedagogical guidance, development of students’ digital and media literacy, creation of a safe digital educational environment, and consideration of limitations related to distraction, information overload, and varying levels of digital competence among participants. The article shows that social media can be an effective tool for teaching English when their use is purposeful, methodologically justified, and pedagogically sound. The findings can be applied by English language instructors in higher education to modernize the educational process, enhance students’ language competence, and develop their intercultural skills.