Using Pinterest to Facilitate the Learning of Culture
Abstract
In an effort to make the learning of the target culture a meaningful and motivating experience for foreign language (FL) learners, the researchers designed and implemented a semester-long project in which intermediate Spanish students used Pinterest to pin and comment on cultural artifacts and websites in the target language (TL) that were of personal interest to them. Students completed a variety of assignments related to their newly acquired knowledge, such as compositions, test sections, and in-class discussions. The results of a post-project survey revealed that students' pre-project familiarity and gender had an impact on their evaluation of the project, with females and previous users of the website rating the project more favorably than males and those students without much experience with Pinterest. While there were differences of opinion about various aspects of the project, students' responses were positive overall. To conclude the article, we offer the reader recommendations of how to implement social media projects in FL classrooms.