APPROACHING THE USE OF FACEBOOK TO IMPROVE ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH AND TO ACQUIRE SOCIAL COMPETENCE WITH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

This article offers a proposal for integrating the social network Facebook into an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom in tertiary education. The main objectives of this article are the following: 1. To develop the writing skill and to improve the grammatical and social competences of the students registered in the degree in English Studies in a Spanish University through the use of Facebook and 2. To know students' opinions about the use of Facebook and the main social competences that they have acquired. The methodology is mainly qualitative -descriptive although some quantitative data is offered with the main grammatical errors of students. The data were collected through observing students' posts in the Facebook discussions and a questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire show that students have a positive opinion about practicing the written skill in Facebook and they are aware that, apart from learning English, they also acquire social competences that will be useful for the labour market.