Exploring the Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media on Teenage Learners from Academic Perspectives.

Abstract

The present study aims at investigating the relationship between social media and the academic achievement, as well as to examine their effects on the students’ process of learning. The targeted level, in this research, is the third year students at Bordj El Amir Abdelkader Secondary School of Tissemsilt in the academic year 2019/2020. This study is divided into two parts; one theoretical and the other purely practical. In the theoretical part we studied the four main variables which are: social media, individual differences, and the learning styles and strategies. We tried to relate them to academic achievement. With regard to the tools of research, we relied on the questionnaires; a questionnaire for learners and another one for teachers to collect primary data and information about the participants as well as to prove the validity of our hypothesis, which is: There may be some effects of social media on the academic achievement of learners. Concerning the findings, and according to the the results of the questionnaires, one could say that there are many effects of social media on the academic achievement of learners due to many reasons such as: individual differences and different learning styles and strategies. So, the social media have indeed positive and negative impacts on the academic process of learning, but most of learners are negatively influenced. At the end of this study, we proposed some future perspectives and recommendations which may help teachers, learners, and future researchers to understand the differences among learners and take them into consideration in the teaching/learning process.