Abstract:

This study delves into the integration of various social media platforms and networks as pedagogical tools within an Introduction to Spanish interpretation course for eight American students at a Midwest University. The primary goals were to strengthen their second language proficiency and advance interpretation skills. The study analyzed a sample of 40 Spanish and English videos from 15 influencers across the studied platforms, nine audios from three podcasts, and two Reddit communities discussing Argentina and Venezuela through four forum posts. The study addresses pivotal research inquiries about the impact of social media on students’ attitudes towards the second language, and the effectiveness of social media for learning a second language. To assess these aspects, a comprehensive evaluation utilized the Learning Object Review Instrument [1]. Additionally, the students’ final project captured student perceptions and experiences. The findings underscored these materials' effectiveness in delivering authentic content from diverse Spanish-speaking countries, supported by high-quality video, and automatically generated closed captions. Moreover, the integration of social media and networks positively influenced students' motivation toward language learning. Overall, students held positive attitudes regarding the impact of social media on their second language proficiency.

Keywords:

Social Media, Digital Media, Interpretation Skill, Spanish.