Computer Assisted Language Learning

ISSN: 0958-8221 (Print) 1744-3210 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ncal20

Educational affordances of mobile social media

for language teaching and learning: a chinese
teacher’s perspective

Sijia Xue & Daniel Churchill

To cite this article: Sijia Xue & Daniel Churchill (2020): Educational affordances of mobile social
media for language teaching and learning: a chinese teacher’s perspective, Computer Assisted
Language Learning, DOI: 10.1080/09588221.2020.1765811

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2020.1765811

Published online: 18 May 2020.

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COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING
https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2020.1765811

Educational affordances of mobile social media for

language teaching and learning: a chinese teacher’s
perspective
Sijia Xue and Daniel Churchill
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
The educational potential of mobile and social media tech- Affordances; language
nologies in combination is becoming increasingly salient teaching and learning;
with the advance of modern technology. However, there is mobile social media;
teachers’ private theories
a dearth in the research on educational use of mobile
social media for language learning. This study adopted a
qualitative single case study approach to investigate a lan-
guage teacher’s integration of mobile social media in the
context of higher education in mainland China, with the
aim of exploring educational affordances of mobile social
media for language teaching and learning and understand-
ing the relationship between the teacher’s technology use
and her private theories about technology integration. Data
were collected from observation, interviews, as well as
documents and artifacts provided by the teacher.
Qualitative content analysis was conducted to analyze the
data. Five educational affordances of mobile social media
emerged from the results, including a motivating environ-
ment, resources accessing and sharing, evaluation and
feedback offering, administration for learning, and content
generation. Results also showed that the teacher’s private
theories about technology integration changed with her
adoption of these affordances. However, such changes did
not lead to student-centered technology-based learning
designs. Implications for teachers as well as teacher educa-
tors are provided. Directions for future research
are suggested.

1. Introduction
Social media can be defined as “a group of Internet based applications
(apps) that build on the ideological and technological foundations of
Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated
content” (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p. 61). While still minimally applied

CONTACT Sijia Xue xuesijia@hku.hk The University of Hong Kong, Room 219, Runme Shaw Building,
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
ß 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

in education, social media is becoming increasingly popular for research,

and emerging studies and literature have been demonstrating that social
media is a useful tool in facilitating language learning (Mitchell, 2012;
€
Ozdemir, 2017; Sun & Yang, 2015). The mobile usage of social media is
becoming an emerging trend with the advance of mobile technologies
(Beheshti-Kashi & Makki, 2015) and the combination of mobile technol-
ogy and social medial emerges as an important focus for educational
research (Churchill et al., 2014). However, to date few studies have been
conducted to investigate how mobile social media can be used to facili-
tate language teaching and learning. In particular, the application of
mobile social media for classroom learning is even under researched as
most of the existing studies focus on the use of mobile social media for
informal learning (Manca & Ranieri, 2016). Teachers develop private the-
ories that impact their instructional decisions and technology use
(Churchill, 2006; Churchill & Wang, 2014; Handal, 2004; Howard et al.,
2000). In turn, the adoption of affordances of technology may change
teachers’ private theories (Chiu & Churchill, 2016; Churchill, 2006; Levin
& Wadmany, 2006; Windschitl & Sahl, 2002). However, how private the-
ories of teachers interact with their uses of technology in the context of
mobile technology-assisted language learning remains unknown.
Therefore, it is significant to investigate teachers’ integration of mobile
social media and to explore how teachers’ integration of mobile social
media associates with their private theories particularly as the educational
potential of mobile social media is becoming increasingly obvious
(Robbins & Singer, 2014).
To this end, this study aims to investigate how mobile social media
could be adopted to facilitate language teaching and learning and explore
the relationship between teachers’ integration of mobile social media and
their private theories. This study took higher education in mainland
China as research context and adopted a qualitative single case study
approach to investigate the phenomenon. Specifically, three research
questions were formulated to fulfil the aims of the study: 1) How does
the participant apply mobile social media for language teaching and
learning in teaching practice? 2) What private theories of the participant
mediate his/her application of mobile social media? 3) How do these pri-
vate theories interact with the participant’s adoption of affordances of
mobile social media? On the one hand, the results of the study may help
identify more affordances of mobile social media that could serve lan-
guage teaching and learning. On the other hand, the study could also
help understand what areas of teachers’ personal thinking mediate their
technology use and how these focus areas may be transformed to
enhance student-centered technology-based learning.
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 3

2. Literature review
2.1. Educational affordances of mobile social media
Educational affordances can be defined as opportunities for an educa-
tional activity that are determined and supported by perceived and actual
features of a tool or an environment (Xue & Churchill, 2019). Various
educational affordances of mobile social media have emerged from the
literature. For example, due to the feature of platform integration, mobile
social media can be used as a channel to access and share various learn-
€
ing resources (Manca & Ranieri, 2016; Ozdemir, 2017; Price et al., 2018).
Collaborative learning can be supported with mobile social media as
learners are able to interact, collaborate and negotiate with each other by
the connection built through mobile social media (Menkhoff et al., 2015;
Menzies et al., 2017). Meanwhile, mobile social media can be employed
to achieve blended learning by bridging formal and informal learning
(Manca & Ranieri, 2016; Menkhoff et al., 2015). Besides, the notification
feature of mobile social media can help teachers to organize instructional
activities and to manage teaching and learning (Tang & Hew, 2017a).
Moreover, learning communities can be constructed taking advantage of
the feature of group creating of mobile social media to facilitate commu-
nication, foster connection between teacher and students, and extend
instruction (Callaghan & Fribbance, 2016; Nicolai et al., 2017).
Additionally, studies also show that engagement of both teacher and stu-
dents can be enhanced through the ongoing academic communication
supported with mobile social media (Aydin, 2012; Chawinga, 2017; Diug
et al., 2016).
However, most of the existing studies focused on students’ experiences
and perceptions of utilizing mobile social media, investigating the affor-
dances of mobile social media from learner aspect. Little is known about
how teachers apply mobile social media in their teaching practices and
what perceptions they have on the adoption of such a technology tool.
Teachers’ thinking is vital to context-based understanding of the educa-
tional potential of different technologies (Brown, 2012). Hence, it is
essential to conduct empirical study on teachers’ adoption and percep-
tions of affordances of mobile social media. Particularly, how teachers’
technology integration relates to their thinking about the technology
needs deep exploration as they are “the biggest blocker” of adopting
mobile technologies in teaching practice (Pegrum et al., 2013, p. 75).
Furthermore, most of the previous studies on mobile social media were
conducted in informal or non-formal learning contexts such as online
learning, with relative less focus on sustainable integration of mobile
technologies into formal learning contexts (Manca & Ranieri, 2016).
4 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

Table 1. Areas of teachers’ private theories.

Area of private theories Content
Students How students learn, their limitations, their abilities
to use technology for learning and collaboration
Learning Knowledge and how it is acquired, useful teaching
and learning strategies, ways learning can
be evaluated
Teacher Teachers’ roles in learning in a classroom and in
technology-based environment
Technology Use of technology in a class, ways in which
technology-based learning differs from traditional
classroom learning, benefits and limitations of
technology for learning
Design Selection criteria for topics determining suitability
for technology-based learning, how to plan and
design an instructional unit
Educational changes Changes in society and their implications for
education, ways in which such changes impact
teachers and students and requires uses of
technology in education

Therefore, empirical research needs to be conducted in formal learning

contexts such as classroom instruction. As teachers’ classroom practices,
to large extent, reflect their conceptions about teaching (Windschitl &
Sahl, 2002), empirical research needs to be conducted to understand how
teachers’ thinking impacts their teaching behaviors such as technology
integration.

2.2. Teachers’ private theories

Teachers hold beliefs that assist them interpret experiences and guide
their specific teaching practices (Pajares, 1992) as teachers tend to make
instructional decisions according to their own affective and cognitive
schemes (Handal, 2004). The systems of beliefs held by teachers have
been conceptualized as teachers’ private theories (Churchill, 2006), which
serve as mediators between teaching goals and teachers’ actual instruc-
tional practices, particularly their classroom practices (Johnson, 2009).
As Yero (2002) argues, a teacher’s teaching practice is mainly impacted
by a set of beliefs and assumptions in that teacher. The private theories
of a teacher may relate to various educational aspects such as curriculum,
students, teaching and learning, and knowledge (Handal, 2004). It has
been discovered that teachers’ private theories mediate their decision-
making concerning technology use during the teaching (Churchill &
Wang, 2014). A number of focus areas of teachers’ private theories have
been identified from the literature that mediate teachers’ technology use,
including Teacher (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010; Shelton, 2017),
Students (Blackwell, 2014; Windschitl & Sahl, 2002; Clark-Gordon et al.,
2019), Learning (Howard et al., 2015; Praag & Sanchez, 2015),
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 5

Table 2 Main Features of WeChat as mobile social media.

Features Description
Messaging Users can send both text and voice messages, images, videos, files or
links to each other instantly.
Chatting Users can chat with each other through either voice call or video call.
Chat Groups Groups (up to 500 people) can be created on WeChat, within which
users can chat either by messaging or by calling (9 people at the
same time), and send images, files, videos or links to the group.
Moments Also known as “Friend Circle”. Users can post both images and texts,
and share links, music or articles to their contacts, who can “Like”,
“Comment on” or forward the posts. This is similar to timeline and
wall of Facebook but only visible to people within the connections.
Official Accounts Based on the public platform of WeChat, individuals or organizations
can create their own official accounts as an interface to push
notifications to and interact with their followers by group-sending
text or voice messages, or images. There are 3 types of official
accounts, including Subscription Accounts, Service Accounts and
Enterprise Accounts.
Mini programs There are various small applications that function with WeChat. Users
can access these mini programs without downloading them to their
phones. They can also share these mini programs to contacts or a
chat group.
Searching Users can search articles, music, official accounts they are interested in
and other users’ WeChat ID to add them as friends.
Scanning Users can scan QR codes to add a friend or to follow an official
account. They can also scan bar codes on books, CDs or other
products to check information. Besides, they can also make
translation between Chinese and English by scanning.
Favorites Users can select and save the posts, chats or official accounts they like
for later retrieval.

Adapted from Xue and Churchill (2019).

Technology (Ertmer et al., 2012; Leem & Sung, 2019), Design (Churchill,
2006), and Educational Changes (Liu, 2011; Shelton, 2017). Churchill
and Wang (2014) concluded these areas of private theories (see Table 1).
Studies also show that teachers’ private theories transform with appro-
priate intervention that generates changes in cognitive development
(Howard et al., 2000). It is suggested that designing interventions for
transformation of teachers’ personal beliefs leads to changes of their
technology use, and strategies for promoting teacher belief transform-
ation include observation, practice, reflection, and social cultural support
(Kim et al., 2013). According to Churchill (2006), a self-examination
occurs when teachers are to transform their private theories and explore
alternatives. In this sense, reflection appears to be useful for teachers to
engage in self-examination of their private theories. If teachers could
ascertain the mediating theories for their teaching design, they tend to
adopt better means of implementing changes that they desire. Likewise,
Lawrence (2014) claims that critical reflection on technology integration
in pedagogical practice is vital to improving teaching practice. However,
such reflection needs to be promoted by proper intervention strategies,
which should be based on the overall comprehension of teachers’ theo-
ries, and the impacts of these theories on instructional decisions and
6 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

Table 3. Educational affordances of WeChat as mobile social media.

Affordances Contents
Resources sharing Releasing, sharing or searching teaching and
learning materials via accessing to and
integrating with different platforms.
Authentic learning Using audio or text chat to communicate with
native speakers or peers for authentic language
learning, either in oral or written form.
Collaboration Collaborative learning via connectivity, either
among teachers or among students.
Community building Establishing communities through WeChat groups
for assisting and extending classroom instruction,
facilitating in-depth communication, and
fostering connection among participants.
A Motivating environment Promoting learning motivation, learners’ interest,
engagement and confidence.
Evaluation & Feedback Quick delivery of and access to evaluation and
feedback through instant messaging.
Administration for learning Pushing notifications, such as sending
events reminder.

Adapted from Xue and Churchill (2019).

technology integration. Furthermore, constraints should also be noticed

regarding the implementation of these strategies (Churchill, 2006).

2.3. Wechat
It is suggested that the future of digital learning generally, and m-learn-
ing in particular, will take shape at the point where ongoing techno-
logical developments intersect with ongoing educational trends (Pegrum,
2016). As one of the most popular mobile social media apps in Asian,
and in China in particular, WeChat is gaining increasing popularity since
it went into market. By 2016, WeChat had possessed 980 million
monthly active users, ranking the fourth in the selected mobile social
media (Statista, 2016). According to the official report of Tencent, the
number of daily login users of WeChat reached over 900 million in 2017
(WeChat Data Report, 2017). WeChat is noted for its featured properties
such as Chat Groups, Moments, and Official Accounts (see Table 2),
which not only determine the nature of WeChat as mobile social media
but also bring the possibility of using it for educational purposes.
Literature shows that the use of WeChat in education is increasing,
which has made WeChat a novel focus of researchers (Tang & Hew,
2017a). Xue and Churchill (2019) conducted a systematic review of
empirical studies on educational application of WeChat and identified a
range of educational affordances of WeChat as mobile social media
(Table 3). However, how mobile social media such as WeChat is being
sustainably used by language teachers for classroom instruction in the
context of higher education and how the application of mobile social
media is mediated by teachers’ private theories remain unknown. To fill
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 7

the gaps and investigate the phenomenon, a qualitative case study was
designed in this study.

3. Methodology
A qualitative single case study approach was adopted to address the
research questions in this investigation and to gain in-depth understand-
ing of the situation (Merriam, 1998). Purposive sampling strategy
(Patton, 2002) was adopted for case selection, which was based on the
following specific criteria: 1) he/she teaches language courses in a univer-
sity in mainland China; 2) he/she is using mobile social media technolo-
gies in teaching practice on a regular basis; and 3) he/she is willing to
explore more about using mobile social media for teaching. Considering
the fact that popular mobile social media in the West such as Facebook
and Twitter are blocked from access by the Ministry of Public
Information Network Security Supervision Bureau in mainland China
due to the concern with impact on the security of the country (Xue &
Churchill, 2019), WeChat was selected as the mobile social media in this
study for case selection. This was also due to the increasing use of
WeChat in education, which makes its educational potential worth
exploring (Tang & Hew, 2017a).

3.1. The participant

Given the situation that mobile social media was still minimally utilized
for classroom language teaching and learning, the researcher adopted dif-
ferent means to select the participants who might meet the selection cri-
teria. Convenience sampling (Creswell, 2012) was conducted first among
the previous colleagues of the first researcher, who was working at a uni-
versity in mainland China. Then snowball sampling (Creswell, 2012) was
performed through the recommendation of these teachers until a typical
case (Patton, 2002) was confirmed. The case met the selection criteria
and was considered as a typical case in that it was “not in any major
way atypical, extreme, deviant or unusual” (Patton, 2002, p. 236). Prior
to starting the investigation, ethical approval was obtained from the
University where the researchers worked. Consent forms were signed by
both the participating teacher and the students involved for the concern
of ethical issues. In total, one teacher and one class including 50 students
participated in the study.
In her late thirties, HR is a full-time lecturer working at ZHU. As
informed by HR at the first interview, she has 10 years teaching experi-
ence and she has been working in ZHU for 7 years when the study
8 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

began. According to HR, the courses that she teaches in ZHU include
Business English, College English, and Advanced Listening and Speaking.
Some are compulsory courses and others are public elective courses.
Besides, HR is also a full-time doctoral student at a university in Macao.
It was the second year of her study when she participated in this
research. As a self-funded doctoral student, HR needs the current teach-
ing job to support her study. However, she needs to strike a balance
between her identities as a full-time higher education teacher and a full-
time doctoral student. HR stated that she had used some other educa-
tional apps in her teaching practice before she applied WeChat to
support language teaching and learning. When this study began, HR had
been teaching with WeChat for two semesters on a regular basis. HR
claimed that even though very few colleagues of her were teaching with
WeChat, she decided to make such an attempt out of her aspiration to
achieve breakthroughs in her own teaching. Thus, she was willing to
explore the educational affordances of mobile social media for teaching
and learning.

3.2. Research site

ZHU is an ordinary university located in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.
ZHU is equipped well with all kinds of teaching facilities such as profes-
sional laboratories and audio classrooms. There is multi-media teaching
equipment including computer, projector, and Internet connection in
classrooms. The classroom is also covered by free service for wireless net-
work so that both the teacher and students can use their mobile devices
during the class. HR reported that the Faculty where she worked offered
supportive conditions for her teaching with WeChat. According to HR,
teachers not only exchange experiences in teaching with different mobile
technologies but are also encouraged to explore new teaching methods
supported with technologies. The support from the Faculty including both
resources and policies for technology integration has encouraged HR to
explore new educational technologies for teaching and learning, which she
believes can also contribute to her professional development.

3.3. Data collection

Multiple sources of data were collected to address the research questions
and to achieve triangulation (Merriam, 1998). Observation including
classroom observation and online observation was performed to investi-
gate how mobile social media was used by the participant both inside
and outside the classroom, in order to identify the educational
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 9

Table 4. Overview of data collected.

Classroom
observation Online observation Interviews Reflections Artifacts
8 double lessons Official accounts of 3 (about 60 mins 8 (one for lesson plans; self-
(one for each WeChat, for each) each month) made
month; 12 hrs. Moments, instructions for
in total) WeChat groups teaching
(throughout with WeChat
the study)

affordances of mobile social media for language teaching and learning

and to register changes in the participant’s behaviors regarding teaching
with WeChat for further exploring how the changes related to her private
theories. The second method for data collection was interview. Three sets
of semi-structured interview were conducted face to face at different stages
of the research. The first interview was conducted at the outset of the
study focusing on the participant’s background information and her initial
thinking about teaching with mobile social media. The second interview
conducted in the middle of the research aimed to confirm the affordances
identified from observation and focus on the issues emerging from the
participant’s integration of mobile social media. At the end of the study,
the third interview was performed to register changes in the participant’s
private theories about teaching with mobile social media. Moreover, docu-
ments and artifacts created by the participant were collected as the third
source of data. The participant was required to provide written reflections
on a monthly basis and send at least one reflection to the researchers
every teaching month. The participant was suggested to reflect how
WeChat was used in daily teaching and what benefits or issues emerged,
as well as what she thinks about teaching with WeChat. On the one hand,
these documents could help the researcher to identify affordances of
mobile social media emerging from the participant’s descriptions for tri-
angulation. On the other hand, they could also help the researcher to
learn about the participant’s ongoing thoughts about teaching with mobile
social media to ascertain changes in her private theories. Besides, artifacts
by the participant such as lesson plans and teaching materials were also
collected to gain in-depth understanding about the way in which the par-
ticipant used WeChat for language teaching and learning. The entire pro-
cess of data collection lasted for one academic year containing two
semesters. An overview of data collected in this study is presented in
Table 4. The interview protocol is listed in Appendix.

3.4. Data analysis

An inductive approach to qualitative content analysis (Cho & Lee, 2014)
was utilized for data analysis, with the purpose of describing the
10 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

Figure 1. Procedure of data analysis for this study (adapted from Cho & Lee, 2014).

phenomenon and looking for insights. Transcripts of field notes, inter-

views, and documents provided by the participant were checked by the
participant first before coding. Then the texts were scrutinized repeatedly
for open coding in an inductive way, to identify codes in terms of affor-
dances and private theories. Units of analysis were identified first to
form preliminary codes, with which the texts were coded. When data did
not accommodate an existing code, new codes would be added. Next,
similar codes were grouped to form categories, which were modified,
refined, and checked until they were mutually exclusive to each other.
After that these categories were applied to the texts to see if they
adequately represented the data. Some categories were confirmed, and
others were revised. The final categories were constructed and abstracted
through intense data analysis. In addition, literature on affordances and
private theories was constantly reviewed to ensure the quality of data
analysis and enhance the validity of the results (Kohlbacher, 2006). The
graphic procedure of data analysis is presented in Figure 1.
While analyzing the participant’s private theories, single units of pri-
vate theories that comprised relevant statements made by the participant
were identified first. These units referred to the specific aspects of an
area of private theories, such as ‘teaching experience’ and ‘professional
identity’ in Teacher. A word processor was used to highlight and copy
these statements in a separate document, which was then printed out on
cardboard. The cardboard was sliced into cards with a single unit of the
participant’s private theory per card. The participant was given the cards
and asked to go through them, challenge the validity of the statements
and remove any card with a private theory that did not hold as valid.
The participant could also add anything that was not represented on the
card about her private theories. The first researcher and the participant
worked collaboratively to sort the remaining cards and identify those
most relevant to her decisions for the integration of mobile social media.
This process was conducted twice, after the first interview and the third
interview, respectively, to understand the participant’s initial private the-
ories and register changes in her private theories after the study. The
transformations in the participant’s private theories could help the
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 11

Table 5. Contrasting teacher-centered and learner-centered activities.

Teacher centered Learner centered
Classroom activity Didactic Interactive
Teacher role Fact teller Always expert Collaborator Sometimes learner
Student role Listener Always learner Collaborator Sometimes expert
Instructional emphasis Facts Memorization Relationships Inquiry & invention
Concept of knowledge Accumulation of facts Transformation of facts
Demonstration of success Quantity Quality of understanding
Assessment Norm preferred Multiple- Criterion preferred Portfolios &
choice items performances
Technology use Drill & practice Communication Collaboration
Information access Expression

researchers to explain changes in the participant’s teaching practices

identified through observations. Numbers of the units were counted to
identify the dominant focus areas of the participant’s private theories.
Regarding the analysis of online observation, content analysis of visual
data (Ball & Smith, 1992) were conducted to analyze the screenshots and
photos collected including posts and chatlogs. All the images were sorted
into categories based on the research questions first. Then pure descrip-
tions of the contents represented in the images were conducted without
interpretation, which were checked by the participant for validity. Next,
codes emerging from the text data were utilized to code the descriptions.
At last, the results of analysis were sent to the participant for confirm-
ation and for necessary modification. Member checking with the partici-
pant (Merriam, 1998) was conducted constantly for validity and the
results emerged inductively from inspecting and interacting with real
data. In addition, a framework adapted from Sandholtz et al. (1997) was
utilized for understanding ways that the participant adopted the affor-
dances of mobile social media (see Table 5).

4. Results
4.1. Affordances emerging from the participant’s use of mobile
social media
According to observation, apart from the teaching management platform
of the University, for most of the time HR utilized the official account of
WeChat to facilitate teaching and learning and the platform applied by
her was Ketangpai. This is an official account of WeChat, based on the
features of public platforms of WeChat. The teacher created an account
for the course on Ketangpai and asked students to follow. Various inter-
actions such as voting, Q&A, and sending bullet screens can be achieved
between the teacher and students after students following the account.
Students could automatically enter this official account that was saved as
12 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

Figure 2. Students signing in via WeChat.

a contact when logging in WeChat and interact with the teacher directly
through texting on WeChat.
It was observed that applying mobile social media for learning admin-
istration such as signing in and pushing notifications had become a rou-
tine for HR since the first observation. She used Ketangpai to register
students’ attendance in each class. Students could scan the QR code gen-
erated by Ketangpai randomly to sign in through WeChat. Also, they
could sign in with passwords or through GPS positioning (see Figure 2).
At the same time, HR also paid attention to classroom interaction and
designed various activities for classroom teaching and learning. It was
seen through observation that mobile social media was deployed to build
a motivating learning environment in HR’s classroom teaching.
She designed various activities supported with mobile social media in
the class to engage students. In particular, she tended to design
quick-response questions through Ketangpai during her instruction (see
Figure 3). As HR reflected:
“It is obvious that students are more engaged in quick-response questions, either in
spoken or written form. The competitive atmosphere created by mobile social media
not only meets their desires for expression but also allows them equal opportunity to
compete so that their learning motivation is enhanced” (Reflection, 1809).

Moreover, HR tended to use mobile social media for testing and evalu-
ation outside the classroom, which had become one of her “favorite ways
of technology integration” (Reflection 1811). It was observed that she
often designed quizzes through Ketangpai for students to complete to
check the students’ learning outcomes (see Figure 4). She also utilized
Ketangpai to release and collect assignments every week. Meanwhile,
according to HR, feedback could be offered by her through this official
account of WeChat directly to students based on their performance. The
results of the tests could also be released and presented through
Ketangpai and be accessible to everyone.
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 13

Figure 3. Classroom interaction supported with mobile social media.

Figure 4. After-class testing conducted through mobile social media.

Furthermore, the affordance of resources accessing and sharing also

emerged from HR’s use of mobile social media. Observation showed that
HR tended to utilize the official account of WeChat to share learning
resources to students outside the classroom (see Figure 5). According to
HR, “the resources shared can help extend students’ learning as they are
given more opportunities to learn from more channels that are beyond the
textbooks” (HR, Interview 3).
Additionally, content generation, as an affordance, emerged from HR’s
integration of mobile social media. This means that the features of cap-
turing and processing multiple forms of data of WeChat was utilized to
scaffold learning. For example, based on observation, students used the
built-in camera of WeChat to take photos of their completed works and
sent the photos to the WeChat group of the class for teacher feedback
and peer review (see Figure 6). According to HR, the contents generated
14 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

Figure 5. Learning resources shared by HR through mobile social media.

not only served as documents for the teacher to make assessment on the
students’ performance but also help the students to reflect on and
address issues that emerged from their learning process. As
HR described:
“It has become a routine for students to attach an image when they are asking
questions through WeChat. This is very efficient for me to provide instant feedback
and effective assistance, particularly when they can’t explain the question clearly in
words” (Interview 2).

A summary of affordances that emerged from HR’s use of mobile

social media is presented in Table 6. These affordances were also con-
firmed through data collected by interviews and written reflections.

4.2. The participant’s private theories mediating her use of mobile

social media
A summary of statements regarding HR’s initial private theories in rela-
tion to her adoption of affordances of mobile social media was con-
firmed by her and is shown in Table 7. As indicated by the results,
technology dominated HR’s thinking about her integration of mobile
social media. Specifically, her beliefs of motivating students through new
technologies led to her use of WeChat, which she believed could not
only enhance the interaction but was also effective in fulfilling her teach-
ing needs such as evaluation. Although she was aware of the leading role
of students in technology-based learning, her perceptions regarding her
own professional identity and the characteristics of students limited her
integration of mobile social media for student-centered learning. In HR’s
view, “it is necessary for teachers to build up authority in front of stu-
dents, which indicates that teachers should keep a distance away from
students” (Interview 1). However, the application of mobile social media
would shorten the distance between the teacher and students, which
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 15

Figure 6. Contents generated by students through mobile social media.

Table 6. Affordances emerging from HR’s integration of mobile social media.

Affordances Contents
A motivating environment Designing activities such as quick-response
questions to motivate students and engage
them in classroom interaction.
Evaluation & feedback offering Performing tests and evaluation for students after
class, releasing and collecting assignments,
offering feedback.
Resources accessing & sharing Uploading various forms of teaching and learning
resources through the public platform of
WeChat, sharing ideas.
Administration for learning Pushing notifications, signing in
Content generation Using the capture feature of mobile social media to
generate contents that scaffold learning.

Table 7. HR’s initial private theories in relation to her adoption of affordances of mobile
social media.
Focus area Units of private theories Associated affordances
Teacher (5 units) I apply a new technology for Administration for learning
teaching based on my
previous experience of
technology integration.
I think sometimes teachers should
keep a distance from students
due to their professional
identity. I have my own
understanding of the
effectiveness of a technology
for teaching and learning. The
use of mobile social media
may cause extra workload as I
need to manage between
different teaching platforms.
Learning how to apply a new
educational technology may
contribute to my professional
development.
Students (3 units) Students should be the center in A motivating environment
technology-based learning.
I use mobile social media in
different ways according to the
characteristics of the students.
(continued)
16 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL
Table 7. Continued.
Focus area
Learning (4 units)
Technology (7 units)
Institutional influences (1 unit)
Educational changes (1 unit)
might impact the image of authority that HR was trying to build. This,
according to HR, became one of the concerns for her teaching with
mobile social media. On the other hand, the students, according to HR,
Units of private theories Associated affordances
Some students may play with
their mobile devices if I
integrate mobile social media
into classroom teaching.
The integration of mobile social A motivating environment,
media should take the features Evaluation & feedback offering,
of different courses into Content generation, Resources
consideration and facilitate the accessing & sharing
learning of the courses.
Interaction with students is
crucial in technology-based
learning. The formats of
assessment should be varied,
which can be achieved with
the support of mobile social
media. Students should be
given more opportunities to
share ideas and raise
questions, which can be
facilitated with the integration
of mobile social media.
Technology per se is one of the Administration for learning, A
most important factors for my motivating environment,
teaching with that technology. Evaluation & feedback offering
The integration of mobile
social media can bring new
feelings to students so as to
motivate them to learn.
I believe mobile social media can
bring direct benefits to
teaching due to its
educational potential.
Mobile social media can be used
in combination with the
teaching platform of the
University for assessment. The
integration of mobile social
media can promote
interaction.
Mobile social media provides
more flexible ways for
students to sign in. Privacy
issues involved in using mobile
social media should be solved
as I want to separate my
private life from work.
The Faculty where I work Evaluation & feedback offering
encourages teachers to try
technology integration in
terms of resource provision
and policy making.
The development of educational Resources accessing & sharing
technologies provides teachers
with new opportunities for
innovation in teaching.
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 17

Table 8. Changes in HR’s private theories in relation to her adoption of affordances of

mobile social media.
Focus area
Students (2 units)
Learning (1 unit)
Teaching process (6 units)
Institutional influences (2 units)
Educational changes (1 unit)
Units of private theories Associated affordances
The same affordance of a A motivating environment,
technology may mean Content generation, Evaluation &
different things to feedback offering
different students.
Lack of engagement in students
can make technology
integration difficult.
The integration of mobile social Resources accessing & sharing
media could beyond classroom
and the course to
enrich learning.
Technology should facilitate the Administration for learning,
completion of teaching Evaluation & feedback offering
objectives to facilitate
instruction. The integration of
technology should be based
on teaching contents.
The integration of technology
should not interrupt the pace
of teaching.
The integration of technology
should aim to improve the
overall teaching quality. The
integration of technology
should serve teaching rather
than control teaching.
Mobile social media should be
integrated with instruction in
more effective ways and only
be used when necessary.
The leader of the Faculty Evaluation & feedback offering
appreciated my teaching
approach supported with
mobile social media and
helped resolves challenges
involved in technology
integration. I was awarded a
teaching prize for technology
innovation in teaching.
A teacher should remain open- Content generation
minded to new educational
technologies and keep pace
with the development of
the times.

lacked learning autonomy and capabilities in technology-based learning,

which had become the biggest challenge for her integration of mobile
social media (Interview 1).
At the same time, HR also reflected her concerns about the integration
of mobile social media. These concerns mainly related to the privacy
issues that were derived from the inherent features of mobile social
media technologies. Such issues even caused hesitation in HR’s teaching
with mobile social media at beginning until solutions were found. As
HR mentioned:
18 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

Figure 7. Instruction delivery supported through mobile social media.

“For me, WeChat is a means to communicate with friends and I don’t want too
many other people to get access to my ‘friend circle’. In fact, this is my biggest
concern about applying WeChat for teaching because I want to separate my private
life from my work. Therefore, I have two WeChat IDs, one for work, the other for
normal use.” (Interview 1).

4.3. Interaction between the participant’ s private theories and her

adoption of affordances of mobile social media
With her continuous application of mobile social media, HR kept reflect-
ing what technology integration meant to her. As she reported:
“I think technology integration is far more than forms and it should be used for the
improvement of teaching quality” (Reflection, 1905).

As a result, the focus areas of her private theories on the integration

of mobile social media appeared changed. According to observation, HR
tended to pay more attention to how the affordances could be adopted
to facilitate her instruction (see Figure 7) so that her focus areas seemed
to shift from interacting with students to teaching process. Here are
statements made by her:
“In the past, I paid attention to interactions only. Since the technology has achieved
this, I am thinking about how to better use it to facilitate the teaching process. First,
I must set up very clear teaching objectives. Then I will consider what technological
means could help me to achieve these objectives. After repeated practice, I have
learnt how to leverage different affordances to serve my instruction” (Interview 3).

It was observed that HR’s adoption of mobile social media became

more teaching-oriented rather than learning-centered. Specifically, HR
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 19

tended to adopt the affordances of the technology based on her own

teaching needs such as delivering teaching contents (as shown in Figure
7). Based on observation, she did not apply the technology as frequently
as she used to during the class. By contrast, HR appeared to adopt the
affordances of mobile social media in a more rational way. As
she reflected:
“As I self-examine my teaching with mobile social media, I realize that I cannot let
technology dominate my teaching in order to guarantee the rhythm and the smooth
progress of the instruction” (Reflection 1906).

According to observation, she demonstrated a tendency of reducing

her usage of mobile social media in the classroom, Also, she adapted her
adoption of the affordances according to her teaching contents. She used
the technology in different ways for different courses. Even within the
same course, she might adopt the affordances differently based on the
situation. As she mentioned:
“Now, I prefer to let students raise their hands to vote, especially for simple
questions. However, if the questions involve complicated cases that need the students
to read carefully, I turn to voting through WeChat. It depends. Thus, what I
consider first is how to combine the use of mobile social media with my teaching in
an effective way” (Interview 3).

A summary of changes in HR’s private theories in relation to her

adoption of affordances of mobile social media was checked by her
and is shown in Table 8. A conclusion of relationship between HR’s
private theories and her adoption of affordances of mobile social
media is presented in Figure 8. As indicated in the figure, the predom-
inant focus area of HR’s initial private theories was Technology, with
7 units. These private theories informed HR’s frequent adoption of
affordances such as a motivating environment in her design of class-
room activities. Although theories about Students and Learning also
led to her adoption of affordances such as a motivating environment
to enhance interaction with students, the numbers of the units of
statements in these two areas decreased. By contrast, Teaching Process
became the final predominant focus area of HR’s private theories, with
a total of 6 units. These private theories informed HR’s increasing
adoption of affordance such as evaluation and feedback offering out-
side the classroom and decreasing use of mobile social media in the
classroom. Particularly, she tended to reduce her use of the affordance
of a motivating environment to interact with students in the classroom
but pay more attention to her instructional delivery. While theories on
Teacher no longer mediated her adoption of mobile social media by
the end of the study, this area did not inform a student-centered
20 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

Figure 8. A conclusion of HR’s private theories in relation to her adoption of affordances.

learning design. Likewise, theories of other areas such as Institutional

Influences and Educational Changes did not mediate instructional
decisions leading to student-centered practices even though they
informed different ways of the teacher’s adoption of mobile social
media. All these results strongly suggested that HR was inclined to
adopt the affordances of mobile social media in a more conventional
way that was teaching-centered.
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 21

5. Discussion
5.1. Affordances of mobile social media for language teaching
and learning
A range of different affordances of mobile social media for language
learning emerged from the results. The results suggest that mobile social
media can be employed as a means to release, share and search for
teaching and learning materials, which can enrich learning contents and
€
learning experience (Manca & Ranieri, 2016; Ozdemir, 2017; Price et al.,
2018). Also, it has been revealed that mobile social media can be used to
establish a motivating learning environment to promote interaction.
Such a motivating learning environment built through mobile social
media can not only improve learners’ learning interest and autonomy
(Gao & Wang, 2017; Wang et al., 2016) but can also enhance engage-
ment of both the teacher and students (Diug et al., 2016). Furthermore,
the affordance of evaluation and feedback offering emerging from this
study echoes the previous studies (Aydin, 2012; Chawinga, 2017), which
implies that mobile social media can be deployed to evaluate students’
continuing learning performance and outcomes, and for teachers to pro-
vide learners with essential guidance. Additionally, echoing the literature
(Tang & Hew, 2017a), this study identifies that mobile social media can
also be deployed to manage learning. This indicates that mobile social
media can be used to build learning management systems and facilitate
activities such as delivering announcements and organizing tutorial ses-
sions, and thus to support learning (Wang et al., 2012).
Content generation emerged from the results of this study as a new
affordance of mobile social media. This suggests that learners can pro-
duce, process and represent different forms of learning contents by
mobile social media. These contents can not only be utilized as learning
materials, in combination with resources accessible via the integration of
mobile social media with other platforms, but can also be archived to
build portfolios for the evaluation of students’ learning progress.
Moreover, learners can use mobile social media to capture and record
various sources of data and showcase their ideas from daily-life contexts
and extend their learning context from classroom to real-world settings
so that authentic learning can be promoted (Tang & Hew, 2017b).
Results of this study support the findings of previous studies demon-
strating that official accounts of WeChat can serve as public platforms
for educational purposes, which is effective in spreading learning resour-
ces, enhancing learning interest and extending classroom learning (Gao
& Wang, 2017; Tao et al., 2017). The results also extend the existing lit-
erature about the educational application of mobile social media, which
22 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

indicated that mobile social media were mainly used outside the class-
room for informal learning (Manca & Ranieri, 2016). Based on the
results of this study, it is evident that mobile social media can also be
applied inside the classroom to connect classroom learning and out-of-
classroom learning and help achieve continuity of learning. Due to its
unique and powerful features, mobile social media is blurring the boun-
daries between formal and informal learning and is ready to facilitate the
connections between these two types of learning (Greenhow &
Lewin, 2016).

5.2. The participant’s private theories mediating her technology

integration
Based on the results of this study, the participant’s private theories on
Technology informed her frequent adoption of affordances such as a
motivating environment. This suggests that when a teacher pays more
attention to the relevance and benefits of mobile social media, he or she
is more likely to use it to design activities to motivate students and
engage them in classroom interaction. Teaching Process emerged as a
new area of teacher private theories from this study. As indicated by the
results, when teaching process becomes the predominant focus area of
the participant’s private theories, she tends to select and use the technol-
ogy based on the prescribed teaching objectives and appropriates the
affordances of the technology to match particularly designed teaching
contents and activities while ensuring the rhythm of teaching, with the
overall aim of improving teaching quality. This is consistent with
Mumtaz’s (2000) claim that teaching is central in mediating teachers’
technology integration. As Chen (2008) suggests, teachers’ decisions
about instructional strategies are determined by teaching aims and fea-
tures of teaching contents. However, these theories about teaching pro-
cess may constrain teachers’ designs of student-centered technology-
based learning as the use of the technology is more instruction-oriented
(Sandholtz et al., 1997).
Moreover, those on privacy issues also emerged as new teacher private
theories from this study. As indicated in the results, when a teacher’s
thinking on privacy issues becomes salient, their technology use may be
affected. This has also been identified by other researchers, who reported
that for privacy and security reasons, teachers are unwilling to participate
in teaching and learning activities facilitated by mobile social media such
as Facebook (Manca & Ranieri, 2013). Similarly, Sun and Yang (2015)
point out that privacy issues need to be considered by educators who
attempt to teach with novel technologies.
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 23

5.3. Interaction between the participant’s private theories and her

technology integration
Consistent with the previous studies (Chiu & Churchill, 2016; Churchill,
2006), results of this study suggest that teachers’ private theories change
with their technology integration. As shown in the results, the initial pre-
dominant area of the participant’s private theories was those about
Technology while theories concerning Teaching Process dominated the
participant’s decisions for technology integration finally. A possible con-
tributor for the changes may be teacher reflection. As shown by the
results (see Section 4.3), the participant kept thinking about what tech-
nology integration meant to her and how she should teach with technol-
ogy. Such a process allows an opportunity for teachers to engage in
continuing reflection, critically appraise their practice and redesign teach-
ing (Ertmer, 1999). As Lawrence (2014) argues, “critical reflection on
technology use in pedagogical practice is a key factor in improving
teaching practice” (p. 70). However, reflection does not necessarily result
in coherent teacher change and student-centered designs. As indicated
by the results, the participant developed thinking that constrained stu-
dent-centered technology-based design and led to direct instruction
designs. Two possible factors may explain this. One is the multiple job
identities of the participant. As informed in the first interview (see
Section 3.1), the participant undertook different jobs at the same time
apart from teaching. This was likely to distract her energy and attention
to learning designs based on mobile social media. As reported in the lit-
erature, teachers’ attention and commitments to students’ learning affect
their technology integration (Mumtaz, 2000). Besides, characteristics of
students such as lack of engagement appeared to be another factor con-
straining the participant’s design of student-centered technology-based
learning, which was reported by the participant as the biggest challenge
for her teaching with mobile social media (see Section 4.2). This has also
been revealed in the literature (Blackwell, 2014; Clark-Gordon et al.,
2019), which suggests that teachers’ thinking about the learning inde-
pendence of their students impact their technology integration.

5.4. Implications
To begin with, teachers should transform their teaching approaches from
instruction to construction with technology. Results of the study reveal
that mobile social media is still being integrated in more traditional
teacher-centered ways by the participant for instructional delivery and
learning activities that are often in the domain of teacher. However,
technology integration should be conducted in constructivist ways to
24 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

facilitate student learning (Chawinga, 2017). To this end, structured pro-

fessional training can be provided, which not only aims to build teachers’
technical skills and ICT capabilities but also focuses on cultivating their
pedagogical knowledge regarding technology integration (Aslan & Zhu,
2017). Particularly, how to develop teachers’ advanced conceptions such
as constructivist-oriented conceptions and student-centered teaching
approaches should be central in the training as teachers with such con-
ceptions tend to acquire better quality of technology use (Tsai &
Tsai, 2019).
Furthermore, measures should be adopted to transform teachers’
thinking about technology use towards student learning. Theories about
Learning have been identified as the predominant focus area of teacher
private theories that lead to student-centered technology-based learning
designs (Churchill, 2006; Blackwell, 2014). A variety of strategies that
promote transformation in teachers’ private theories are recommended
by researchers (Ertmer, 1999; Lawrence, 2014), such as observation,
reflection, and collaboration. According to Ertmer (1999), teachers can
observe models of integrated technology use, reflect on and discuss their
developing ideas with peers, and cooperate with others on meaningful
projects as they try out their new conceptions about teaching and learn-
ing with technology, to develop a vision of how to use the technology to
achieve significant educational goals. Thus, pedagogical interventions
that are sensitive to teacher private theories can be adopted as a tool to
initiate reflection which lead the teachers to focus on theories on learn-
ing (Churchill, 2006; Levin & Wadmany, 2006).

6. Conclusion
This study investigated how mobile social media was used by a university
teacher to support language teaching and learning in mainland China
and how the teacher’s adoption of mobile social media related to her pri-
vate theories about technology integration. A variety of educational affor-
dances of mobile social media for language teaching and learning
emerged from the results. While the private theories of the participant
changed with her adoption of these affordances, they did not lead to stu-
dent-centered technology-based learning design. Thus, professional train-
ing on technology integration and appropriate pedagogical interventions
are needed in order to transform teachers’ teaching approaches as well as
their thinking from instruction to construction. Moreover, teachers
should also learn how to deal with challenges involved in technology
integration such as lack of engagement in learners. This study is not
without limitations. First, data for addressing the research questions were
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 25

collected based on the participant’s use of a mobile social media app

which was customized to meet the research purposes. Despite the com-
mon features of WeChat as mobile social media, the results of this study
may not be generalized to all the mobile social media in terms of the
educational affordances as each app may possess its unique features.
Thus, future studies could focus on other mobile social media apps
across wider contexts to provide a panorama of the educational affordan-
ces of mobile social media for language teaching and learning. The
second limitation is related to the methodology of this study. As a single
case study, the results of this study may not provide a detailed descrip-
tion of the situation investigated. However, the intent of this study was
to “offer insights and illuminate meanings that expand its readers experi-
ences and advance a filed knowledge base” rather than generalize conclu-
sions (Merriam, 1998, p. 41). Future research could adopt a multi-case
study approach to provide richer information for the phenomenon
studied and identify patterns among teachers to explore how different
areas of private theories of teachers mediate their technology integration.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ORCID
Sijia Xue http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5058-9229

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Appendix. Interview protocols

Guiding questions for the first set of semi-structured interview

1. Can you describe the way you teach?

2. What is/are the most important condition(s) in your teaching?
3. What do you consider your role(s) in your teaching?
4. What do you consider students’ roles in your teaching?
5. Can you describe a typical lesson in your classroom?
6. What are your experiences of using mobile social media?
7. What do you think of the integration of mobile social media into teaching?
8. Did you use any mobile social media for teaching before? If yes, how?
9. What was your primary reason for using it?
10. Can you describe one lesson or teaching activity in which you used mobile
social media?
11. How did the integration of mobile social media benefit your teaching during
this process?
12. What factors do you think may influence the integrating mobile social media
into teaching?

Guiding questions for the second set of semi-structured interview

1. Are you satisfied with your integration of WeChat so far?

2. Do you feel the integration of WeChat helps you in your teaching? In what way?
3. What are the most attractive/unattractive aspects of WeChat for you?
4. Have you encountered any challenges and barriers with integrating WeChat into
your teaching?
5. How have you addressed these challenges?
6. Will you continue to use WeChat for teaching next semester? If yes, how?
7. Is there anything else you would like to share about your using experiences?
30 S. XUE AND D. CHURCHILL

Guiding questions for the third set of semi-structured interview

1. What types of benefits of WeChat have you identified during your use?
2. How have these benefits facilitated your teaching?
3. What is/are the most important condition(s) in your integration of WeChat
into teaching?
4. What do you consider you role(s) in your integration?
5. What do you think of students’ roles in your integration?
6. Are there any changes brought by the use of WeChat to your teaching? If yes, in
what way?
7. How did you originally feel about using WeChat in your teaching? Has that
changed? If yes, how?
8. What factors have influenced your integration of WeChat into teaching?
9. In general, what do you think of your teaching experiences with WeChat?
10. What do you think of the educational potential of mobile social media?
11. Will you continue to integrate mobile social media into your teaching in the
future? Why or why not?
12. What suggestions do you have for other teachers who plan to apply mobile social
media to their teaching?