ICT's Tool Review: WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a smartphone aplication and a computer software, which helps people to communicate with others; through its chat, call, and video call.  

You can find this aplication in your smartphone's Aplication Store for the following Operative Systems: Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Nokia Symbian and Nokia S40; and in WhatsApp's web page (https://www.whatsapp.com/) for Windows or Mac OS X. 

You can also use it in your computer without downloading it. You just go to  https://web.whatsapp.com/, scan the QR Code with your smartphone camera through this aplication and that's all, you can use it in your computer as long as your smartphone is connected.  

This tool may not seem useful for EFL Teaching but it can be certainly appropriate for your students to improve on their Speaking abilities. If your students are the type who get stressed everytime they hear "Oral Test" this can be the solution to their anxiety problem.  By using WhatsApp, you can make your students to, for example, record an audio file answering a question given as an assignment. The great part of this activity is that they are not going to see the teacher when speaking, so the students would feel more relaxed (or less stressed) than recording the audio file. It is important to highlight that the longest audio file you can record on WhatsApp is 3 days long, so the aplication is not going to cut their recordings before finishing talking.

The use of WhatsApp to teach is related to the Mobile-Assisted Language Learning Theory. "(S)everal studies have investigated the use of the MALL in classroom atmosphere to teach language skills, and have pointed to its advantages" (Başoğlu & Akdemir, 2010; Lu, 2008; Zhang et al., 2008, cited in Han and Keskin, 2016)

I would certainly use this ICT Tool in my classroom, because of the freedom it gives the student to record the audio; and also, because is a tool the students know from before, so they are not going to have an extra problem by understanding how to use the tool, they already know. It could be used with children, teenagers and adults because, currently, everyone knows how to use WhatsApp.

When talking about the limitations, it is clear that it is not possible to use it if you do not have WiFi connection, and that would be a problem in most of the public schools in the area. Also, since it is a tool they use in their daily life, they would be distracted by the messages they receive from their classmates, their family, or everyone.