Exploring the Role of Social Media in Learning English at the Secondary School Level

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore secondary school students' perceptions towards the role of social media for English learning. The study employed a questionnaire as the main data collection method. Statistical analyses were carried out to calculate the data from the questionnaire. The participants of the study were 40 secondary school students in Tripoli, Libya. The findings of the study showed that the students used social media for language learning and improving their English. The majority of the students (96%) had a Facebook account and chose Facebook as the most used social media for learning English. Further to that, the findings revealed that social media were particularly effective in helping learners overcome their language mistakes (mean = 3.95), making learning English easier and faster (mean = 3.95), and providing plentiful sources of information for learning English (mean = 3.95). The findings also showed that social media helped improve students' writing skills (mean = 3.9), increased their confidence level to communicate using English (mean = 3.9), and reinforced their self-independent learning (mean = 3.85). The study concluded that students had positive attitudes towards the use of social media to learn English. Finally, based on the findings, some key recommendations and suggestions were made.