Can social media help you get better at listening? High school students’ views on how social media affects their listening skills

Abstract

Learning English requires mastery of four fundamental skills. The listening skill is one that can be enhanced by using video or audio content from social media, namely Instagram. Instagram is a popular social media platform with many users, including students. Additionally, Instagram’s advantages for listening and English learning can be fully utilized to get new material and knowledge from its features and contents. This study examined the Instagram content that students most frequently access to improve their listening skills as well as their perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of applying Instagram as a medium to improve listening skills. Four high school students from XI grade of language major became the participants of this study. A qualitative descriptive method was adopted in the study. Three different techniques, including interviews, observations, and documentation, were used to gather the data. The findings of the research indicated that video and audio content like music, games, speeches, explanations of things, movies, etc. are what Instagram users most frequently access to improve their listening skills. According to its features and contents, particularly its simplicity and flexibility, Instagram is useful as a listening learning media. Many students learn new things when they explore Instagram content as well. Then the drawbacks for the students are the global and native content, many of which have unnecessary and difficult-to-understand content.