Students’ perceptions and attitudes on instagram as an English language writing learning tool

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the students’ perceptions and attitudes on Instagram as an English language writing learning tool. Instagram is a social media that is used by people for all over the world as learning media. The features provided in Instagram give English language learners the option to learn writing in the English language. Thus, this study attempted (1) to determine the undergraduate students’ perceptions and attitudes on Instagram as an English language writing learning tool, (2) to investigate the factors that contribute to the use of Instagram as an English language writing learning tool perceived by undergraduate students and (3) to examine the usefulness of Instagram as an English language writing learning tool perceived by students. This study utilized the quantitative study design with the nonexperimental method. The results collected for the data analysis were from the final year of the undergraduate students in pure chemistry and industrial chemistry courses of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). 100 students were selected purposively as the participants of the study. The results from this study showed that (1) Instagram gives freedom to the students to convey their thoughts in written form, (2) students were satisfied with the services provided by Instagram because students can use the features in Instagram for their needs in educational and (3) Instagram is easy to access by the students anywhere and anytime through their mobile devices. Hence, it is important to look at the students’ perceptions and attitudes on Instagram as an English language writing learning tool because students are the main users of Instagram. The significance, limitations and implications of the study were also discussed in the study. Lastly, recommendations were suggested to widen the perspective of the use of Instagram in the education of the English language especially for the English language classroom.