UTILIZING SOCIAL MEDIA AS a TOOL TO ENHANCE ENGLISH LEARNING a CASE STUDY OF THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF TIKTOK PLATFORM ON ENGLISH SPEAKING ABILITY AMONG THIRD YEAR STUDENTS AT HUFLIT

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OFFOREIGN LANGUAGES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY --- ---UTILIZING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL TO ENHANCE ENGLISH LEARNING: A CASE STUDY OF THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF

FOREIGN LANGUAGES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

-

 -UTILIZING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL TO ENHANCE ENGLISH LEARNING: A CASE STUDY OF THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF TIKTOK PLATFORM ON ENGLISH SPEAKING ABILITY AMONG THIRD-

YEAR STUDENTS AT HUFLIT

Instructor’s name: Võ Thị Thiên Ân Student’s name: Nguyễn Thiều Mỵ

ID number: 19DH713172

Ho Chi Minh, June 2022

Keywords: social media application, TikTok, speaking skills, third-year students, HUFLIT

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION1.1 Background of the study

In the technological industry 4.0 era, digital technology has been applied populously

in many sectors Therefore, social media has been well-known widely for diverse age

groups, particularly the young generation Utilizing social platforms is not only forentertainment purposes but also for studying TikTok is one of the social media networkswhich is emerging recently grabbing the attention of most youth They assume that ithelps them learn English effectively through short videos On the other hand, a lot ofconcerns about improving English speaking skills through TikTok have arisen And two

of them that are what effect does TikTok have on the speaking skill of third-year students

at HUFLIT? and Why is TikTok supposed to bring benefits to speaking skill?

1.2 Rationale reason

It is assumed that TikTok is the favorite social media platform of young generationnowadays There are various contents and features that users can access easily Severalstudies found that using TikTok as a students’ learning platform in motivating students tolearn English received positive effects Its popularity is not basically about boringentertaining content, but it is also about useful knowledge According to (Yang, 2020)students’ perspectives showed a positive attitude toward utilizing TikTok as an Englishlearning platform It stated that some of the students’ English pronunciation is enhancedsignificantly through the TikTok application Furthermore, it raised students’ awareness

of how to speak English like native speakers

1.3 Statement of purpose

This study aims to answer the questions surrounding TikTok’s effect on learningEnglish of third-year students Based on it, the researcher’s desire is to bring studentsdifferent points of view on using TikTok Therefore, students can find out the best way toupgrade their speaking English skills

1.4 Methodology

The type of research is a quantitative descriptive study, which is a quantitativeanalysis using action research techniques about third-year students at HUFLIT It brings aconcrete result that the researcher can orientate teaching methods toward students Based

on it, the problems of the learners are solved, and learners’ quality is improved.According to Cohen, Manion, and Morrison (2000), action research is a powerful tool forchange and improvement at the local level This research was taken place in theclassroom and had 30 students

1.5 Organization of the study

The research consists of five main chapters, not to mention the conclusion:

 Chapter 1 provides (1) the background of the study; also included in this chapter are (2)the rationale of the study and (3) the aim of the study, (4) the study’s

limitation and delimitation, (5) the methodology employed in the research and (6)the organization of the study.

 Chapter 2 presents a view of literature related to the matters under discussion which serves as the theoretical framework for the study

 Chapter 3 describes the research design and the methodology employed in the research

 Chapter 4 analyses the findings from the student’s responses

 Chapter 5 draws conclusions and offers recommendations to the students

Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter consists of clarification of some notions including social mediaapplications, TikTok, speaking skills, and the background of the concept of students’speaking learning This chapter also provides previous relevant research about thepositive effects of TikTok on students’ speaking skills

2

2.1 Social media applications

With the development of advanced Web 2.0 and the generation of smart mobiledevices, social media which students can use to promote language learning is preferredexpeditiously With the success of the technology, social media is being used as asupportive tool in education According to Wayan Santyasa (2007:3) cites in (FebyYolanda, 2021), the learning process contains five components of communication,namely: the teacher (communicator), learning materials, learning media, students(communicants), and learning objectives Without media learning, the teaching andlearning process is unlikely to happen, at least requiring a medium to deliver teachingmaterials (Isroqm, 2013:1-10) cited in (Feby Yolanda, 2021) Teaching and learning areimpossible without learning media At least, one medium is required for teaching andlearning (Sharma, 2019) identified that social media applications are functional tools forenhancing EFL students’ English language skills as well as their learning motivation Tostudy the proposed topic, there was some previous research to support the study.According to the research of international social media application by Yang (2020), alarge number of studies, which explored the impact of using Twitter for English languageteaching and learning, revealed significantly improve students’ English language skillsbut also enhance their English learning motivation

2.2 TikTok as Learning Media

TikTok is an international version of Douyin that was originally launched in theChinese market in 2016 TikTok was officially launched as an international app in mostmarkets outside of China in 2017 The brain behind controversial this app is ZhangYiming It has a variety content of short-form user videos, from genres like pranks, dance,entertainment, and education as well within short videos from 15 seconds to ten minutes.TikTok is a mobile app for iOS and Android that allows users to access it through aphone Learning media can be used anytime and anywhere This is in accordance with thedefinition of mobile learning stated by O’Malley (Setyadi 2017) cited in (Feby Yolanda,2021), which is learning that learners do not stay in one place or learning activities thatoccur when learners make use of mobile technology devices According to (Warini et al2020) cited in (Feby Yolanda, 2021), there are already several TikTok users who createvideo content about English Then following their account, users cannot miss any videosthat they normally publish Users also can make use of the comment section to askquestions Content is generated by TikTok’s artificial intelligence depending on thecontent that a user liked, interacted with, or searched TikTok combines the user’senjoyed content to provide videos that they would also enjoy This app has been using

many built-in features (Feby Yolanda, 2021) claimed that the TikTok applicationcontains 6 features.

Table 2.2 The features contained in the TikTok application

Features Function

1 Record sound/voice Record sound via cellphone, then it into in your

personal TikTok account

2 Record video Record video via cellphone, then integrate it into in

your personal TikTok account

3 Background sound Added background sound that can be downloaded

from the TikTok application storage media

4 Edit Fix and edit the draft video that has been made

5 Share Share the perfect video

6 Collaboration Collaborate with other TikTok application users

Based on the description above, (Feby Yolanda, 2021) stated that TikTok can be used

as an effective learning medium Because: first, TikTok application fulfills the learningneeds of students Second, TikTok applications are interesting to students because it is thenewest thing and has many features Third, TikTok applications can be implemented intolearning And finally, TikTok application is equivalent to the development of maturityand experience as well characteristics of students who are the millennial generation, that

is familiar with the digital world, especially the use of the cellphone

2.3 Speaking skills

Speaking is one basic language skill that learners must master to be fluent incommunication It is considered the outcome of language learning due to its significanceand necessity Nunan (1991), cited in (Maulana et al., 2018) stated that masteringspeaking is the most crucial aspect of learning Not only does speaking serve to learn butalso applies in real life It is a daily activity that people use to communicate with others.(Shaimaa, 2006) said that speaking is a process of interaction that involves how toproduce, receive, and process the meaning produced to acquire the information In thisglobalization era, it is essential that speaking English is the most accepted language.English is used as a tool for communication worldwide It helps people get a job in theenterprise, and even travel to another country But it is not such an easy language.Students are suffering from the scary of talking All of them assume that speaking skill isthe most difficult skill Some factors hinder students’ speaking; first, fear of mistakes,according to Aflat (2008), cited in (Dalem, 2017) added that the students’ fear is linked to

4

correction and criticized evaluation Second, shyness, students feel shy to speak English

in class Speaking in front of the class is a common phobia that students encounter whichmakes their minds go blank and forget what to say (Baldwin, 2011) cited in (Dalem,2017) Third, anxiety refers to the feeling of nervousness in facing foreign languagelearning (Horwitz, 1991) cited in (Dalem, 2017) Fourth, lack of confidence usuallyoccurs when the students do not understand what the speakers say, (Jenni et al, 2022)

2.4 Effects of TikTok on students’ speaking skills

TikTok is social media application with functional tools for enhancing EFL students’English language skills as well as their learning motivation On the other hand, (Gupta &Bashir, 2018) stated that it has four major purposes They are for entertainment,socialization, informativeness, and academic purposes (Xiumen & Razali, 2021)expressed that TikTok can be considered as an assessment language tool (Jenni et al,2022) stated that students can learn any language content and skills repeatedly Users mayincorporate a variety of hot music and hashtags while making content Many features areavailable in TikTok, including duets, sharing, and video challenges with people all aroundthe world Consequently, the widespread use of TikTok as a social media platform willprovide students with an excellent learning platform There are a lot of pronunciationchallenges that users can duet with another one Students can make self-recording videosusing English via TikTok That is a good way both in entertaining and improving Englishspeaking

To support the proposed topics, there were some previous articles The first research(Yang, 2020), the study was about “Secondary-School Students’ Perspectives of UtilizingTikTok for English Learning in and Beyond the EFL Classroom’’ This research wasabout identifying students’ attitudes toward using TikTok as a language learning tool Itwas based on data from a quantitative survey of 187 secondary school students As theresult, the survey found a positive aspect of TikTok as a learning aid Because of usingonline questionnaires, the limitation of the study was the storage of real data to confirmthe impact of utilizing TikTok to enhance students’ academic performances

The second research is based on (Syaifuddin et al , 2021) with the title “Students’Perception Toward the Use of TikTok Video in Learning Writing Descriptive Text atMAN 1 Gresik’’ The research identified the students’ perception of practicing TikTok inwriting skills The methodology of the study which was interviewed by 85 students atIslamic Senior High School of 1 Gresik conducted as descriptive quantitative by utilizingquestionnaires The study found that applying TikTok in writing descriptive text is

beneficial for the interpretation of students Focusing on only writing skill performance is

a limitation of the study

The third research by (Pratiwi et al…, 2021), the study was about “Utilizing TikTokApplication as Media for Learning English Pronunciation” The paper aimed to learn howTikTok application can consider a learning medium to improve students’ pronunciationskills The study was tested on the university English education student Suryakancana.The received data was completed with observation and questionnaire by using aqualitative approach The success of the study pointed out a positive attitude and strongdesire toward the use of the TikTok application because of its efficiency in academics.The boundary of the study was about pronunciation skills

Through several previous research, we can assume that the utilization of TikTok inacademic performance is an essential topic that we should pay attention The research’sstream is English language learning and the positive effects of utilizing TikTok toenhance students’ speaking skills The gap between the previous studies was thelimitation of research in showing TikTok as a learning platform to develop speakingskills Moreover, the article about using TikTok as a learning medium is still limited innumber Thus, the present study of the research desire to find out the benefits whichTikTok can bring to enhance the speaking skill of students

Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

In this research, the study’s aim is finding out the positive effect of applying TikTok

to speaking English The scope of this research is to learn how students feel aboututilizing TikTok to improve their English-speaking skills and to investigate the reasonswhy TikTok can boost the effectiveness of speaking

In order to collect the data, the research method used in this research is thequantitative method The quantitative technique involves writing the study findings in a

6

clear and impartial manner Charts, tables, and graphs are non-textual components that areutilized to supplement the overall explanation of the available results They also explainkey points so that the students have a better understanding of the TikTok application andevaluate the impact of using it in learning English A quantitative questionnairedescription is revealed in form of an online survey This survey was prepared for 40 third-year students specializing in English Studies at HUFLIT, 20 students from Englishbusiness, and the rest from English teaching, English office administration, Englishtranslation – interpretation, and Chinese – English bilingual language This way to collectdata made sure that this information is accurate and high-quality response, is not onlyfrom the researcher’s perspective By using this way, students also expressed their points

of view and felt free to give personal ideas Thus, it was useful for this research and alsofor realistic situations

Chapter 4

DATAANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

This chapter analyses and discusses the results of students’ responses to the survey

Data of this research were collected via a questionnaire and analyzed descriptively Thepurpose of the data is to clarify the answers to the research questions mentioned in theprevious chapter

The students’ responses are divided into 3 major parts:

4.1 Students’ utilization of TikTok for speaking English learning

7,5%

92,5%

Chart 4.1.1: Students’ utilization of TikTok

The first question in the questionnaire is “Do you use TikTok?” This question isaimed at investigating the popularity of TikTok among third-year students at HUFLIT,preparing for the data analysis for the further questions Out of 40 students, only 3students (7.5%) have not ever used TikTok Meanwhile, 37 students who corresponded to92.5% have been using TikTok It can assume that this application is populous amonguniversity students

Never Rarely Sometimes Often UsuallyThe frequent TikTok 2,5% 12,5% 25% 37,5% 22,5%

8

utilization of Englishlearning content.

Table 4.1.1: TikTok students’ utilization of English learning content

The second question is “How often do you spend time learning content about English

on TikTok?’’ This question is designed to know about the frequency of TikTok’s use ofEnglish learning content The above figures demonstrate that the majority of the studentssurveyed spent most of their time in English learning content through TikTok The exactpercentage is 85%, of which 25% chose sometimes, the highest one is often with 37,5%,and the other one is usually with 22,5% In contrast, only 2,5% out of 40 students havenot watched English learning content on TikTok The rest percentage was 12,5% whichrarely spends time on learning content These figures imply that TikTok learning content

is not strange to HUFLIT university students, and most of them are using it regularly

4.2 Positive effects of TikTok on English speaking ability among students

There are many answers about the aspects of speaking English learned throughTikTok But these are 4 common answers that most students chose are shown in Figure 3

7,5%

10%

50%

32,5%

Chart 4.2.1: Aspects of speaking English that students can learn through TikTok

According to the data displayed in figure 3, 50% of the participants chosepronunciation that they can improve via TikTok As may know that TikTok is a video platform having animated scenarios and catchy sounds Apart from that, the English