The Effects of Instagram Based Activities in Improving Secondary School Students’ Writing Skill

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue IV, April 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Effects of Instagram Based Activities in Improving Secondary School Students’ Writing Skill

Aadila Fatin Mohd Desa, Mohamed Amin Embi, Harwati Hashim

Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Abstract:- The 21st century of learning and teaching not only emphasises on core competencies such as collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving but as well as on the digital literacy aspect. The integration of social networking sites (SNS) like Instagram application in the classroom is believed to be able to contribute to many beneficial impacts on students. However based on current findings, it is claimed that in the Malaysian school context, students’ face real struggle in producing grammatically correct pieces of writing. Therefore, it is crucial to efficiently respond to this writing accuracy issue among students by identifying the most comprehensible features on Instagram which could work as the trailblazer. This study is conducted to unearth how the theoretical underpinnings that Instagram features own affect students’ subject-verb-agreement instruction. In this intervention, 50 Form 4 students from a secondary school in Perak were selected as the participants. A few Instagram-based writing activities were carried out to explore the effectiveness of Instagram features on students’ use of subject-verb-agreement. Pre and post observation as well as questionnaire were also used as methods of data collection. The findings indicated that the students responded effectively to Instagram based activities thus it boosts their motivation in writing learning. Based on this finding, more studies are expected to be conducted in the future too as students should be well armed with sufficient writing skills to thrive in today’s world.

Keywords: SNS, Instagram, subject-verb-agreement, writing, social media, 21st century learning and teaching

I. INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The rapid growth of current technology facilitates the existence of fast growing social media tools that are relevant for students both in academic and social settings. Considering the presence of the 21st century learning notion as proposed by scholars all over the world, Malaysia has taken several steps to include the main skills in the learning and assessment purposes especially in enhancing writing skills among school students. In Malaysia, even English has been taught since primary school, the outcome of this language teaching was still not up to the expected level. One of the evidence is through the results of English Language in Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), which showed decline (Malay Mail Online, 2015).

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