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The Impact of Social Media on EFL Learners' Speaking Skill: A Survey Study
Involving EFL Teachers and Students

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 Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research
Volume 6, Issue 3, 2019, pp. 199-215
Available online at www.jallr.com
ISSN: 2376-760X

The Impact of Social Media on EFL Learners’ Speaking Skill:

A Survey Study Involving EFL Teachers and Students

Ehsan Namaziandost *
PhD Candidate, Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Shahrekord, Iran

Mehdi Nasri
PhD Candidate, Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Shahrekord, Iran

Abstract
Social media have gained much respect and popularity among EFL teachers who are in need
to go beyond the traditional methods of teaching where teachers used to accomplish most
parts of the job. Moreover, our traditional classrooms still emphasize on writing and reading
at the expense of speaking. Therefore, teaching speaking represents a great challenge for both
EFL teachers and learners who display low achievements in their oral skills. The current study
aimed to investigate the effectiveness of using Social media on EFL students’ speaking skill.
The research covers two basic issues. First, the extent to which Social media affect students’
speaking skill. Second, how can Social media be helpful in EFL context to improve speaking?
The research was done at Islamic Azad Universities of Iran. Two questionnaires were
distributed; one for 100 EFL teachers and the other one addressed to 100 learners. The
practical outcome of the study has displayed that the frequent usage of Social media by EFL
students as well as teachers constitutes a significant impact on both users. It has also reflected
the teachers’ readiness to integrate Social media in EFL context by means of a convenient
pedagogy. Technology is believed to make students respond positively in a language classroom,
therefore, it is tremendously important for teachers to enrich their teaching process with the
appropriate use of Social media and to promote a global understanding among the EFL
Students who should broaden their perspectives about the target cultures and ameliorate
their communicative competence in order to interact and communicate effectively and
appropriately in English Language.
Keywords: social media, social media tools, speaking skill, EFL students, EFL teachers

INTRODUCTION

For many years Language has been regarded as a means of communication among people
regardless their different races and colors. Humans need language as much as they need
air, water, and food. There would be no life without that channel which connects people,
as it is the basic means of oral communication among individuals, groups and people.

* Correspondence: Ehsan Namaziandost, Email: e.namazi75 yahoo.com

© 2019 Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research
The Impact of Social Media on EFL Learners’ Speaking Skill: A Survey Study Involving EFL …200

Language teaching has always been facing various difficulties in the process of seeking
successfulness. One of the main issues that EFL teachers come across is how to make
learners use the language competently and function accurately in real context. Similarly,
Students are proved to have low performance when they are asked to fulfill tasks that
require speaking in class. In addition, what makes the situation even more complicated
is that some teachers are still using traditional techniques and methods which do not
provide the required environment for students to speak comfortably.
In an attempt to find remedial solutions for this low performance by learners, teachers
and instructors opted for a variety of activities and procedures that make the learner use
the language. However, the language they learn in class is not helping them to enhance
their communicative competence. The student of the twenty first century can never learn
how to speak by drills or words learned by heart, he would rather be motivated to learn
if the learning itself is interesting and entertaining, Social media as taking most of
student’s time, can be thought of as an educating tool if used properly (Namaziandost,
Rahimi Esfahani, & Ahmadi, 2019).
The significance of this study then is to help EFL learners find the right environment to
speak and improve their speaking skills by means of Social media. The work covers also,
a variety of creative solutions and ideas concerning using ICTs to enhance the learners
speaking proficiency. It is of great importance to measure the extent to which Social
media can help education and EFL members, especially with the inventions of new
technologies. This study is believed to open the door to new unprecedented approaches
and pedagogies that will enrich the domain of teaching in the future.
Concerning the main problem of this study, it is vitally important to mention that the
speaking skill of any language is crucially paramount because it serves the purpose of
communication which is this language using by all people around the world to share their
ideas and communicate via a language speech , especially, English language speech which
is the most useful one in the world. EFL learners in Iran are one of those users of English
as a foreign language (Namaziandost & Ahmadi, 2019). They are looking all the time to
improve their speaking skill because English as a foreign language in Algeria is mainly
taught in terms of grammar and structures. Therefore, less attention is payed to the
speaking skill. So, this need to improve the speaking skill for Iranian EFL learners has led
to the use of new ways of technology in order to keep up with the times. As a matter fact,
they use Social media to communicate with different people around the world using
English as a global language of communication. Starting from this point we need to know
if Social Media have any effects on EFL learners speaking skill.
Therefore, this study is designed to find answers to two main research questions:
1. To what extent Social Media influence students’ speaking skill?
2. How can Social Media be helpful in EFL context to enhance student’ speaking
proficiency?
LITERATURE REVIEW
The history of EFL teaching has witnessed a great amount of changes in strategies,
procedures, and sometimes roles of teachers and learners. Despite this, the goal has
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2019, 6(3) 201

always been the same which is making EFL learners communicatively competent in the
target language and shape their proficiency to meet the different challenges of life in real
situations (Nasri, Biria, & Karimi, 2018).
Nowadays, EFL teaching and learning has been influenced by the technological
innovation, and many tools have been added to the English class so as to facilitate the
process of teaching/learning and provide a more realistic environment for learners to
mention but a few of these tools one can cite: the Data show, computers, and recorded
tapes. However, there should be a great need to update these tools as the time goes on, in
order to keep up with the advancement of ICT’s in the world.
The overwhelming spread of Social media among learners and even teachers proved itself
as a successful tool to education. Similarly, most teachers believe that the main aim
behind learning a language is to speak it fluently and accurately which means that
understanding a language should not necessarily construct the assumption that he/she
knows the language (Namaziandost, Nasri, & Rahimi Esfahani, 2019; Nasri & Biria, 2017).
The learner should rather accomplish a great level of proficiency in the four language
skills including speaking. However, speaking a foreign language is not an easy task, and it
is definitely not as easy as speaking mother tongue. As a solution, many scholars believe
that the appropriate use and the successful integration of ICTs and social media in the
classroom can reduce the impediments that prevent EFL learners from the mastery of the
speaking skill.
Speaking Skill
Speaking is a key used between people to communicate in the social context. Also
Speaking is "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and
non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts" (Chaney, 1998, p. 13). (Brown, 1994) and
(Burns & Joyce, 1997) define Speaking as a reactive process of a structured meaning that
includes receiving and producing and sharing information. In Applied linguistic speaking
has a set of descriptions; speaking as a social and situation-based activity and speaking
as an interaction, (Azadi, Biria, & Nasri, 2018; Thornbory, 2005). All these perspectives
see speaking as a whole side of learner’s daily lives in receiving and producing speech.
Speaking is an important language skill for learners and teachers. Bygate (2002) See it as
a complex, and multilevel skill; the complexity part is explained by the fact that the use of
speakers’ knowledge of the language and activate their ability is necessary to do this
under real situations.
Speaking plays a crucial part in foreign/second language teaching-learning. It has
occupied a significant and delicate rank all the way through the history of language
teaching. Despite its importance, teaching speaking has been undervalued and it is just in
the last two decades that has gained its right to be an independent4 branch of teaching
(Hosseini, Nasri, & Afghari, 2017). Speaking then is not dependent only on pronouncing
words. English teachers therefore, devoted paramount time to speaking as being
essential in facilitating the enhancement of English learners‟ proficiency.
It is worth mentioning that the four skills are described in terms of their direction as far
as language teaching is concerned , that is to say , the language generated by the learner
The Impact of Social Media on EFL Learners’ Speaking Skill: A Survey Study Involving EFL …202

(in speech or writing) is referred to as “productive” while , Language directed at the

learner (in reading or listening) is called “receptive” . Another important idea is “the
channel”, which refers to the medium of the message (aural/oral or written). Thus,
speaking is the productive aural/oral skill. It consists of producing systematic verbal
“utterances” to convey meaning.
Speaking, yet is a skill which deserves attention, the learners often need to be able to
speak with confidence in order to carry out many of their most basic transactions. It is
the skill by which they are most frequently judged and through which they may take or
lose opportunities in life (Namaziandost, Abdi Saray, & Rahimi Esfahani, 2018). It is the
vehicle of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of business.
Perhaps then, the teaching of speaking merits more thought.
Issues of The Oral Production class in The English Department
One of the major responsibilities of any teacher working with English Language Learners
(ELLs) is to enable them to communicate effectively through oral language. Teachers
concerned with teaching the spoken language usually debate thoroughly about one
question: why is it too difficult for learners to learn oral expression? To a large extent, it
is because the current oral production class is teacher centered, despite the various
attempts teachers make to engage learners in discussions and motivate them to speak,
the amount of speeches students have are still not sufficient. Besides, the Oral language
that students learn at the classroom does not help in enhancing their communicative
competencies which are mostly needed in real life situations. Similarly, Baker and
Westrup (2003, p.5) state that: “a student who can speak English well may have greater
chance for further education, finding employment and gaining promotion”.
In the same line of thought, speaking appears to be a difficult skill to develop in the EFL
classes because students not only need to be well prepared in English skills, they need
also to use them to build social relationships that allow them to interact with each other.
An argument that supports this view is found in Gutierrez (2005, p.3) statement he claims
that: “learners often need to be able to speak7 with confidence in order to carry out many
of their most basic transactions. It is the skill by which they are most frequently judged,
and by which they make or lose friends”. In addition to what has been mentioned earlier,
many other factors prevent learners from reaching oral expression proficiency in class
most of which are psychological, for instance; anxiety and inhibition. There are many
procedures that should be opted for by language teachers to improve learners’
proficiency in Oral Expression module among which group work, role-play and
discussions which encourage students to take communicative initiatives (Namaziandost,
Saberi Dehkordi, & Shafiee, 2019). Moreover, learners cannot be effective in tomorrow’s
world if they are trained in yesterday’s skill which means that the student who use
technology in almost every task of his daily life should make use of technology as well
improve his speaking skill.
EFL Students’ Speaking Problems
Beyond any doubt, English as foreign language (EFL) learners, no matter how much they
know about the English language, still face many speaking difficulties. Many studies have
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2019, 6(3) 203

indicated that oral language development has largely been neglected in the classroom,
and most of the time, oral language in the classroom is used more by teachers than by
students. However, oral language, even as used by the teacher, hardly ever functions as a
means for students to gain knowledge and explore ideas (Abram & Pearlman, 2010). To
develop the knowledge to deal with oral communication problems in an EFL context,
researchers first need to know the real nature of those problems and the circumstances
in which ‘problems’ are constructed.
Inhibition: One of the main problems is when students try to say things in a foreign
language in the classroom and they get inhibited. Much of their worry is built over making
mistakes, fearful of criticism or losing face. They are shy of the attention that their speech
attracts. Littlewood (2007) asserts that a foreign language classroom can create
inhibitions and anxiety easily.
Lack of Topical Knowledge: It is highly important for teachers to engage students in
oral communication in topics that are familiar to them, students usually complain about
having nothing to say in certain topics simply because the topic is not suitable for them.
Low or Uneven Participation: Another problem in speaking class is that students can
never be in the same level of proficiency and as a result, some of them may speak a lot, so
there is a tendency of some learners to dominate others.
The mother tongue use: One of the most frequently done issues in classroom is the use
of mother tongue. In fact, students sometimes can never be blamed for using the mother
tongue. Harmer (1991) puts forward several reasons amongst the fact that it is rather a
natural phenomenon that needs practice more and more to overcome it. Another reason
is when teachers use mother tongue, this may give students the impression that it is of no
harm to use mother tongue on their part as well.
Technology and Learning Tools in the EFL Classroom
First of all, the last two decades have witnessed rapid explosions of information which
lead to an urgent need to cope with the ongoing scientific acceleration in all fields.
Information revolution, which yielded the internet, is the most important technological
accomplishment to date. Internet enables people to cancel distances, shorten time, and
make the world more like a small electronic screen (Al Musa, 2002; Namaziandost, Abedi,
& Nasri, 2019). Similarly, education is required to meet the needs of this growing
scientific acceleration. To put it another way, education aims and objectives in the Third
World countries should be changed to meet the era’s variables, aiming not only to help
students in the cognitive domain, but also focus on their needs to attain the skills,
capacities, and self -reliance to interact with the era’s variables and build a new life based
on sovereignty, not dependency on others (Al Musa & Al Mubarak, 2005; Namaziandost,
Abedi, & Nasri, 2019).
Education needs to equip students with the needed tools and skills that make them
capable of dealing with these new requirements effectively. Thus, involving technology
as a goal in itself in the educational paradigm is no longer a privilege; on the contrary, it
is an urgent need (Aziz, Shamim, Aziz, & Avais, 2013). With the increasing reliance on
technology and the need for digital proficiency, it is expected that the use of online
The Impact of Social Media on EFL Learners’ Speaking Skill: A Survey Study Involving EFL …204

technology to work with second language acquisition is a natural by- product of the
changing face of the educational world. Evidences have shown that students who conduct
their learning online are better than students who work in traditional settings for the
learning of a second language, in terms of their levels of anxiety and their need for gap
awareness in their language skills (Akinola, 2015; Pichette, 2009). Studies have also
shown that the use of technologies in teaching languages have an increased advantage on
the development of grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, pronunciation, listening, and
speaking skills (Haigh, 2010; Levy, 2009; Namaziandost & Shafiee, 2018).
Social media
The meaning of the term ‘Social media’ can be derived from two words that are ‘social’
and ‘Networks’. The first term is ‘Social’ which means connected with society and the way
it is organized, in which they meet and spend time with other people. The second one is
Networks which means: a group of two or more computer systems linked together (Eren,
2012; Beal, 2015; Namaziandost, Sabzevari, & Hashemifardnia, 2018).
Social media is a current phenomenon that includes both web-based communication with
Internet users through websites and interaction with others via cellular phones. It is very
clear that education industry worldwide is in the midst of a revolution caused by the
evolving technologies such as the web 2.0 and the advent of web 3.0 allowing students to
create content, exchange ideas and share knowledge. So much so that in the last few years
there has been extensive discussion and heated debate exploring social media in journal
articles and conferences. Much of this discussion has focused on developing a clearer
understanding of the capabilities of such technology as a new platform for enhancing
students‟ independent learning and how much Social media has yielded as academic
achievement and whether it could be used as new pedagogical tools outside or even
inside the classroom. At the same time, the ubiquitous presence of social media has
attracted researchers to study both positive aspects and concerns of using such tools in
various settings offering new and various ways of using computers or/and mobile
devices. (Hashemifardnia, Namaziandost, & Rahimi Esfahani, 2018; Paliktzoglou &
Suhonen, 2014).
As education institutions are embracing social media there is a need to optimize the
positive effect of such technologies to bring them into pedagogy to make instruction and
learning active and applicable to the cyber environment of the new millennium. In recent
years, more and more education institutions are making a presence in Social media such
as Blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook to create effective ways for the establishment of
collaborative and interactive online learning system. Therefore, technology-driven
culture is featuring prominently in all pedagogical activities. Hence, the focus of learning
and instruction needs to be viewed from a newer perspective “without gathering students
and teachers in the17 same physical space” (Aloraini, 2012; Maney, 2009). In other
words, learning should no longer be tied to a particular location and a particular time
table. Basically, Social media sites extend far beyond their traditional purpose of
communication and entertainment to promote students’ self-reliance in learning through
enquiry and sharing and more importantly, enhance their speaking abilities by means of
online interaction. With this in mind, it has been suggested that the language teaching
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2019, 6(3) 205

situation in terms of the students’ speaking competence is not successful to a certain

extent in EFL contexts which can cause verbal communication barriers in their everyday
lives and in the maritime environment. Therefore, an urgent need for a solution is needed.
Social media with its various kinds could be considered as a remedy as these materials
have potential to attract the students by being flexible, entertaining, and interactive and
provide an excellent chance for learners to express themselves in a self-confident way.
Indeed, the use of Social media as a tool to improve students’ listening and speaking /
communicative skills would find an enthusiastic welcome from the learners’ part as it
goes hand to hand with their interests (Gibbins & Greenhow, 2016; Hashemifardnia,
Namaziandost, & Sepehri, 2018). As Social media have penetrated so deeply in our lives,
it is tremendously important to analyze the types and nature of each means.
To sum up, it is worth stating that speaking is not an easy task to teach and teachers
should be aware of their students‟ needs and requirements in order to achieve
proficiency in speaking. EFL teachers are also inclined to give ICTs their fair share of
importance and utility in class. In fact, ICTs in general have contributed enormously in
shaping the current teaching /learning process. Instructors and teachers on their part
should make use of technologies as accurately as possible. It is indeed the ultimate way
to keep the strategies up to date. ICTs nowadays are imposing themselves as a necessity
in EFL classroom. Therefore; it is no more a privilege but rather an urgent needed tool to
improve the students’ communicative and speaking abilities.
METHOD

The population
The present research work is a survey study involving both EFL teachers (N=80) and
students (N=120) at Islamic Azad universities of Iran. A survey design is defined by (Dana
Lynn Driscoll, 2011) as a study “where you can gather information about people’s beliefs
or behaviors; the information you collect is not first-hand (like an observation) but rather
self-reported data” Consequently, opting for a survey design to figure out the influence of
Social media on EFL learners can be more appropriate especially with combining both
qualitative and quantitative approaches; this last will help to seek more reliable and valid
results from both teachers and students.
The research was conducted at the department of Foreign Languages (English section) at
Islamic Azad universities of Iran. The researcher deals with a sample of population
consisting of both EFL teachers (N=100) and students (N=100) during the academic year
2018/2019. This research aims at drawing interest from both EFL teachers and learners
to make use of Social media as an attempt to raise awareness about its great effects in
shaping the students’ oral proficiency, and also to spark their interest in learning
speaking.
Teachers
In the present study, the questionnaire was administrated to one-hundred (100) teachers
from the department of English at the Islamic Azad universities of Iran. There has been
an underlying reason for making EFL teachers involved in the research population
The Impact of Social Media on EFL Learners’ Speaking Skill: A Survey Study Involving EFL …206

because teachers play an intensive role , on the one hand they can be regarded as direct
observers of the phenomenon and can evaluate students’ oral proficiency during the
course , on the other hand they can simply be engaged in oral discussions with learners
through the use of Social media and this will show how Social media influence the
students’ level of speaking . The teachers taking part in this study hold either the degree
of ‘Doctorate’ or ‘Magister’ most of them were experienced teachers who taught different
modules.
Students
The choice of the sample of the students was based on the observation that was done by
the researchers, where we observe the WhatsApp, Facebook, and Telegram groups that
are created by students of the department of English at the universities of Iran from all
the different levels and specialties. In these groups, students are sharing and discussing
course-related materials with their classmates. Therefore, the present study took place
in the Department of English at Islamic Azad universities of Iran. The participants were
100 students of English randomly selected as a sample population for the present study.
They belonged to different levels from First year to master two students. The main aim
behind this blend was to gather as much points of view about the use of Social media and
examine their attitudes towards them and for a greater extent to derive from learners a
variety of creative ideas on how to better use Social media to improve speaking.
Research Instruments
It is often assumed that “the backbone of any survey study is the instrument used for
collecting data”(Dornyei & Ushioda, 2011) therefore, the researcher has opted for the use
of two questionnaires one intended for teachers and the other for students , basically the
same questions were asked with a slight difference in the style .
Questionnaire
The essence of any scientific research is the attempt made to find out answers to
questions in a systematic manner. Yet, questionnaires in their various kinds are of the
most common methods in collecting data in Foreign Language research and have
attracted a worldwide interest among researchers. In the same vain Dornyei (2003, p.3)
states: “Questionnaires are certainly the most often employed data collection devices in
statistical work”.
The questionnaire is addressed to EFL students and Teachers aiming at analyzing to
which extent Social media impact the students’ speaking skill and which strategies can be
undertaken in order to integrate Social media in educational institutions such as
university. Eight questions were included and different types of questions were used
starting from open-ended and close-ended to multiple choice questions.
RESULTS

Analysis of Teachers’ Questionnaire

The questionnaire is addressed to ten EFL teachers. It mainly aims at reporting their ideas
concerning the use of Social media among learners and teachers as well. In addition to
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2019, 6(3) 207

that, its basic purpose is to show their impressions about how Social media contribute in
shaping the students‟ speaking skills. This questionnaire includes eight questions that
will be analyzed and presented as shown below.
Table 1. Teachers’ answers to the Questionnaire
Question 1. How often do you use Social media?
Frequency of Use Absolute Frequency Percentage
Always 55 55 %
Sometimes 35 35 %
Rarely 5 5%
Never 5 5%
Question 2. Have you ever used Social media for educational purposes? If yes, How?
Frequency of Use Absolute Frequency Percentage
Yes 80 80 %
No 20 20 %
Question 3. Do you get in touch with learners through the use of Social media?
The use of S.N to
communicate with Absolute Frequency Percentage
learners
Always 14 14 %
Sometimes 76 76 %
Rarely 3 3%
Never 7 7%
Question 4. Among the different types of social media, there are social media that are mostly
based on oral communication such as Skype, WhatsApp or Telegram. As a teacher do you use
one of these to get in touch with learners or native speakers? If yes, which one is your favorite?
The Social Media Number Percentage
Skype 8 8%
WhatsApp 51 51 %
Telegram 39 39 %
None 2 2%
Question 5. Which language is mostly used when using these tools?
The Language Used Absolute Frequency Percentage
Mother Tongue 13 13 %
English 84 85 %
Arabic 2 2%
None of the languages 1 0%
Question 6. To what extent can Skype, WhatsApp or Telegram be helpful to students? and why?
The Influence Absolute Frequency Percentage Reasons
Because they practice the
High 24 24 %
language.
Because Social media
Medium 72 72 % represent a motivating
and helpful environment.
Because students need
Low 4 4%
face to face interaction.

The first question aims at finding out to what extent teachers are attached to Social media
and how often do they use them. Based on Table 1, The majority represented by five
teachers use Social media always, while three of them use them sometimes and only two
teachers have never used Social media. The second question was meant to determine the
The Impact of Social Media on EFL Learners’ Speaking Skill: A Survey Study Involving EFL …208

number of teachers using Social media for educational purposes. The main aim behind
this question is to discover how teachers use Social media to achieve any educational
goals. (80%) of teachers confirm that they use Social media for educational purposes such
as sharing lectures, publishing useful links or sending messages to colleagues or students,
while only one teacher used Social media to give lectures. The remaining (20%) believe
that Social media can better be used for other reasons. The answers concerning this
question revealed that despite the fact that most teachers use Social media to achieve
educational goals, only few of them use them to give lectures or perform oral
conversations with learners. Regarding the third question, the rationale of this question
is to figure out if teachers benefit from Social media at the level of communicating
information and ideas with EFL learners. The findings of this question reveal that (76%)
of teachers sometimes use Social media to communicate with learners in matters more
likely to be related to education while (7%) have never used them to communicate with
learners. In question four, knowing which Social media teachers prefer is the ultimate
goal of such a question. Teachers and even learners may have different Social media to
use when they seek oral communication therefore, it is very important to our research to
know which Social media ranks the best among EFL teachers. The results show that
WhatsApp is the most used Social media among teachers with (51%) while (39%) of them
are using Telegram. Teachers have made their choices based on different criteria that
characterize each Social media. Question five is administered in an attempt to know
which language is being used by teachers when using Social media and also to see if
teachers are making use of these Social media to contribute in the whole field of
education. The result denotes the remarkable control of English over the other languages
in use, research shows that most teachers represented with (84%) use English as the
main Language in oral communication , while Mother Tongue is ranked second with
(13%) of use.(1%) of teachers state that they don’t use any language and their use is
entirely passive. Last but not least, the use of Arabic language with only (2%). Question
six is designed in an attempt to know the teachers’ point of view about the main issue of
the whole research which is the influence of Social media on the students speaking skill;
it also includes an opportunity for teachers to justify their opinions. Accordingly, the
results display that the overall number of teachers believe that Social media do have an
impact on the students’ level of speaking. As the results show, seven teachers measured
the influence at medium level attributing their choice to the motivating and helping
environment that Social media provide. In addition, twenty-four teachers claim that
Social media have a high influence since they represent an ample opportunity to practice
the language and therefore improve the speaking skill. On the other hand, there is only
four teacher who goes with the idea that the influence is low and barely existing since
Social media do not provide face to face interaction and therefore, the positive influence
is very low.
Analysis of the Students’ Questionnaire
This questionnaire is mainly designed to diagnose the students’ use of Social media and
its impact on the students speaking skill. After treatment of the teachers’ questionnaire,
the present section is devoted to the analysis of the data collected from the students’
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2019, 6(3) 209

questionnaire. All 100 students answered this questionnaire for the sake of obtaining as
much as various data available. The questionnaire consisted of six questions and each one
will be treated separately as follow:
Table 2. Students’ answers to the Questionnaire
Question 1. Do you use Social media?
The use Absolute Frequency Percentage
Always 82 82 %
Sometimes 16 16 %
Rarely 2 2%
Never 0 0%
Question 2. Have you ever used Social mediaing for educational purposes? If yes, How?
The influence Absolute Frequency Percentage
A lot 71 71 %
A little 27 21%
Not at all 0 0%
I don’t know 2 2%
Question 3. Among the different existing Social media there are, those which can be used in
oral communication such as Skype, WhatsApp or Telegram, do you use any of them? If yes
which one is your favorite?
The Social Media Number Percentage
Skype 1 1%
WhatsApp 69 69 %
Telegram 29 29 %
None 1 1%
Question 4. Which language do you use when doing so?
The Language Used Absolute Frequency Percentage
Mother Tongue 21 21 %
English 78 78 %
Other languages 1 1%
Question 5. Have you ever used Social media to talk with native speakers of English around the
world?
The use Number Percentage
Yes 77 77 %
No 33 33 %
Question 6. To what extent do you think these types of Social media can help to improve
students’ speaking skills?
The Influence Absolute Frequency Percentage
High 82 82 %
Medium 18 18 %
Low 0 0%

The first question has been asked for two main reasons the first is to engage the
participant in the topic so that he/she constructs a previous knowledge about what is
coming next of questions. Secondly, to know how far students are attached to Social
media. The majority of participants (eighty-two) making up (82%) stated that they
always use Social media, while only sixteen students making (16%) stated that their use
of Social media is not a priority and therefore, they use them only sometimes. Regarding
the second question, it is very important for the researcher to know the students’
standpoint about the influence of Social media simply because they represent an effective
The Impact of Social Media on EFL Learners’ Speaking Skill: A Survey Study Involving EFL …210

part in the phenomenon. The results have shown that most students seventy-two, making
up (72 %) believe that Social media do influence a lot the students’ level, while twenty-
seven students making up (27%) claimed that the influence is subtle and have little
influence, besides this, only two students did not have an answer. The third question was
addressed to EFL students to know which Social media is mostly used or favored by
students. The answers concerning this question have revealed that WhatsApp is the most
favored Social media between students making up (69%) of users, while Telegram
occupied the second most used Social media with twenty-nine students making up (29%).
Skype on the other hand ranked the third with one user making up (1%), while only one
student claimed they do not use any. Question four is devised to determine the language
that students mostly use when using Social media. This question is very essential to the
research work. It shows its significance as far as English is concerned. The research has
displayed that seventy-eight students making up (78 %) use English as the main language
for oral communication in Social media while twenty-one students making up (21 %) opt
for the Mother tongue. Moreover, one student making up (1%) use other languages. Some
students opted for more than one choice which means that they shift from one language
to the other according to the speakers’ need. Behind question five, the researcher aimed
to know the extent to which students of English are making use of Social media by having
oral conversations with native speakers. The results have displayed that sixty-seven
students making up (77 %) have had the opportunity to speak to native speakers online,
while only nine making up (23%) students did not go through the experience. By the
question sixth, the researcher wanted to know EFL students’ attitudes and ideas towards
the employment of Social media in educational fields to improve speaking skill. The
majority of students making up (82%) think that Social media do improve the speaking
proficiency to a high extent, while (18 %) of students claimed that the improvement is
medium since the process is at the risk of causing many shortcomings.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

First of all, it is worth saying that teachers at the university are conscious of the
advancement and progress of communication and technology and its assumption to the
field of education, and what makes this true is the frequent use of Social media by
teachers who tend to publish educational links and share knowledge with their students.
Moreover, the benefit gained from Social media is dependent, and differs from one
teacher to another, in the same vain only few teachers use Social media for online
lecturing. In addition, WhatsApp and Telegram have got quite large popularity among
teachers in comparison with other Social media. Thus, their use involves mostly
colleagues and not students. Furthermore, teachers believe in the influence of Social
media supporting their stand point with the fact that Social media give the students the
opportunity to practice the language due to the motivating and helpful environment it
provides. Another key thing to remember is that teachers regard Virtual Classroom as a
very successful experience and would enhance the student learning and speaking abilities
through the conversations conducted with native speakers of English. Similarly, teachers
do agree that Social media can be used at university to improve speaking and listening as
well. The main challenge, however, lies at the pedagogic strategies that should be
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2019, 6(3) 211

followed in order to implement Social media and how they can best be employed, not to
mention the availability of necessary equipment.
The intensive use of Social media by students should not be looked at only as a negative
process. To put it another way, Social media has become a daily habit among students and
the integration of online conversations in English class should provide an atmosphere of
enjoyment as well as keep the student in the right path towards improving his/her own
skills. Students on their part are familiar with the influence of Social media. They use them
for various purposes ranging from education to communication and entertainment.
Significantly, if these purposes were achieved in the target language (English) the
students’ proficiency in speaking would witness a remarkable progress. WhatsApp and
Telegram have got tremendous popularity among students and this makes a lot of sense
because Messenger is an additional tool and connected to the most used Social media all
over the world that is Facebook. The research has revealed that English is the most used
language among students when using Social media with a challenging degree of use of
mother tongue as well and maybe that is exactly the reason why the improvement is seen
with Virtual Classroom students and not with other students. In the Virtual Classroom,
the use of Social media is guided and conducted to speak only English and not other
languages. In a question designed for students about the use of Social media to improve
speaking most students welcomed the thought and claimed its effectiveness in learning.
Likewise, students believe that talking to native speakers is the best method to benefit
from Social media in addition to implementing them in research and communication.
Improving the speaking skill is a hard task for foreign language learners. It requires some
strategy and experience to produce the language strictly and understand the intended
meanings of other speakers. According to many teachers the best way to do that is; to
encourage some new strategies inside or outside the classroom, since learners do not use
foreign language frequently in their daily life outside the classroom (Alexiou & Fotini,
2010; Namaziandost & Nasri, 2019; Namaziandost, Rahimi Esfahani, Nasri, &
Mirshekaran, 2018). Our study has been focused on the effectiveness of the use of Social
media to improve EFL learners speaking skill. So, this study was composed of two parts
(Theoretical, Practical part). The theoretical part was an overview on Social media, and
the Speaking skill, including the main titles and types of each variable in order to give a
clear idea about each one and the relation between them. The practical part of this study
was an analysis in order to confirm the results that have been obtained from both
students and teachers’ questionnaire. The findings went hand in hand with our
hypothesis which emphasize that learners will enhance their speaking skill if they use
Social media in an appropriate way.
The aim of this study was to investigate if there are any positive effects or influence of
Social media on EFL learners speaking skill and determine to what extent Social media
can be an assistant for the teachers to improve their courses of speaking activities in
order to encourage their learners to participate and improve their speaking skill, because
the majority of students want to use these aids in the classroom continuously in order to
avoid the bored study and make them motivated to participate in speaking activities.
The Impact of Social Media on EFL Learners’ Speaking Skill: A Survey Study Involving EFL …212

Above all, it is worth explaining that Social media cannot be regarded only as an
entertaining tool, they rather play a principal role in the field of education and research,
the presence of Social media has changed some of the aspects in the teacher and the
learner roles towards clarity and flexibility and therefore, instructors may be looking
forward to implement different pedagogies so as to keep up with the technological
advancements.
The present section is entirely devoted to state some possible recommendations and
suggestions regarding the employment of Social media as a learning material to develop
learners‟ speaking abilities. EFL teachers on the other hand need to assign their learners
with tasks that help them communicate and learn with one another. Likewise, technology
might be a convenient means to fulfill such goal. The general findings of the current study
revealed that the use of Social media is becoming broader and broader among learners
as well as teachers. They both make use of it in different fields to achieve different goals
including educational ones. Besides the fact that Social media provide time and shorten
the distances, they create a relaxing context for learners to talk freely and express their
ideas without any fear of embarrassment or lack of confidence. Therefore, they help the
learners to overcome many speaking difficulties and boost their speaking skill.
After the analysis of the findings obtained students and teachers’ questionnaires, we
suggest the following recommendations:
For teachers:
• Teachers are advised to use Social media in preparing classroom speaking
activities.
• Teachers should encourage their students to be exposed to authentic language
through Social media.
• Teachers should exploit videos from Social media in their courses in order to
enhance learners’ motivation to speak.
For students:
• Students should use Social media appropriately in order to develop their speaking
skill.
• Students should communicate with native speakers in order to develop their
speaking skill.
• Students should be interested with such material because they will help them in
learning English language with new technology.
• Students should benefit from watching Social media’ video courses, and using
Various Social media.
For Administration:
• The administration should provide the necessary materials that are required to
promote the speaking ability.
• Social media should be supposed to be as a strategy in teaching the oral courses.
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2019, 6(3) 213

Above all, technology and Social media in particular can be used to enrich learners‟
speaking abilities. Teachers then need to be flexible to their students’ needs, and provide
as much as space for the students to express their ideas and develop their oral
competence. The investigator has tried to present some suggestions that may help in the
development of EFL teaching and learning. He has also proposed some practical activities
that at the classroom concerning the use of Social media in education. All things
considered, it seems reasonable to assume that what brings Social media to the forefront
of educational interest is the highly sophisticated delivery and interactivity now available
with technological learning. In oral production courses, technology should hold a
prominent place. Similarly, Teachers should have the competency required for building
and operating technology based41 courses to achieve the designed objectives. With
proper use, technology offers a way to create or construct learning opportunities unlike
ever before available.
To sum up, this extended essay has led to conclude that EFL teachers should consider the
usefulness of Social media in higher education without ignoring the contribution of the
traditional methods and techniques. The integration of Social media in EFL context will
provide access to increase the language activities and even more, to enhance the student’s
motivation to learn speaking which is believed to be the main factor that lacks the
traditional classroom. Without a shadow of doubt, the frequent communication with
native speakers around the world by means of Social media would improve the student
speaking as well as listening skills. Therefore, it became a necessity to give technology its
fair share of importance in EFL context.
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