Instagram as an Education Platform for EFL Learners

Abstract

Social media platforms have gained an exceptional popularity especially in the last ten years and become an important part of human lives. Among the popular social media platforms, Instagram is used by millions of people every day especially by the young adults. Given this significance, social media platforms have been used for educational purposes, too. Thus, this study aimed at exploring university students’ opinions about Instagram as an educational platform with respect to educational and language learning purposes and its effect on students’ language learning process supplementary to formal classes. Using mixed methodology, 219 university students learning English were included in the survey, and 80 students took part in the experimental part of the study which was designed to explore the impact of Instagram on students’ language learning process. Six students from the experimental group were also interviewed for their opinions about the Instagram use during the experimental part of the study. Carrying out quantitative and qualitative analyses, the findings show that Instagram is the most frequently used social media platform among the participants and they favor using it for educational and language learning purposes. Additionally, it was found that Instagram had a positive impact on students’ language learning based on the achievement scores. Thus, it is concluded that Instagram can be used to enhance learning of English supplementary to formal teaching by exposing the students to language while they are using this platform as part of their every day practices.