The Exploring EFL University Students' Social Media-Based Speaking Practice in Informal Digital Environments

Abstract

Speaking remains one of the most demanding skills for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, and Indonesian university students often have few opportunities to practice it beyond the classroom. Social media is increasingly used informally for language exposure and practice, yet little is known about how EFL learners themselves experience and regulate this practice for speaking development. This study explores how English Education students at Universitas Ahmad Dahlan use social media informally to support their English-speaking practice and how they regulate their own learning while doing so. Using a qualitative descriptive design, a 39-item closed-ended questionnaire was used to screen and describe the social media use of fourth-semester students enrolled in the Speaking in Academic Context course, from whom seven students were purposively selected for semi-structured interviews based on their regular, independent use of social media for English speaking practice. Data were analyzed thematically through familiarization, coding, categorization, and interpretation. Students perceived platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and WhatsApp as supportive of their speaking practice, offering authentic input, opportunities for repetition, and features for interactive, real-time communication, and reported perceived improvement in pronunciation, vocabulary, fluency, and confidence through self-regulated strategies. However, students also described irregular engagement, cognitive fatigue from an abundance of content, and difficulty transferring online practice to face-to-face communication. These findings indicate that social media can usefully complement formal EFL instruction, provided teachers guide students in selecting reliable content, sustaining consistent practice, structuring interaction, and reflecting on their own learning strategies.