Using social media for teaching English during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons from Indonesia

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak has changed pedagogical choices in the teaching of English. Social media has become one of the alternatives in mediating and assisting virtual teaching and learning. With the study reported on here we aimed to investigate the use of social media in the teaching of English during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesian schools. In this exploratory study we employed a 40-item questionnaire focusing on the types of social media used, skills taught, problems encountered, and how these were managed. The respondents were 158 English teachers from 34 provinces in Indonesia. The data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively to generate interactive and comprehensive data. From the study it became clear that the most frequently used social media platforms in Indonesia were WhatsApp, YouTube, and Instagram. The combination of social media was found to be a suitable platform to employ for acquiring all English skills. Reasons for the use of social media range from practicality to teachers’ familiarity. Teachers’ teaching experience tended to influence the reasons why social media were used. The results of our study reveal that the internet networks, learners’ readiness as well as parents’ support were challenges encountered by learners. To solve these problems, teachers implemented some alternative social media platforms and communicated with parents to enhance English teaching during the pandemic.