ISSN: 2222-6990
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In accordance with technological advancement, social media including TikTok has been adopted for educational purposes which is facilitated by media literacy to promote borderless communication among learners and flexible learning. However, TVET students were reported to lack proficiency in English, including speaking fluently using this second language. Therefore, this quantitative study seeks to investigate the use of TikTok in enhancing the speaking skills of polytechnic students in Malaysia. It was discovered that students reported high usefulness of TikTok in improving their pronunciation through exposure to native speakers, motivating them to practice speaking the language, and providing a variety of contents to aid vocabulary expansion, speaking fluency, accuracy, and grammar. Nevertheless, students also experienced certain extent of challenges in using this digital platform as a learning tool in terms of the short duration of TikTok videos, distraction caused by non-educational content, as well as limited interactive feature for direct language practice. The potential of TikTok as a valuable teaching aid brought through the findings of this study encourages English lecturers to integrate TikTok into their curricula, classroom instructions, or teaching activities, and increases support for teacher training in digital literacy or social media pedagogy.
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