Instagram as a Digital Tool to Enhance Students’ Writing Skills

Abstract

Students often face difficulties in writing due to grammar, vocabulary, syntax, lack of practice, over-reliance on their first language and writing anxiety. The traditional method of teaching writing has no longer seen as adequate to fulfill the demand of the current generation who are considered as digital native. This demand forces educators to explore and integrate technology into their teaching approaches. Instagram, with it many fun features; create, filter, share live videos are relatively easy to use tool and can be accessible anytime and anywhere. Although many studies highlighted that Instagram can be an effective pedagogical tool for developing learners’ vocabulary range and writing skills (Akhiar, Mydin & Adi Kasuma, 2017; Shafie, Yaacob & Singh, 2016), but Instagram is not commonly used in formal second language learning contexts. This paper promotes the use of Instagram as a digital writing tool to enhance students’ writing skills. The researchers provide suggestions of activities which allow students to observe selected Instagram accounts by focusing on the topics/themes, the styles of writing and the purposes of their writing. The activities teach students how to write each post by using the formula on Instagram. Apart from that, students also learn to use captions and hashtags to intrigue their audience.