E – learning or online learning has taken the key role of traditional teaching and learning process during the outbreak of pandemic. The Pandemic outbreak caused the educational system to revamp rapidly, and teachers and students need to use the technology in teaching and learning. Therefore, this paper presents a systematic literature review of past studies on the effectiveness of using social media in learning English for ESL learners from the year 2011 to 2022. The Google Scholar database was used to identify the relevant literature and the keywords used to search is “social media and ESL learners.” The aim of the study is to identify the effectiveness of using social media in learning English for ESL learners. The 14 articles were selected from the analysis purposes and the literature was then classified into the different themes to find out the effectiveness. The result of all the 14 articles showed that social media has played a significant role in improving learning English for ESL learners. Hence, teachers are recommended to utilise different social media platforms which occupied the purpose of teaching in the process of teaching and learning.
Abdul Halik, A. F., & Rafeena, H. M. (2020). The Role of Social Media in Learning English as a Second Language: A Study Based on the Students of National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA), Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications (IJSRP), 10(7), 162-166.
Abbas, A., Gulzar, R., & Hussain, Z. (2019). The impact of social media (Facebook and YouTube) on vocabulary acquisition of ESL learners. Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends.
Al-Jarf, R. S. (2021). ESL Teachers’ Professional Development on Facebook During the Covid-19 Pandemic. European Journal of Education and Pedagogy, 2(6), 75–81. https://doi.org/10.24018/ejedu.2021.2.6.220
Albiladi, W. S. (2020). The Use of Social Media in English Teaching and Learning: Exploring the Perceptions and Experiences of English as a Foreign Language Instructors. University of Arkansas.
Amirah, S., Tarmizi, A., Mahmud, N., Mohamed, A. F., & Hassan, A. A. (2021). Tiktoking To Improve Speaking Skills: a Sociocognitive Case Study of Malaysian Esl Learners. 500–502.
Amin, B., Rafiq, R., & Mehmood, N. (2020). The impact of social media in English language learning. Journal of Critical Reviews, 7(10), 3126-3135.
Anwaruddin, S. M. (2019). Teaching Language, Promoting Social Justice: A Dialogic Approach to Using Social Media. calico journal, 36(1), 1-18.
Aziz, N., Hashim, H., & Yunus, M. M. (2019). Using Social Media to Enhance ESL Writing Skill among Gen-Z Learners. Creative Education, 10(12), 3020–3027. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2019.1012226
Bailey, D. R., & Lee, A. R. (2020). Learning from experience in the midst of covid-19: benefits, challenges, and strategies in online teaching. Computer-Assisted Lan¬guage Learning Electronic Journal, 21(2), 178–198.
Bulut, K. (2020). Pre-Service Turkish Language Teachers' Metaphorical Perceptions of Social Media Platforms. International Journal of Progressive Education, 16(6), 79-93.
Cabrera, L. (2018). Impact of Social Media in English Language Learning: Utilizing SWOT Analysis. Lino S. Cabrera Teacher I Palawan National School Schools Division of Puerto Princesa, 1-33.
Carpenter, J. P., Krutka, D. G., & Kimmons, R. (2020). # RemoteTeaching &# RemoteLearning: Educator tweeting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 28(2), 151-159.
Cheung, A. (2021). Language Teaching during a Pandemic: A Case Study of Zoom Use by a Secondary ESL Teacher in Hong Kong. RELC Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220981784
De Jager, L., Rwodzi, C., & Mpofu, N. (2020). The innovative use of social media for teaching English as a second language. TD: The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 16(1), 1-7.
Erarslan, A. (2019). Instagram as an Education Platform for EFL Learners. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology - TOJET, 18(3), 54–69.
Franz, A. K. (2011). Organic chemistry YouTube writing assignment for large lecture classes. Journal of Chemical Education, 89, 497–501
George, M. S. (2018). Developing Listening and Reading Skills through Social Media using Apps. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Literary Studies, 3(1), 93–101.
Haidari, M., Katawazai, R., & Yusof, S. M. (2020). The use of social media and wikis in teaching writing skills. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 14(16), 168–179. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v14i16.15531
Heinrichs, D. H. (2021). The Generative Affects of Social Media Scroll-Back Interviews: In Conversation with Spanish as a World Language Teachers During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Australia. Emergency Remote Teaching and Beyond, 371-389.
Isaksson, S. (2019). Social Media Platforms as Educational Tools in the ESL Classroom: A literature review on social media education research.
Joosten, T. (2012). Social media for educators: Strategies and best practices. John Wiley & Sons.
Kaden, U. (2020). covid-19 school closure-related changes to the professional life of a K–12 teacher. Educa¬tion Sciences, 10(6), 165. https://doi.org/10.3390/ educsci10060165
Kabooha, R., & Elyas, T. (2018). The Effects of YouTube in Multimedia Instruction for Vocabulary Learning: Perceptions of EFL Students and Teachers. English Language Teaching, 11(2), 72. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v11n2p72
Kessler, G. (2018). Technology and the future of language teaching. Foreign Language Annals, 51(1), 205–218. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12318
Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business horizons, 54(3), 241-251.
King, P. S. R. (2019). the Impact of Social Media on Learning English?: a Critical Study. An International Peer-Reviewed Englsih Journal, 4(2), 266–274.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335161192
Layali, K., & Al-Shlowiy, A. (2020). Students' perceptions of e-education for ESL/EFL in Saudi universities at the time of coronavirus: A literature review. Indonesian EFL Journal, 6(2), 97-108.
Listiani, N. K. M., Suwastini, N. K. A., Dantes, G. R., Adnyani, N. L. P. S., & Jayantin, I. G. A. S. R. (2021, April). YouTube as digital learning resources for teaching bilingual young learners. In 2nd International Conference on Technology and Educational Science (ICTES 2020) (pp. 156-162). Atlantis Press.
Lukas, B. A., & Yunus, M. M. (2021). ESL teachers’ challenges in implementing e-learning during COVID-19. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 20(2), 330–348. https://doi.org/10.26803/IJLTER.20.2.18
Manca, S., & Ranieri, M. (2016). Facebook and the others. Potentials and obstacles of Social Media for teaching in higher education. Computers and Education, 95, 216–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.01.012
Marchlik, P., Wichrowska, K., & Zubala, E. (2021). The use of ICT by ESL teachers working with young learners during the early COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. Education and Information Technologies, 26(6), 7107-7131.
Mariappan, L., Abu, A. G., & Omar, A. (2018). ESL Teachers’ Perceptions towards the Use of Facebook in Teaching Literature for Secondary Schools. AJELP: The Asian Journal of English Language and Pedagogy, 6, 11–21. https://doi.org/10.37134/ajelp.vol6.2.2018
Mohammad, M., Ghazali, N., & Hashim, H. (2018). Secondary School Students' Perceptions on the Use of Google+ towards Improving ESL Writing Skills. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 13(9).
Moher, D., Shamseer, L., Clarke, M., Ghersi, D., Liberati, A., Petticrew, M., Shekelle, P. et al. (2015). Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 statement. Systematic reviews, 4(1), 1.
Papademetriou, C., Anastasiadou, S., Konteos, G., & Papalexandris, S. (2022). COVID-19 Pandemic: The Impact of the Social Media Technology on Higher Education. Education Sciences, 12(4), 261.
Pujiati, H., & Tamela, E. (2019, August). The use of instagram to increase students’ motivation and students’ competence in learning English. In 1st International Conference on Education Social Sciences and Humanities (ICESSHum 2019) (pp. 651-656). Atlantis Press.
Rana, M. T. (2013) Teachers’ Use of YouTube in the United Arab Emirates: An Exploratory Study, Computers in the Schools: Interdisciplinary Journal of Practice, Theory, and Applied Research, 30:4, 329-345, DOI: 10.1080/07380569.2013.844641
Samani, E., & Noordin, N. (2019). Getting Connected with Facebook Messenger?: Exploring Meaningful Interactions through Online Chats in the ESL Context. Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies, 7(3), 23–44. https://doi.org/10.30479/jmrels.2020.11985.1492
Sivagnanam, S., & Yunus, M. M. (2020). Utilizing social media in vocabulary enhancement among primary ESL learners. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(2), 490–498. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2020.080220
Staples, M., & Niazi, M. (2007). Experiences using systematic review guidelines. Journal of Systems and Software, 80(9), 1425–1437
Tarmizi, S. A. A., Mahmud, N., Mohamed, A. F., & Hassan, A. A. (2021). TikToking to improve speaking skills: A sociocognitive Case Study of Malaysia ESL Learners.
Uman, L. S. (2011). Systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry = Journal de l’Academie canadienne de psychiatrie de l’enfant et de l’adolescent, 20(1), 57–59. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21286370
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) & International Telecommunication Union (ITU). (2020). How many children and young people have internet access at home? Estimating digital connectivity during the COVID-19
pandemic. UNICEF. https://www.itu.int/en/ITUD/Statistics/Documents/publications/UNICEF/How-many-children-and-young-people-have-internet-access-at-home-2020_v2final.pdf . Accessed 25 May 2022.
Yang, H. (2020). Secondary-school Students’ Perspectives of Utilizing Tik Tok for English learning in and beyond the EFL classroom. In 2020 3rd International Conference on Education Technology and Social Science (ETSS 2020) (pp. 163-183).
Ying, Y. H., Siang, W. E. W., & Mohamad, M. (2021). The challenges of learning English skills and the integration of social media and video conferencing tools to help ESL learners coping with the challenges during COVID-19 pandemic: A literature review. Creative Education, 12(7), 1503-1516.
Zainal, A. Z., & Zainuddin, S. Z. (2021). Malaysian English Language Teachers’ Agency in Using Digital Technologies During the Pandemic: A Narrative Inquiry. Ikala, 26(3), 587–602. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ikala.v26n3a07
