KHUSNIA (1), Wahyu Taufiq (2)
The rapid expansion of social media has transformed educational practices by introducing technology-mediated learning environments that are familiar to students. General Background: Social networking platforms are increasingly integrated into language education to support engagement and authentic communication. Specific Background: Instagram offers visual content and caption features that enable learners to produce descriptive texts based on images while interacting with peers and teachers. Knowledge Gap: Despite prior studies on social media in language learning, limited research has examined the use of Instagram captions combined with a student-centered approach in Indonesian secondary schools. Aims: This study investigated whether learning through Instagram captions improves students’ ability to write descriptive texts. Results: Using a quasi-experimental design with control and experimental groups, statistical analysis of pre-test and post-test scores showed that the experimental group achieved significantly higher writing scores than the control group. Instagram functioned as contextual media that supported idea generation, vocabulary development, and paragraph organization through active participation and feedback. Novelty: The study introduces the integration of Instagram caption writing within a student-centered framework at MA Islamiyah Candi Sidoarjo. Implications: Findings suggest that social media-based tasks can serve as practical alternatives for teaching descriptive writing and fostering active learning in English as a Foreign Language classrooms.
Experimental participants achieved higher post-test outcomes than the comparison group.
Visual prompts and online interaction supported idea development and textual organization.
Classroom activities encouraged active participation through peer feedback and revision.
Instagram; Descriptive Writing; EFL Students; Student-Centered Learning; Social Media
In the digital era today, the rapid development of social media technology has an impact on many people, one of which is students. Currently, many students choose to spend their time playing social media, so this phenomenon allows teachers and students to utilize social media to make learning more creative and interesting for students. Using technology in conjunction with the internet and web-based tools such as social networking sites in educational activities has become more common and widespread. Teachers and students are helped by Social media use in the educational process. Social media, which was initially used for entertainment and communication, is now starting to be used as an innovative learning tool. Social media can be used for educational purposes for several reasons. Firstly, the information it contains have the ability to improve learning and teachin in the long term, second, social media can trigger a more dynamic and active learning approach, third, social media acts as a network that connects students and teachers, allowing them to share certain knowledge and information related to certain interests. Based on this, social media platforms can be an effective tool for student collaboration and student engagement. With these advantages, Social media has the potential to be a more engaging learning tool.
One of the social networking sites that students often use to publish personal information is Instagram, such as uploading videos and images and writing explanations on their Instagram account profiles. Instagram is a useful tool for engaging students to the English language. In the English Foreign Language class, Instagram has several relevant features, such as photo content, captions under images, forum comments, stories, IG TV and others. So these features make students able to use this Instagram social media platform to learn and improve English skills. According to EFL students, Instagram is a social media platform that is highly beneficial and successful in improving English proficiency. The various interactive elements that promote participation and practice are the main reason for this efficacy. Instagram is useful for helping EFL students learn English. It lets them interact with their peers and immerse themselves in the language through visual content. Furthermore, Instagram can help English students in general improve their language skills. A platform for genuine communication and exposure to diverse linguistic contexts are provided. Therefore, Instagram is a very good social media for the language learning process. There are many activities that can be applied to improve the learning process on Instagram, for example learning writing skills. Students can improve their writing abilities by using the Instagram platform. This is because Instagram offers a dynamic and engaging environment for students to hone their writing skills. As a result, After being taught using Instagram, it shows that the students writing skills have improved. Several features on Instagram support the learning process in improving writing skills, such as the caption addition feature. Using the caption feature on Instagram can increase students' interest and writing skills. The caption feature on Instagram is used to describe images and videos when uploading them, so that students can produce text in the "caption" section. Students can post images or videos to Instagram and then create captions based on those images and videos. Not only captions, but other features such as comments also help develop writing skills, students or teachers can add comments in the comments column to give an evaluation. Here, the teacher might request that students post their images to Instagram and than they can be asked to describe their photo and write it in the caption section on Instagram when uploading photos. After that, the teacher can evaluate the writing of students' photos in the captions and give an assessment through the comments column which also uses writing. This shows that Instagram features such as writing captions, comments, uploud photos and videos can make students successful in writing descriptive text. Instagram can improve students' writing ability and help students write better, especially in writing descriptive text
One of the most crucial English language skills for learning is writing, which allows us to communicate our thoughts, feelings and opinions subtly and effectively. Most students find writing an important but also challenging subject. Most students still think that mastering writing is the hardest skill in learning English, many students have difficulty in writing, especially because they feel limited in expressing ideas, using vocabulary, and providing clear descriptions. Limited vocabulary skills and unable to write ideas with correct grammar and punctuation, making students face difficulties in conveying their ideas into writing and translating each word and sentence.
Various types of writing can help students in developing writing skills, one of which is descriptive text, descriptive text is a text that describes or explain an object in detail whether it is an object, person, event or place. Descriptive text is also defined as writing that describes or illustrates the object to be expressed by the writer so that readers or listeners feel like they see the object themselves, even though they never actually see it themselves. Descriptive text has 2 general structures namely identification to tell the subject and description to describe in detail the characteristics or characteristics of the subject. descriptive text is written in present tense and has many adjectives and verbs that describe perception such as looks, sounds, feels, or smells. descriptive text also only focuses on one object to provide a clear and directed description. writing descriptive text using pictures allows students to write easily. pictures are a great to help students learn to write descriptive text. Therefore, students are asked to describe the images that they will upload on Instagram as part of the learning process so that it makes it easier for them to write descriptive texts.
A student-centered learning approach is an approach that puts students as the center of the learning process. The main focus in student-centered learning is given to the students rather than the teacher. This encourages them to be more active and engaged in learning. Learning should be an active, social process based on experience and inquiry, and education should be student-centered. In student-centered learning approach students have control in the subjects, exercises, resources, and speed of learning. Therefore by implementing this approach students can choose the topics they want for themselves, thus Permitting student to share their thoughts creatively and relevant to their personal interests. With a student-centered approach, education becomes more practical and students have the opportunity to participate in the selection of learning materials. Students will be involved in real-life task through student-centered learning activities, utilizing technology to facilitate communication, collaboration, and learn. By enabling students to provide immediate feedback in a multicultural context, social media technologies can support student-centered learning. It is best to combine student-centered learning with new media to ensure effectiveness while providing more meaningful and lasting teaching and learning. Student-centered activities supported by technology can increase student engagement and content understanding. In addition, in a student-centered classroom, the teacher is not the main source of information, but the teacher plays a facilitator or support role. The teacher as a “guide on the side” who helps and guides students to reach the target that has already made by the teacher and the students. The student-centered learning approach provide opportunities for students to practice writing. Thus, this approach can easily improve students' writing skills The use of student-centered learning approaches can be a solution to the problem of writing skills. Learner-centered learning approaches are beneficial in improving writing skills
This means there is a possibility that writing descriptive text on Instagram captions using a student centered approach can help overcome writing problems in schools in Indonesia, including at MA Islamiyah Candi Sidoarjo. Based on interviews with English teachers at MA Islamiyah Candi Sidoarjo, it was found that there are still many students who have difficulties in writing descriptive texts. Their writing problems include difficulties in generating ideas to begin their writing, organizing sentence structures, and lack of vocabulary understanding. These challenges make it difficult for students to express their thoughts clearly in their writing, and make students' writing scores low. Among the reasons are the methods of learning that are less interactive and tend to be teacher-centered. English learning at the school is usually done using the lecture method, with limited Power Point presentation media. Learning in these schools is usually done using the lecture method, with a limited number of Power Point presentation media. As a result, students only listen to the teacher and have less opportunity to practice writing creatively and interestingly. Allowing students to bring cellphones to class and the availability of WI-FI at school facilitate the use of Instagram social media forums in creating description texts to improve writing skills.
This research uses quantitative method as its methodology. Quantitative data is data resulting from calculations and measurements that are presented in the form of numbers and require mathematical calculations before they can be processed statistically. The researchers used an experimental method, namely a control class (pretest-posttest) and an experimental class (pretest-treatment-posttest). For this experiment, a quasi-experiment design was used because the goal was to show a causal link between two distinct groups, and these groups were not randomly separated.
This research was conducted at MA Islamiyah Candi Sidoarjo, East Java, on February 23, 2025, for three meetings. This school was chosen because it provides internet access and allows the use of mobile phones, which supports the implementation of Instagram in learning. The population of eleventh grade students in this school consists of three classes, namely XI IPA, XI IPS 1, and XI IPS 2. The classes of XI IPS 1 and XI IPS 2 were chosen as the research sample because XI IPS 1 has 21 students and XI IPS 2 has 22 students, thus allowing a more equal distribution between the control and experimental groups, while the students in the IPA class are less than 20 students, so it is not possible to make a balanced comparison. In addition, the average English writing scores of students in XI IPS 1 and XI IPS 2 were around 62.3 and 61.7, this indicates that both classes have low writing skills. And also, both classes were taught by the same English teacher, used the same materials, followed the same schedule, and applied the same learning media. Therefore, XI IPS 1 was assigned as the control class (without Instagram), while XI IPS 2 was the experimental class (using Instagram captions).
Research instruments are used to collect data, which makes work easier and produces more complete, systematic, and better results. Researchers use data instruments through tests. Two types of tests are given, namely pre-test and post-test. Before receiving treatment, the control and experimental classes took a pre-test to assess their comprehension and competence of writing texts that are descriptive. After receiving treatment, the experimental and control groups were given the post-test. The experimental group in this study received treatment ln the form of student-centered descriptive text writing for Instagram captions. In this instance, the researchers additionally examined the test's validity and reliability to determine if it was reliable and appropriate for use with students.
Before starting this study, the researchers asked the school for permission to conduct the research. After getting permission, the researchers talked to the English teacher about the purpose, schedule, and the two classes chosen for the study. The researchers also needed three meetings to get the data. The first meeting was used to give the pre-test and half of the treatment, the second meeting was used to continue the treatment and the third meeting was used to continue the treatment and give the post-test. To implement the treatment, all students in class XI IPS 2 create a new Instagram account or use the second account as an experimental test. Each student was instructed to use the hashtag #describemyidolips2 in their captions to make it easier to track and organize their work. Teachers and classmates were able to easily find and evaluate students' writing because of this hashtag.
In the experimental class, student centered learning approach, adapted by [29] was implemented as described below :
Figure 1. SCL Approach applied in Experimental Class
The researchers used SPSS to perform statistical calculations to analyze the data. After the pre-test and post-test results were collected, data analysis was conducted. The mean scores of the control group and the experimental group were calculated using SPSS. The researchers used this method to determine how the experimental group, which received instruction using Instagram captions using a process approach, differed from the control group in terms of outcomes. Furthermore, the independent sample t-test which were normality test, homogeneity test, and hypothesis test is used for data analysis.
The result of the research on the use Instagram captions through a student-centered learning as an approach in improving students' descriptive writing skills are presented in this part. The results include one example of students' descriptive text writing on Instagram and statistical analysis of students' pre-test and post-test scores. As shown in Figure 2, students can express ideas clearly and creatively through Instagram captions.
Figure 2. Example of Student’s Instagram Caption and Teacher’s Feedback
One student's Instagram caption shows the use of Instagram captions to write descriptive text. As shown in the example, the student described an idol named Irfan Ghafur in a well-organized paragraph. The caption included his physical appearance, personality, hobbies, and the reason for idolizing him, which fulfilled the criteria of the task. The teacher also provided written feedback directly in the comments section. This example shows how Instagram is effectively used to support descriptive writing and encourage interaction through feedback.
Descriptive Statistic
The mean scores, number of students, and standard deviation of the experimental and control courses are displayed below, as well as the student scores of each class. Each class's pre-test and post-test results were used to collect the data. Tables 2 displays the mean of the two classes.
Based on the Group Statistics results, the average score of writing descriptive text (mean) of students in the experimental class is 61.86 with 22 students, while in the control class the average is 47.10 with 21 students. The standard deviation in the experimental class of 13.516 shows a smaller score variation than the control class which has a standard deviation of 19.659. In addition, the standard error of the mean in the experimental class (2.882) was smaller than that in the control class (4.290), indicating a higher level of accuracy of the mean. Overall, students' writing scores in the experimental class were higher than in the control class.
To make sure the data were normally distributed and had the same variance, a normality and homogeneity test were performed before to the independent t-test. Table 7 displays the results of the normality test, whereas Table 8 displays the findings of the homogeneity of variance test.
.The results of the normality test using Kolmogorov-Smirnov showed that the significance value for the experimental group was 0.078, while for the control group was 0.200. Meanwhile, the results of the normality test using Shapiro-Wilk showed a significance value of 0.173 for the experimental group and 0.594 for the control group. Since all significance values are greater than 0.05, it can be concluded that the data in both groups are normally distributed.
a homogeneity test was conducted using Levene's Test to test the equality of variances between the two groups. The results showed that the value of F = 2.360 with p = 0.132. Since the p value > 0.05, it can be concluded that the variances of the two groups are homogeneous, so the assumption to use an independent t-test with assumed equal variances has been met.
An independent t-test was then conducted to see the difference in descriptive text writing scores between the experimental and control groups. The test results showed that t(41) = 2.882, p = 0.006 with 95% confidence interval indicating that this difference was statistically significant. Since the significance value of p < 0.05, the null hypothesis (H₀), which states that there is no significant difference between the two groups, is rejected. Thus, it can be concluded that there is a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in descriptive text writing skills. This shows that the treatment given to the experimental group had a positive impact on improving students' writing skills.
The results of this study show that the use of Instagram captions has a significant effect on improving students' descriptive text writing skills. Students in the experimental class who learned using Instagram had higher post-test scores than students in the control class who learned without Instagram captions. This supports the results of previous studies which state that Instagram can be an effective learning media in improving writing skills , Instagram provides an interesting and familiar learning environment for students. With the caption feature, students are invited to write creatively about the pictures they upload. This helps students to enrich their vocabulary, organize sentences, and develop ideas. In addition, comments from teachers and peers also help students improve their writing directly
During the learning process, teachers implement activities that encourage students to be active, such as choosing their own pictures, writing captions, giving and receiving comments, and revising their writing based on the feedback from friends and teachers. These activities reflect the student-centered learning approach, where students play an active role in the learning process. Students express ideas creatively and according to their individual interests. Overall, these results show that the use of Instagram captions in learning with a student-centered approach can be an interesting alternative to improve students' writing skills, especially in writing descriptive texts. This is supported by previous research which states that social media such as Instagram can provide a real writing experience and help students convey writing more clearly [5], [10], [13].
This study shows that the use of Instagram Caption as a learning media significantly improves students' descriptive text writing skills at MA Islamiyah Candi Sidoarjo. By utilizing Instagram features such as captions and comments, students are more active, creative, and involved in the learning process. Data from the pre-test and post-test showed that the average score of students in the experimental class that used Instagram was higher than the control class that did not use Instagram. In addition, the use of social media in the learning context encourages students to actively participate, collaborate, and improve English skills in a practical and relevant way to their daily world. So, the use of Instagram caption proved effective in improving students' writing skills, particularly in writing descriptive texts. Therefore, teachers can consider using Instagram as a medium to teach descriptive texts in English language learning because the use of this platform is proven to be able to help students improve their writing skills.
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