A Systematic Review of Social Media Integration to Teach Speaking

Abstract

The ubiquitous nature of social media (SM) makes it a very essential tool to use in the world of education, especially with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic which has led to a paradigm shift in the approaches used in the teaching and learning of English language skills. This review focuses on the use of social media as a medium of instruction to aid the acquisition of speaking skills, which many learners find extremely challenging and inhibiting. Thus, this systematic review investigates the integration of social media in the teaching and learning of speaking skills. To ensure the systematic analysis of the selected articles, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines were utilized. A total of 36 peer-reviewed journal articles from the year 2016 to 2021 were accessed from two databases: ERIC and Google Scholar. Prior to the start of the review, an inclusion and exclusion criteria selection process was conducted to ensure the focus of the review. Overall, the articles reviewed presented the claim that the integration of social media is seen as a positive inclusion for the teaching of speaking skills using various social media applications. Findings reveal that there are improvements in speaking skills, as well as confidence to speak and a decline in speaking anxiety. Teachers and educators can now make use of the various social media platforms such as Telegram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and others to provide learners with more practice that is not only restricted to the classroom but has moved beyond it.

1. Introduction

The ability to speak well has always been recognized as the benchmark of a person who is able to communicate and is successful. There are many definitions of the word “speaking” that have been suggested by researchers in language learning. Le [1] views speaking as an interactive procedure of creating meaning which includes generating, accepting, and processing knowledge. In this manner, learners can express what they want, share their opinions and emotions, as well as comprehend and make enquiries. These learners are also capable of choosing the right words and organizing them in relation to a particular topic or situation. Moreover, speaking can be used in both formal situations, involving business or academics, and informal conditions, with people who are close to the speaker. Nunan [2] describes speaking as the ability to say words verbally, to have a conversation by talking, to ask for something, or to present a speech. According to Prabawa [3], speaking happens everywhere and is used to share one’s thoughts, feelings, and knowledge by communication. Prabawa [3] adds that the main aim of language learning is the capability to share ideas and to communicate well with others.

As English is accepted as a global language; it is important to learners to be able to communicate well in the language and to take part in communicative activities around them. Among the four language skills, as a productive skill speaking is noted as the most difficult skill to master by most language learners [4]. Ur [5] reinforced this outlook by stating that speaking is looked upon as being the most vital skill to master among the four skills.

In a study carried out to investigate the problems and difficulties learners face when learning speaking, Al Nakhalah [6] highlighted some of the factors that may hinder learning to speak, which include the fear of making mistakes, feelings of shyness, feeling anxious, a lack of confidence in speaking, and a lack of motivation to speak in the language. In another study conducted by Al-Sobhi and Preece [7], five factors that hinder students from speaking were identified: (1) lack of exposure to language, (2) lack of motivation, (3) students’ anxiety and lack of confidence, (4) limited knowledge of English, and (5) inefficient teaching methodology. In other studies, researchers also looked at issues and problems related to the acquisition of speaking skills such as speaking anxiety, speaking difficulty, speaking challenges, speaking performance, and speaking problems [1,8,9,10,11]. ElNaggar [8] focused his study on preparatory students at the Al-Baha University who had problems in speaking skills as they were lacking in grammar, listening, reading, and writing skills. These students were also shy when attempting to speak. Djahimo et al. [10] discovered that students’ speaking abilities were affected by their anxiety and led to their failure to communicate in English.

Ur [5] explained that the learners’ psychology was the main reason for their speaking problems, as the learners had low self-confidence and feared making mistakes. These learners were also found to be lacking in ideas and were unable to take part in the speaking activities. As asserted by Saputra [11], speaking is perceived as the most anxiety-provoking activity as it involves interactions and communication. Therefore, it is vital that English language teachers create interactive environments for their students to practice speaking. The fear of making mistakes is ingrained in all learners of languages, so teachers must be creative and use a variety of techniques to help their learners acquire speaking skills. One suggestion given by Rao [12] is to work towards learner-centered approaches by involving the learners directly in speaking activities. One way of doing this is by making use of pair or group work where learners are encouraged to work on their own and to produce more speech. At the same time, their confidence level would increase, and they may be inspired to practice speaking when the opportunity presents itself.

One way of creating more opportunities for learners to improve in their speaking skills is by utilizing technology such as social media as learning platforms for learners. Kaplan and Haenlein [13], grouped social media into a wide scope, ranging from low social presence or self-presentation, to medium and high ranges. In regard to social presence, social media such as Wikipedia and blogs are at the lowest end. This is followed by content communities and social networking sites at the mid-level, with examples like YouTube and Facebook. The highest level is the virtual gaming world such as World of Warcraft, which has virtual scenarios. On the other hand, Faizi et al. [14] grouped social media platforms into three categories. The first category is social network sites which include Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, Twitter, and Tik Tok, where members of the sites can connect and share ideas and resources. The second category comprises of sites like Snapchat, Flickr, Pinterest, YouTube, Tumblr, SlideShare, and Google+, which focuses on content-sharing organization. The third category includes sites like Google Docs, PowToon, and Canva, which looks at content creation and editing. Thus, social media, in the broad sense, encompasses a wide range of tools that integrate technology, social interaction, content sharing, and content creation. Another important feature of social media applications is to bring lessons outside the classroom, allowing for more opportunities for learners to practice using the language.

With the ubiquitous nature of social media, many educators are coming to see this technology as an avenue to make learning more accessible to their students. This positive nature of social media was even more evident with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced educational institutions and schools to move online to continue with teaching and learning [15,16,17,18]. As being connected to learners was a major issue during the pandemic, social media applications or networks were viewed positively and seen as a method to get students to engage in the learning process [19,20,21,22,23]. Furthermore, social media is also accepted as a medium that helps facilitate learning in a more engaging and motivating way [24,25].

In addition to this, past studies have also shown that both teachers and students alike have very positive and favorable perceptions of the use of social media for online teaching activities involving communication [26,27,28,29,30]. Ainun et al. [26] showed that students had positive perceptions about using WhatsApp to improve their speaking skills, especially when their interests or stress levels are involved. In the study done by Alghamdi and Sabir [28], the learners had a positive attitude on the use of social media platforms which were perceived as convenient learning tools to improve their English language proficiency. It is evident that the educators and learners in the studies find social media to be a medium that is useful for implementing teaching and learning practices to improve language proficiency.

However, many of the studies in social media integration were general in nature, focusing on academic or general proficiency, or looked at social media integration with mainly other language skills such as writing or grammar. These studies also looked at adult learners who were mostly students at a tertiary level. Another important point to highlight is the fact that the studies were all in a foreign context and did not relate to teenage or secondary school ESL learners in a local context. In addition to this, this review offers educators ideas and alternative ways in which social media can be integrated to create engaging lessons as well as provide authentic speaking practices. Looking at the ways social media can be used as a medium for interaction can provide more speaking practices for learners in an atmosphere where they are not shy and feel comfortable to speak, as well as feeling less anxious about making mistakes. As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced educators to look for alternative solutions to teach and engage their learners, social media is seen as a practical and available tool to be utilized especially as activities that involve speaking can still take place via chat functions on social media platforms.

Therefore, the goal of this review was to investigate the integration of social media in the teaching of speaking skills. First, the difficulties and issues involving the teaching and learning of speaking is described. This is followed by an explanation on how social media plays an important role in the acquisition of knowledge. To determine which studies would be reviewed, two research questions were constructed: (1) What are the most frequently used social media applications to teach speaking? (2) What is the impact of social media integration in the acquisition of speaking skills? These questions acted as a guide in the selection of articles for the review. After reviewing the studies, the results were synthesized to answer the questions. This systematic review was carried out according to the guidelines issued by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) [31].

2. Theoretical Background

2.1. Social Media in Education

Social media is defined as any technology that enables the distribution and sharing of knowledge over the Internet [32]. There are so many social media applications or websites that allow users to text, blog, or use images or videos in the course of their work. Some examples include Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram, and Youtube. According to Orlando-Ventayen and Ventayen [33] since the evolution of Web 1.0, the utilization of Web 2.0, and social media have been emphasized, the amount of resources or knowledge available is still growing. This clearly shows that social media has the potential to provide limitless ways for users to communicate, convey, share, and generate content about everything [34]. As connectivity is an important aspect of social media, this makes it a resource that is much needed in the field of education.

What makes social media easily accepted by students and teachers alike is the ubiquitous features of the applications, which can be easily accessed using mobile gadgets and computers. Some of the notable studies that were carried out on social media focused on academic achievements [19,30,35,36]. In the study conducted by Ansari and Khan [37], the researchers attempted to discover how the application of social media and mobile devices helped in collaborative learning experiences of university students that led to higher interactivity with peers and teachers. Mikum et al. [24] also looked at peer-to-peer communication which was supported by social media use, in which participants showed an increase in participation and motivation.

Meanwhile, other studies have been conducted to investigate the perception of different users of social media. In one study conducted in Saudi universities with teachers, the researchers discovered that the participants strongly believed in the advantages of social media as a tool for teaching [22]. Sobaih et al. [38] examined the need to use or not to use social media among faculty members in Egyptian higher education institutions; the findings of the study showed that social media has a tremendous value for academic related purposes. In a study with primary pupils, Bayuong et al. [39] stated that participants in their study liked using social media as it allowed the participants to share and exchange ideas, as well as discuss what they have read on social media with their friends.

In contrast, some studies did reveal that social media usage has some risks or negative impacts such as procrastination and addiction, and harmful communication aspects such as cyberbullying, writing, and spelling problems [35,40]. In a study carried out in Malaysia, it was also discovered that the participants of the study, who were primary school pupils, lacked the experience of learning English on social media sites [41]. Another study conducted in Malaysia used the approach of creating videos and uploading them to YouTube as a fun and engaging way to improve learners’ self-confidence as well as increasing the motivation level of the learners [42]. These studies proved that the use of social media use needs to be done in a proper manner so that learners may acquire the best of these resources. As many of the studies were focused on learners in higher institutions and colleges, and were more general in research topics [43,44,45,46,47], there is a need for more focused research in the primary and secondary school levels.

2.2. Social Media—A Constructivist Perspective

Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of human learning describes learning as a social activity, and teaching becomes more interactive, student-centered and practical while giving meaningful authentic experiences [48]. In this sense, social media is seen through the perspective of social constructivism. Therefore, the idea of interaction and collaboration is encouraged and valued where social media is concerned. Furthermore, meaningful communication is encouraged with authentic learning tasks assigned to learners to encourage interaction and collaboration. In this way, learners interact, learn, discuss, collaborate, and share information and skills through social media platforms. As scaffolding is an important aspect of the socio-cultural theory, a teacher or an experienced peer may act as a guide for learners to achieve their potential within the Zone of Proximal Development [48]. Here, the learners act as support for their peers and this role is reinforced by the teachers or facilitators who also give support in the teaching and learning process.

3. Materials and Methods

This article uses the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), which provides an updated checklist of 27 items to guide a systematic review. This checklist was originally created to cater for studies related to health, but has expanded to include social and educational studies [31]. Using the checklist was useful in planning and conducting this systematic review where it guided the researchers in collecting data, organizing, and analyzing the articles reviewed. Firstly, the articles for this systematic review were accessed after a detailed search from the Google Scholar and ERIC databases. The aim of the review was to provide a standard of guidelines and direction in social media integration to teach speaking. By reviewing a range of related articles, this paper analyzes the feasibility, approaches, ideas, and perceptions in using social media to teach speaking. For this review, specific steps were taken based on the five phases as suggested by Khan [49]; framing the question, identification phase, assessment phase, summarizing phase and, lastly, the interpretation phase. These steps are shown in Figure 1 below.

3.1. Phase 1: Framing Questions

The current phenomenon of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for innovative and creative ways to engage learners in learning a language has made educators more aware of social media and the various affordances that it offers. This study aims to offer a wider perspective on how social media can be utilized for the teaching of speaking, and looks at articles that were published from 2016 to 2021. The research questions were: (1) What are the most frequently used social media applications to teach speaking? (2) What is the impact of social media integration in the acquisition of speaking skills?

3.2. Phase 2: Identifying Relevant Work

For the second phase of the Systematic Literature Review, two databases were chosen for this study which comprised of Google Scholar and ERIC. Google Scholar is a part of the larger Google search index, and includes peer-reviewed and full-text articles from a wide range of subjects. The database also consists of technical reports, theses, and books as well as Web pages recognized as academic sources [50]. On the other hand, ERIC, or the Education Resource Information Centre, is known as an internet-based digital library which encompasses education research and provides access to over 1000 comprehensive indexed journals. Following this, the first step in phase two was searching for relevant articles related to the research questions. Next was choosing the articles from the initial search by using the inclusion and exclusion criteria for the review.

Table 1. Keywords used in thselection of relevant articles.

Databases	Keywords Used
Google Scholar	Social media AND Speaking skills Using social media to teach speaking Teaching speaking with social media Social media in education
ERIC	Social media AND Speaking skills Using social media to teach speaking Teaching speaking with social media Social media in education

shows the keywords that were used in the process of looking for articles related to social media integration to teach speaking. The focus was on the integration of social media to teach speaking skills.

3.3. Phase 3: Assessing the Quality of the Studies

To ensure that the selection of the articles followed a framework for the review, a parameter for selection was decided with the eligibility and exclusion criteria. The articles selected had to be within the boundaries of the eligibility and exclusion criteria to be considered for the final review. The articles had to focus on the use of social media to teach speaking and be recent, between the years 2016 and 2021. Furthermore, the articles had to be peer-reviewed and full-text articles. Next, the research design used could be either quantitative, qualitative, or of a mixed method design. In contrast, the exclusion criteria included books, book chapters or series, articles from conference proceedings, library or action research, and literature review articles. Besides these, articles which were published before 2016 were rejected for the review. Moreover, articles which looked at social media in general were also not included. The summary of the eligibility and exclusion criteria is given in

Table 2. The eligibility and exclusion criteria.

Criterion	Eligibility	Exclusion
Literature Type	Journal (Research articles) Social media integration to teach speaking Peer reviewed and full text Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method research methodologies	Book, book chapters, book series, Journals (Systematic literature reviews articles), Conference proceedings Social media in general Not focusing on other skills: writing, reading, and listening Library research/action research
Language	English	Non-English
Timeline	Between 2016 and 2021	Before 2016

.

These criteria helped set the parameter of the search for suitable articles and guide the focus of the review.

3.4. Phase 4: Summarising the Evidence

For this review, two databases were chosen for the search of articles, which were Google Scholar and ERIC. Using the keywords framed for this review, a total of 144 articles were selected for screening using the eligibility and exclusion criteria. The results of the first-round screening rejected 3 articles which comprised of duplicate articles. This left a remainder of 141 articles, which underwent a second round of screening where literature review articles, paper proceedings, action research articles, thesis, articles published before 2016, articles focused on other skills such as reading, writing, and listening and, finally, articles on social media of a general content were sifted through and taken out of the selection. This left a remainder of 63 articles that were sorted through and analyzed using the eligibility and exclusion criteria and a final selection was decided where 27 articles were taken out as they did not fulfill the criteria stated. The selection process can be seen in the flow chart as portrayed in Figure 2: The flow chart of the study.

3.5. Phase 5: Interpreting the Findings

The final and fifth phase was to interpret the findings from the 36 articles selected based on the criteria of social media integration to teach speaking. The 36 articles were divided into 3 categories of research methods. There was a total of 20 quantitative studies, 9 qualitative studies, and 7 studies which used the mixed method. All these articles were analyzed based on the research questions.

Table 3. Number of studies based on the research designs.

Methods		Google Scholar	ERIC
	Database
Quantitative		15	5
Qualitative		8	1
Mixed-Method		4	3

shows the analysis of the methodology used for the articles, where the quantitative research method is the most utilized method of research. From these 36 studies selected, the sample of the studies were mostly from universities, colleges, or institutions of higher learning. The respondents from this group were mostly adult learners comprising of undergraduates, post-graduates, and in-service teachers. A small minority of studies (4 studies) were carried out at the secondary school level, but there were no studies done at the primary school level.

4. Findings

After going through the five phases of selection for eligible articles, 36 full-text, peer-reviewed articles were found to be appropriate for this review. Therefore, for this section, the results of the past studies selected will be discussed in detail. Although the research method may differ (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed method), social media integration to teach speaking was seen in all the studies chosen. From the collection of 36 articles, it was discovered that educators and practitioners of language teaching often utilized social media to teach speaking in a variety of ways. Most of the researchers (28 studies) focused on using one particular social media application, but there were also a small number of researchers who used a combination of social media networks or applications during their studies (8 studies).

Table 4. Overview of the methodology and social media applications used.

No.	Author(s)	Database	Study Design	Sample	Social Media Use	Improvement in Speaking
1	Hamad, M.H. [55]	ER	QN	36 female students	WhatsApp	✓
2	Hamad et al. [61]	ER	MM	48 university students	Youtube	✓
3	Nilayon, N. & Brahmakasikara, L. [73]	ER	QL	6 Thai undergraduate participants	ooVoo and Edmodo	✓
4	Ghoneim, N.M.M. & Abdelsalam, H.E.A., [74]	ER	QN	30 EFL fourth-year university students	Voice Thread	✓
5	Salem, A.A.M.S. [62]	ER	MM	49 Business English majors	TED Talks	✓
6	Yükselir, C. & Kömür, S. [66]	ER	QN	20 university students	YouTube, BBC, VOA, and TED	✓
7	Sevy-Biloon, J., & Chroman, T. [75]	ER	MM	17 EFL students in UNAE in Ecuador.	WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook, Facetime	✓
8	Li et al. [68]	ER	QN	150 university freshmen	TED Talks	✓
9	Khodabandeh, F. [76]	ER	QN	30 Iranian TEFL freshmen	Telegram	✓
10	Namaziandost, E. & Nasri, M. [72]	GS	QN	80 EFL teachers and 120 students	WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype	✓
11	Hasan, A.H. & Ghabanchi, Z. [57]	GS	QN	70 university sophomores	Skype	✓
12	Poramathikul et al. [59]	GS	QN	20 university students	Facebook, WhatsApp, Youtube, Line, Skype, Wechat	✓
13	Marleni, L. & Asilestari, P. [77]	GS	QN	2 university classes	WhatsApp	✓
14	Ilyas, M. & Putri, M.E. [58]	GS	QN	48 university students	YouTube	✓
15	Zaitun et al. [51]	GS	QL	36 students of class VIII	Tik Tok	✓
16	Mustafa, E.N.E. [78]	GS	QL	22 university students	YouTube, Skype, WhatsApp	✓
17	MR.E.R. & Seftika, S. [64]	GS	QN	High school students	Instagram	✓
18	Akkara et al. [67]	GS	MM	Undergraduate engineering students	WhatsApp	✓
19	Meinawati et al. [52]	GS	QL	10th grade students.	YouTube	✓
20	Abbasi, M. & Behjat, F. [63]	GS	QN	50 EFL learners	Telegram	✓
21	Minalla, A.A. [79]	GS ER	QN	30 university students	WhatsApp	✓
22	Ramadoni, Y. [54]	GS	QN	Eleventh-grade students of SMAN 1 Gresik	Instagram	✓
23	Kostikova et al. [69]	GS	MM	24 university students	Facebook	✓
24	Xodabande, I. [80]	GS ER	QN	30 Iranian EFL learners	Telegram	✓
25	Utomo, A. & Bastiar, I. [60]	GS	QL	28 university students	Instagram	✓
26	Sailun, B. & Idayani, A. [65]	GS	QN	56 students of FKIP UIR	TED Talks	✓
27	Baron, R. [56]	GS	QL	Postgraduate university students	YouTube, WhatsApp	✓
28	Mariyana, Y. [53]	GS	QN	Eleventh grade students	YouTube	✓
29	Carolinaliwati, C. [70]	GS	QL	15 students of the Faculty of Econ.	YouTube	✓
30	Rakhmanina, L. & Yuneva, Y. [71]	GS	QN	Students from the Faculty of Econ.	Instagram	✓
31	Su et al. [81]	GS	QL	5 students of the English Dept.	Facebook	✓
32	Mitu, R.K. [82]	GS	QN	100 EFL university teachers and 100 university students	Facebook, Instagram, Imo	✓
33	Rahmah, R.E. [83]	GS	QL	87 students of Practical Eng. Educ.	Instagram	✓
34	Noni, N. & Basri, M. [84]	GS	MM	25 students of the Eng. Dept.	WhatsApp	✓
35	Albahlal, F.S. [85]	GS	MM	40 Saudi EFL male English	YouTube	✓
36	Saed et al. [86]	GS	QN	80 students in Oral Skills Classes	YouTube	✓

QN = Quantitative; QL = Qualitative; MM = Mixed Method; GS = Google Scholar; ER = ERIC.

gives an overview of the methodology and social media applications used in the articles.

Most of the studies were also concentrated on learners from universities, colleges, and institutions of higher learning; only 4 studies looked at learners from the secondary school level [51,52,53,54]. Another important point to note is that as the focus of the review is on speaking skills, most of the studies looked at respondents who were pursuing their education related to the English language, or English was a requirement of their course [55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66]. Another three studies were done with respondents whose background or experience were from the engineering field [67,68] and other non-linguistic specialties [69,70,71], highlighting their English language speaking skills. There was only one study which involved EFL teachers who used social media applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Skype to engage their students in speaking activities [72].

Furthermore, there were two studies that were gender specific where, in the first study, the researcher conducted a study on 36 female students from the first level of a Listening and Speaking course using WhatsApp as a support to improve their speaking skills [55]. The second study looked at 40 male English language teachers who used YouTube to develop their speaking skills [84]. A few of the selected studies also looked at social media applications that are not commonly used such as ooVoo, Edmodo [73], Imo [82], and Voice Thread [74] to help learners to improve in their speaking proficiency. All the studies that were analyzed showed improvements in the learners’ speaking skills due to social media use.

Based on 3 categories of social media applications suggested by Faizi et al. [13], the social media applications as analyzed in this review can be divided into the following categories:

From

Table 5. Social media categories.

Category	Social Media Applications
Social network sites	Facebook, WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, Skype, Telegram, Twitter, Facetime, Edmodo, ooVoo, Imo
Content sharing organization	YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok, TED Talks, Facebook, VOA, BBC
Content creation and editing	Voice Thread, Instagram, Tik Tok

, it is evident that most of the social media applications were those which involved communication via social network sites. This was followed closely by social media applications that included sharing content. Nevertheless, it is important to note that, as social media applications are constantly being improved and expanded on, the functions made available to users have begun to include more than one category of functions. For instance, the use of Facebook has grown to involve more than just communication, where users can also share content, do live chats, or video stream directly via the Facebook application.

From the overall analysis, a variety of social media applications or networks were used in all of the studies analyzed for this review. Among the most integrated social media application was YouTube with seven studies [52,53,58,61,70,85,86]. In these studies, the researchers used YouTube to help their learners improve their speaking by utilizing this social media application in innovative ways. Ilyas and Putri [58] stated that the use of YouTube reinforces a positive learning attitude when it is included in the teaching process, especially for the teaching of speaking. The findings from their study revealed that the students who were taught using YouTube were more inclined to participate in the class and with their classmates. Meinawati et al. [52] carried out research on 10th grade students, where YouTube was used as a method for teaching speaking that was enjoyable, unique, and fascinating, as well as providing a conducive environment for learning. At the same time, the use of YouTube for learning speaking can assist in increasing students’ confidence. Hamad et al. [61] showed that the use of YouTube greatly assisted the learners who were studying English at a university where they were given videos to watch and then narrate to others. This method of practicing the language helped in familiarizing them with the vocabulary as well as increasing their motivation to speak.

Another social media application which was also used often is WhatsApp [55,67,77,79,84]. The study conducted by Noni and Basri [84], looked at how WhatsApp was used by students in describing their day-to-day activities using English via audio and video chat. The findings showed that WhatsApp has the capability to develop students’ speaking skills. In the study conducted by Minalla [79], the WhatsApp voice message chat was used as the medium for learners to interact orally outside classroom situations that were independent from the factor of time and place. The participants of the experimental group in this study voiced their approval for using WhatsApp to practice oral interaction among themselves. In another study carried out by Akkara et al. [67], the focus of the study was on using WhatsApp to help undergraduate engineering students to improve their fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation which were essential for them to master for the assessment of their speaking skills. Findings from the study showed a vast difference in the learners’ speaking skills.

The third highest social media application used based on the analysis for the review was Instagram [54,60,64,71,83]. For a study conducted by Ramadoni [54], the social media application Instagram was used to help eleventh grade students improve their speaking skills. In the beginning the researcher demonstrated on how to carry out a speaking task in a video by using Instagram, and at the end of the research the learners were instructed to record and upload their own video on Instagram. Utomo and Bastiar [60], explained in their study that the use of Instagram, which is a public platform, helped the learners to feel more comfortable in speaking.

The next social media application that was used by the researchers in the articles selected was Telegram, in three studies that were reviewed [63,76,80]. The first study, by Abbasi and Behjat [63], involved English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at a language institute where the students were introduced to use of Telegram while completing speaking tasks. The process of intervention using Telegram comprised of three phases: the pre-teaching phase, the teaching phase, and the post-teaching phase. The experimental group received teaching material, feedback, and practices using the Telegram application. In the study conducted by Xodabande [80], Telegram was used to help the students in their pronunciation. In this study, the researcher gave a list of vocabulary, with its meaning and explanation, as well as a downloaded video from YouTube showing the way to pronounce the vocabulary via the Telegram platform.

TED-Talks was next, also with three studies [62,65,68]. According to Salem [62], TED-Talks works as an effective instructional medium for improving speaking skills. This is probably due to the nature of TED-Talks, where learners are shown authentic and interesting material from a variety of themes. The study proved that the respondents, who were Business English Major students, were able to gain from using TED-Talks, improved in their oral presentation skills, and were more motivated and confident. Another study that utilized TED-Talks was the study carried out by Sailun and Idayani [65] which looked at the use of TED-Talks who were studying speaking. Students were taught using the TED-Talks videos, and the findings revealed that students improved in their pronunciation, fluency, grammar, content, and vocabulary knowledge.

Apart from these, there were two studies carried out using Facebook which identified social media integration to teach speaking [69,81]. Kostikova et al. [69] looked at how Facebook was used as a medium to teach speaking in English to university students with various non-linguistic specialties where they scored well in their speaking skill to pass their English exam. On the other hand, the study done by Su et al. [81] was a qualitative case study research with five students which studied how the use of Facebook helped in improving the speaking skills of the students involved.

In addition, there were eight studies which made use of a combination of social media platforms to be integrated for the purpose of teaching speaking [56,59,66,72,73,75,78,82]. Poramathikul et al. [59] carried out research which involved Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Line, Skype, and WeChat speaking activities. The results of the study revealed that the bilingual and multilingual learners from the study believed that they could speak English well. Another study that stood out was the use of social media applications ooVoo and Edmodo, which provided speaking practice for the learners with two groups of partners: their practice partners and another partner who is either a Chinese or an American student [73]. Mitu’s [82] study also looked at a combination of social media applications such as Facebook, Instagram, and Imo where the interview sessions revealed that both teachers and students mostly used Facebook, followed by Imo in second place and Instagram in the third place, for their verbal interactions.

Finally, it is important to note that there were three studies which used only one method of social media applications such as Tik Tok, Skype, and Voice Thread [51,57,74]. Tik Tok is a social media application which is gaining popularity among young learners who enjoy making videos and posting them online. In the study that Zaitun et al. [51] did with their learners, Tik Tok was used for the purpose of making storytelling videos. The outcome of the study showed that the application of Tik Tok improved the students’ confidence in speaking English. Besides this, the study conducted by Ghoneim and Abdelsalam [74] stood out as it used Voice Thread; an application that is not so commonly used among educators. For this study, the respondents, who were undergraduate students, were required to practice speaking activities using Voice Thread. As this is a technology which allows interaction where the learners or users can leave audio, video, sound clips, or recorded comments, the learners were able to have meaningful interaction via Voice Thread.

5. Discussion

This study has looked at 36 articles related to social media integration to teach speaking via a host of different social media applications. From the findings of the review, researchers view social media as a viable and versatile tool to teach speaking skills [55,59,72,75]. The articles reviewed were between 2016 and 2021 and, thus, are recent studies that were carried out in investigating social media integration.

The response to the first research question looked at many social media applications that are readily available now for learners to utilize for acquiring speaking skills. One important point to consider is that learners are already familiar with social media use for communication and entertainment; this made it easier for the researchers to apply social media applications like Tik Tok, YouTube, Instagram, Skype, Facebook, Whatsapp, WeChat, and Telegram in teaching speaking skills. Some were new, or not so commonly used, such as ooVoo, Ted Talks, Imo, and Voice Thread. YouTube was the most frequently used social media platform, used with seven studies [52,53,58,61,70,85,86]. This is followed by WhatsApp, with five studies [55,67,77,79,84], and Instagram, also with five studies [54,60,64,71,83]. TED Talks comes next with three studies [63,76,80], and Telegram also with three studies [63,76,80]. Facebook was next, [69,81] and three studies used a single social media application: Tik Tok [51], Skype [57], and Voice Thread [74]. All of these studies utilized social media applications to carry out speaking activities, and the findings in all the studies clearly indicate improvement in speaking skills, including confidence in speaking as well as the motivation to speak in English. Among all the social media applications reviewed, YouTube emerged as the highest in number. This may be due to the versatile nature of Facebook, where students are able to view visuals as well as hear the spoken language. WhatsApp and Instagram also seem to be popular among researchers, as seen in the articles reviewed. From the studies done, it has been shown that researchers were able to use WhatsApp effectively to increase oral communication outside the limits of the classroom. This was equally effective in the use of Instagram, which is a very popular social media platform among young people. In a study that made use of Instagram, the response from the learners were positive, and they perceived this application as a tool which is comfortable to apply in learning to speak, even for weak and passive learners [60].

These studies were also conducted using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method research designs. It was noted that out of 36 studies reviewed, 20 were quantitative research designs, 9 were qualitative, and 7 were done using the mixed method design as shown in Table 3. There were also studies which looked in detail at the respondents’ experience and reactions towards social media integration by using the case study research design [73,81,83]. In the studies, the researchers employed various innovative ways to engage their learners in speaking practice. One study used an international language exchange program to assist their students in exchanging conversations with native speakers from the United States of America [75]. In this study, which used WhatsApp, Skype, and Facebook platforms, the respondents were able to engage in authentic communication, as the students from Ecuador were able to speak with fluent speakers of English from another country. Other researchers also used videos through YouTube, BBC, VOA, and TED Talks to get the students to practice speaking skills after watching videos where they could contextualize the language that they had acquired [66]. The study conducted by Su et al. [81] found that practicing the speaking activities via social media like Facebook helped improve the students’ self-esteem in speaking and their overall speaking ability.

The second research question looked at the impact of social media integration in the acquisition of speaking skills. Overall, the response in all of the studies reviewed were positive, and showed indication of improvements in speaking skills as well as motivation and confidence to speak. The study by Nilayon and Brahmakasikara [71] suggested using social media platforms like Edmodo and ooVoo to help provide learners with lower English-speaking proficiency with appropriate remedial activities. Ghoneim and Abdelsalam [74] also highlighted the fact that the aspect of social interaction is the key to the improvement of speaking skills. This is also stressed in another study by Sevy-Biloon and Chroman [75], who emphasized that using video chat functions enables learners to practice speaking in authentic and meaningful communicative activities which are purposeful. This would enable educators and teachers to encourage practicing speaking in a more natural and relaxed environment that would also reduce students’ anxiety level and help increase their confidence [51,52,60,62,83]. Zaitun et al. [51], who used Tik Tok as a medium for speaking activities, showed that the students were able to use the application interactively and improve their speaking skills, as well as having the opportunity to express their ideas freely on Tik Tok. The study conducted by Rahmah [83] was unique, where the researcher used photographs shared on Instagram as a method of increasing the students’ confidence in using the language. The results from the study showed that Instagram helped in improving the students’ confidence. In addition, the use of visual images is a useful method which can aid in understanding. At the same time, it would cater to learners who are more visually inclined.

Another study reviewed showed the effect of social media integration, and focused on the fact that social media integration was an advantage for teachers to compensate for the lack of time in class, and to carry out of class practice to teach pronunciation [80]. Social media integration like the use of YouTube, WhatsApp, Telegram, or Skype in teaching speaking is also perceived as being able to improve teachers’ creativity and enhance their teaching procedures while utilizing online applications [56,72]. The results of one study done with Skype instructions revealed gender-specific positive results in their speaking skills, where the female respondents scored higher in their pretest and posttest as compared to the male respondents [57]. Albahlal [85] used YouTube to look at how a group of forty male EFL English teachers were able use this social media application in many ways, such as getting the students to point out details in videos or asking them to share information as well as opinions regarding the materials in the videos. The outcome of the study revealed that the teachers had positive perceptions about utilizing YouTube in helping students improve their speaking skills. Consequently, knowing how a specific gender reacts or responds to a certain social media application may help teachers and educators to plan their activities to suit their students’ needs. Another aspect of speaking skills is public speaking skills [68] or oral presentation skills [62] where the researchers used TED Talks as the social media application to improve learning to speak confidently in English. As such, students would acquire the practice of speaking in front of an audience in a more conducive environment which would help to reduce the feeling of inhibition.

From the discussion, it can be seen that social media has grown and expanded with pedagogical affordances that help teachers and educators to use this platform for teaching and learning and is not seen as only being beneficial for entertainment and socializing. It is evident that social media is perceived as a viable tool to include in the teaching and learning activities to improve speaking skills, as seen in the articles reviewed. In the study conducted by Poramathikul et al. [59], the bilingual and multilingual students found that using a variety of social media networks, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Line, Skype, and Wechat, helped them to improve their speaking skills, where they were able to speak English fluently. Besides this, Baron [56], who also looked at students’ perceptions, found that students were interested in learning English using social media applications. Among the social media applications that were used were YouTube, WhatsApp, Zoom, and Google Hangouts. In another study carried out with engineering students, Akkara [67] revealed that there was a vast difference in the students’ speaking skills as well as a considerable change towards their perceptions in learning to speak in English. All these studies clearly indicate that it is vital and timely for educators and learners to incorporate social media usage into their language practices in order to move beyond the classroom and to provide learners with an authentic and engaging new environment. Learners are also given opportunities to speak in a conducive and relaxing atmosphere which greatly reduces their inhibition as well as their speaking anxiety.

Another important thing to note is the digital divide which exists when a person has access to various resources and communications technology and another person does not have the same privilege of access to the same information [87]. As such, there is an inequality in terms of knowledge distribution and access, which is very much vital where social media is concerned. As stated by Izquierdo and Lozano [88], the digital divide can be categorized according to a lack of access to a number of factors such as mental knowledge, material and network possessions, digital skills, and usage opportunities as related to information and communications technology. In other words, some students may have better access to computers or mobile phones, and may have better knowledge as well as the opportunity to go online and share content or access information. In the studies reviewed for this paper, the majority of the students or learners were from higher institutions of education such as universities [58,61,66,68,73,74], or students enrolled in secondary schools [51,52,53,54,64] or a language institute [63]. These students most likely already had access to technology, either personally or at the institutional level. Therefore, the issue of digital divide was not highlighted in any of the studies, and all of the studies did show improvements in the mastery of speaking skills, as indicated in Table 4 above. The tasks assigned to the learners, or the activities carried out during the research process, were also conducted successfully. These learners were able to use the technology appropriately, and were able to access the information required to complete their tasks. For instance, in the study that Xodabande [80] carried out with 30 EFL learners, the learners were able to practice speaking using a variety of materials shared with them via Telegram such as pictures, text messages, and audio, and also video clips.

From the various social media platforms available, providing learners with the opportunities to use the language meaningfully and effectively has become more feasible, as students can connect with their teachers and peers as well as explore new resource landscapes and use them to improve their learning through collaboration and communication [56,59,75,79,89]. Much of the research done on social media has pointed out that the benefits far outweigh any negative effects [20,28,38,68,90,91]. However, as stated by Ogugou et al. [19], learners must be guided in the use of social media applications so that they do not acquire the negative effects while utilizing social media. This was reaffirmed by Gedik and Cosar [40], who said that students can be taught to use social media correctly and efficiently by exposing students to social media use via seminars and conferences.

6. Conclusions

Social media has always been embraced by people for its unique features of connecting people as well as providing platforms for communication and entertainment. In this review, the researchers looked at social media in the world of education. For this systematic literature review, the studies that were analyzed were 36 articles on social media integration to teach speaking. These studies highlighted the various social media applications that are found and known to learners, and manipulated those applications to help learners to acquire speaking skills. The studies reviewed also revealed the impact or benefits of social media applications that helped students to reduce their speaking anxiety, gain confidence in speaking and, at the same time, become more motivated to use the language. This shows that social media affordances make it a versatile, flexible, and useful tool in helping educators to become innovators and mediators of knowledge, rather than just information or knowledge givers.

It cannot be denied that social media use has received some negative feedback in terms of addiction or time spent using social media applications, as well as the effect of the digital divide which still exists in many countries. Nevertheless, the need to connect to learners and to engage them in conducive learning environments far outweighs the negative effects of social media integration to teach speaking. As such, this review provides ideas and content knowledge of how educators can employ social media integration in their own teaching methods. As it is imperative for teachers to move forward with the changes that are happening around them, teachers must be open to the idea of using social media as a medium to conduct their activities for teaching the English language. This is especially vital as teaching and learning have moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers must be open to new ideas and accept that social media integration is something that they cannot avoid and something that they must embrace.

7. Limitations

However, in the process of conducting this review, there were limitations that were encountered by the researcher. One of the main limitations was that the study used 36 articles that were sourced only from ERIC and Google Scholar due to time constraints, which is the second limitation. Using other databases like SCOPUS and WoS may help expand the field of research and provide other relevant articles that could be studied for future research. More time could also help future researchers to expand the research databases and the number of articles to be included.

8. Implications and Recommendations

From the evidence showed in this systematic literature review, it is very clear that the application of social media offers a lot of benefits to the teaching and learning of a language, especially for speaking skills. There are still some areas in which future researchers could consider regarding social media integration to teach speaking. One important area to look at would be the fact that most of the studies in this review focused on adult learners in universities and secondary schools. There were none which focused on using social media integration to teach speaking for young learners or primary school learners, and very few on learners from secondary schools. Besides this, researchers could look at learners’ acquisition of speaking skills via social media usage based on their gender. As it is imperative for teachers to understand their students better, knowing how boys and girls use social media for learning could help teachers to prepare lessons better. Furthermore, studies could also be done on how certain activities like task-based learning or collaborative learning could be carried out through social media applications. In addition to that, the issue of social media is an issue that cannot be denied and, in many countries, the digital divide is something that still affects many learners. Therefore, future research could also look into how the digital divide could influence the acquisition of language skills using social media applications. At the same time, researchers should also investigate how social media integration is conducted in the acquisition of other language skills such as reading, listening, and writing, as well as vocabulary and grammar.