LEARNING ENGLISH THROUGH ENGLISH LEARNING WHATSAPP GROUPS TO
IMPROVE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH ABILITY.
RESEARCH PAPER
YANTI SRI REZEKI, M.Ed., Ph.D.
PROPOSED BY: CHUSNUL KHATIMAH
SN: F1022181009
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION
TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
TANJUNGPURA UNIVERSITY
2021
ABSTRACT
This study aims to present the results of a review of research articles on online learning activities
carried out by teachers and students, especially the use of WhatsApp in the context of learning
English. The concept of WhatsApp has changed from just plain one entertainment media and
chatting become edutainment through modification and habituation. This idea began to be
developed and applied along with the increasing cases of the corona virus that occurred in
Indonesia. Where it is impossible to carry out teaching and learning activities directly or face-to-
face. The author analyzes five relevant articles from several journals. The results show that
online learning can also bring benefits to students. Important outcomes that students perceive
include increased motivation, positive and creative attitudes and better performance. WhatsApp
can develop the skills of 21st century students for the better.
Key Words: English learning, online learning, WhatsApp application, teaching and learning
activities.
INTRODUCTION
We are so lucky to be living in a modern world where technology are at high levels of
progress. Technology has become very popular in English teaching currently. Many teachers
and lecturers have used technology for their teaching (see Ballew, 2017, p.8). Advances in
technology has been bring a very big impact, especially in education sector. Especially in
Indonesia right now and even all over the world was faced a corona virus pandemic. Corona
virus pandemic makes direct teaching and learning activities temporarily suspended. The role of
technology is needed so that teaching and learning activities can still be carried out.
This research analyzed a quite new innovation in teaching, especially in teaching English.
Various kinds of technological media are used for learning activities, especially WhatsApp. This
kinds of social media can be a very good alternatif for teaching learning activities. WhatsApp is
an online application used by everyone to communicate with each other, but on the other hand, it
can used for teacher to manage teaching and learning process. It can only be used if everyone
have an internet connection. Teaching learning activities using WhatsApp between teacher and
students makes study more easily. The teacher just need to share the material in a form of groups
to their students and then students are be able to learn it. They are be able to discuss together
about the subject. Of course all the conversation in WhatsApp should be in English so that
students can improve their English skill.
Nowadays, students are not too interested to printed the text such as books as an option to
read. Instead, they can also read any documents or texts that has been shared by the teacher in
their English WhatsApp groups. Of course it is very easy to do because just need a good internet
to download the documents. The students and the teacher will not see each other directly, it can
trigger the students to ask more about the lesson learned in the WhatsApp. WhatsApp seems to
be a very good innovation in teaching because by using this application, the teachers and the
students can obtain many benefits. One of them is it can be accessed easily wherever and
whenever the teacher or the lecturer wants as long as they have the internet connection. In other
words, it can save time. Based on the benefits of using WhatsApp, the research questions could
be:
1. How effectiveness of using WhatsApp as a learning English media for students?
2. What is the advantages of using WhatsApp as a learning English media?
3. What are students perception about WhatsApp?
During this corona virus pandemic, learning English through conventional way is
impossible to do. Because almost all school in Indonesia are closed right now. So it is not
effective anymore. Devinder and Zaitun cited Li (2019) note that many teachers are still using
conventional teaching and have noted that in conventional teaching classrooms, while the
lecturer is explaining and writing on the board, students will be copying the same thing onto their
notes. Applying technology in the process of learning is one of the real alternatives. WhatsApp
can be the solution to this issue.
By using WhatsApp for learning activities, students are be able to learn all the time.
When they want it, they learn it, when they feel tired they can rest. For improve their English,
they can talk with their friends in WhatsApp groups about the topic that has been learned before.
This is an advantages of learning using WhatsApp media, the students can learn all the time out
of school time. They just need a good quality of network. The world has become a place thanks
to these giant super fast technological tools that allow people to interact easily through high
digital network, especially WhatsApp. The research used a qualitative method as the research
design. It is believed that by applying the qualitative study, it will help the researcher analyze
and then explain how the students feel about the implementation of the WhatsApp group as a
media for learning English. The main characteristic of this research is that the researcher will
analyse how students learn English in WhatsApp group. The researcher chooses to use the
qualitative method to explain to the students.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature Review
1. Learning English
This chapter discusses some theories and explanations about learning English,
effectiveness of learning English in WhatsApp, especially in WhatsApp groups, and WhatsApp
Application.
English has become a very popular language. Almost everyone in the world using
English in their daily activity. According to UKessay (2018), “Global language means a
language which is using around the world and it is important to the world operation and
influencing the domains of the human activity in the world”. It means that English is very
important in the world. It is because to communicate with people from other countries, English
is absolutely needed. What makes a language becomes global is not about the number of people
who speak it, but it is more about who speak it. English language is already known and spoken
by almost all countries in the world. Due to this fact, English is now important to learn. There
are two points discussed in this part, they are theories of learning English and learning English
strategies.
a. Theories of Learning English
Learning is very important thing to do by students. To achieve the goals, they should
learn. If they want to be successful people, they also should learn. It can not be stopped.
Houwer, Barnes-Holmes and Moors (2013) claim that learning is the developmental
adaptation which causes changes in the behavior of an individual that result from the
environment regularities of the individual. It means that learning can take place not only
in a formal classroom. Nunan cited in Hyland, says that the effort to master language
skills outside the formal classroom can play a fundamental role for language learners to
develop their second language. Nunan found that learning language outside of the class
can enhance the student’s creativity and it can lead them to master the language more
easily. Furthermore, learning English particularly can be done in any places. It depends
on the creativity of the teacher. Moreover, Learning English itself is the process of
obtaining and understanding English language in order to use it for communicating in
oral or written form. It is expected that when learning English, the students can master all
aspects of English language and can use it in their daily life.
Learning English are not always in the classroom, especially during this corona virus
pandemic. It can take place at any time and in any place. Out-of-class learning is defined
as any learning that takes place outside the classroom and involves self-instruction.
English cannot be only done in classroom all the time. It is important to give the students
a new atmosphere of learning. It can also be said that WhatsApp application is one of the
ways to learn English out of the real classroom. This alternative can help the students feel
different point of learning. It may help them to get a better understanding.
b. Strategies of Learning English
Learning strategies are used by the students to help them to acquire, to take the
information, and to achieve the goals. Students want to learn English to communicate in
English fluently and correctly with their friends, teachers and other people out of the
formal sector. They need English in every part, such as business, in their jobs, to ask
directions, etc. Using different learning English strategies in a reasonable course of time
will enable the students to understand English more easily and quickly. Language
autonomy can be acquired with the help of learning English strategies. Self-efficacy also
can be improved by learning English strategies. Learning English strategies especially in
WhatsApp groups are defined as “specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques such as
conversation in English, discussion and questions session. This is done in order to tackle
a difficult English task used by students to enhance their own learning” (Scarcella &
Oxford, cited in Oxford). When the students consciously choose strategies to their
learning style and the second language task at hand, these strategies become a useful
toolkit for active, conscious, and purposeful self-regulation of learning. There are some
aspects in learning English strategies, such as: cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and
social.
They are as follow:
- Cognitive
Cognitive strategy enables the students to manipulate the language material in direct
ways. For example, through analysis, note-taking, summarizing, outlining,
reorganizing information to develop their English ability.
- Metacognitive
Metacognitive strategy helps students to identify their own learning style preferences
and needs, plan for English task, gather and organize material that given by teachers,
monitor mistakes, discussion together and evaluate task success, and the success of
any type of learning strategy. This strategy is employed for managing the learning
process overall.
- Affective
A student can identify his/her feelings like anger, unhappiness and anxiety and the
students can be aware of such situations which produce such feelings. Such in English
learning process positive attitudes and beliefs can increase the student’s motivation
and will improve their English learning.
- Social
Social strategy is an integral part of communicative English learning. It helps students
to know about the culture of the language. Using this strategy, students can learn
with others discuss problem questions, etc. In simple words, this strategy can help the
students work with others and understand the target culture as well as the language.
b. The Effectiveness.
This part discusses the effectiveness of learning English in WhatsApp, especially in
WhatsApp groups;
a. The effectiveness of learning English in WhatsApp, especially in WhatsApp groups.
The study concluded that learning English in WhatsApp medium groups provide space for
practising natural language, especially in written communication, keep students learn and
practice English outside the classroom and motivate them to learn from each other. In the
aspect of education, teachers can use it as the instructional media to facilitate students in
learning English. There are some benefits why the online media is used in the process of
learning. Firstly, it is believed that this tool can serve as an alternative device to provide
motivation and new learning experiences for learners.
Generally, teachers need efforts and ways to involve learners in classroom communication
and encourage them to practice speaking or writing in the target language. For instance, most
learners are neither interested in learning English not having self-confidence to practice using
English in the classroom. In this void, it is essential to make a use of online media to offer
new learning experiences, provide interest, and assist students to practice their language
optimally. It is true that the use of this media can engage learners in learning English and
improve their skills.
Furthermore, it is also important to note that students are probably familiar with this kind of
technologies. Most of them use gadgets, and they are active in online social media, especially
WhatsApp. The use of this devices will help them reduce their anxiety and encourage them to
take a part in learning English. Among various online media, WhatsApp is considered as the
easiest, most popular and effective tool that can be occupied by teachers. It is a cross-
platform instant messaging subscription service for smart phones and selected feature phones
that use the internet for communication. The popularity of this application is as noted by
Trevor (2013) who claims that WhatsApp, cross-platform messaging application, continues
to grow in popularity with more 250 million users. Additionally, that most users choose and
use this application because it allows to the send message one another with a low cost. Users
are not only able to send text message, but they can also post image, video, and audio media
messages as well as their location using integrated mapping features. Those features,
therefore, offer a great opportunity for people, including students, to express their feelings,
thoughts, ideas, or events with other more easily and efficiently.
With its easiness features, this application can help students interact with others at any
situation with or without the teacher’s guide, and it can encourage learners to participate in
group discussion to improve their skills. While the advantages of WhatsApp are true, this
media must be applied in positive and careful ways to assure the result of learning.
Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention on how to make a use of WhatsApp in teaching
English, especially to explore learners’ ability in writing. In accordance with that, this
discusses the application of WhatsApp as one of technologies to teach English, benefits, and
the way how to establish a WhatsApp conversation among students to enhance students’
writing skills and other skills.
1. WhatsApp Application
Here are some explanations related to WhatsApp application;
a. Theories of WhatsApp application.
WhatsApp Messenger or simply WhatsApp is an American freeware, cross-platform
messaging and voice over IP service owned by Facebook,Inc. It allows users to send text
messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user
locations and other media. WhatsApp’s founder are Brian Acton and Jan Koum. It’s founded on
February 24, 2009. They named it as 'WhatsApp' because it sounded more like what’s up which
aligned with the idea of statues. Today everyone use WhatsApp to communicate with others and
of course to learn. This media can be use for learning English. One of the best features in
WhatsApp is group messaging which can include up to 100 people writing together at the same
time. Students can learn a lot of English in this WhatsApp groups. They can discuss the topics
together and can ask some questions.
a. The Advantages of using WhatsApp, especially using WhatsApp groups.
WhatsApp was an alternative to virtual classes that helps students to learn. It helps to
facilitate students discussion and helps students overcome their fear of using the language. It also
helps the students to develop their writing, because they will always write something in form of
text when they are discuss in WhatsApp groups. By learn English using WhatsApp, students can
develop their four main skills, such as writing, reading, listening and also speaking. They can use
voice note to talk with other students. More advantages of WhatsApp are it’s encourage
collaboration.
The result showed that WhatsApp was the most familiar tool or application had used for
communication. Most of them were involved actively to communicate with WhatsApp groups to
practice their English and it increased their confidence and bravery to communicate using the
target language. While most students liked to share new information on WhatsApp, the rest
confirmed that they were rarely to comment on the group’s conversation but they were interested
in reading and following their chats. This application makes students be brave and confident to
communicate with lecturers and among themselves. Furthermore, this tool can reduce their
barrier in learning. It’s make a good relationship and communicate between learners and
lecturers, show their personal expression, and share their experiences by writing. Moreover,
WhatsApp is one of alternative mobile technologies that can be applied to support, strengthen, or
even perform a major online instruction. According to Siemens (2006), “When students use
digital tools to connect, they are able to reflect on dialogue about, and internalize content in order
to learn.” Through a series of conversation in a group chat, students might always constantly
notice the messages sent by others, attempt to comprehend the information, and subsequently
join in written chats. This subconscious process gives a wide chance for them to learn and
practice using the target language naturally.
METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is one of the most important parts in conducting a study because it
informs the readers about how the research will be conducted. Research methodology is the way
to solve the research problem systematically and how the research is done scientifically (Kothari,
2004). The goal of research methodology is to present the research process, tools and procedures
to be used by the researcher. Furthermore, according to Singh (2006. p. 79), “The role of the
methodology is to carry on the research work in a scientific, and valid manner.” In this research
methodology, used documentary research as research design and content analysis as data
analysis. All of them are described as follows:
A. Research Design
The research employed documentary research as research design. By applied the
documentary research, it helped the researcher analyze and then explained how the
students feel about the implementation of the WhatsApp group as a media for learning
English. The main characteristic of this research is that the researcher analyzed how
students learn English in WhatsApp groups. In addition, there are five articles that have
been selected to support this research. All articles especially about online education.
Two from journals namely (1) SIELE (Studies in English Language and Education
journals) in 2020. (2) Script Journal: Journal of Linguistics and English Teaching in
2019. (3) METATHESIS ( Journal of English Language, Literature and Teaching) in
2020. (4) JEELS (Journal of English Education and Linguistics Studies) in 2019.
B. Data Analysis
In this research, especially in this part, the researcher reviewed the contents of the
articles. The researcher analyzed the relationship between online education and the use of
the WhatsApp application, especially WhatsApp groups. Also the advantages of online
education in developed students' English ability. In this data analysis, showed how the
implementation of online education in each article.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Findings
This section presents and explained on the focus of the study which congregates the advantages
of using WhatsApp application implemented in the English learning context obtained from
journals and websites. The details are presented in the following explanations:
The Advantages of using WhatsApp, especially using WhatsApp groups.
WhatsApp was an alternative to virtual classes that helps students to learn. It helps to
facilitate students discussion and helps students overcome their fear of using the language. It also
helps the students to develop their writing, because they will always write something in form of
text when they are discuss in WhatsApp groups. By learn English using WhatsApp, students can
develop their four main skills, such as writing, reading, listening and also speaking. They can use
voice note to talk with other students. More advantages of WhatsApp are it’s encourage
collaboration.
The result showed that WhatsApp was the most familiar tool for communication. Among the
subject, 82% of them were involved actively to communicate with WhatsApp group to practice
their English and the same number of subject agreed that it increased their confidence and
bravery to communicate using the target language. While most students (74%) liked to share new
information on WhatsApp, the rest confirmed that they were rarely to comment on the group’s
conversation but they were interested in reading and following their chats. A closer analysis
revealed that the application makes students be brave and confident to communicate with
lecturers and among themselves. Furthermore, this tool can reduce their barrier in learning. It’s
make a good relationship and communicate between learners and lecturers, show their personal
expression, and share their experiences by writing. Moreover, WhatsApp is one of alternative
technologies that can be applied to support, strengthen, or perform a major online instruction.
According to Siemens (2006), “When students use digital tools to connect, they are able to
reflect on dialogue about, and internalize content in order to learn.” Through a series of
conversation in a group chat, students might always constantly notice the messages sent by
others, attempt to comprehend the information, and subsequently join in written chats. This
application gives a wide chance for them to learn and practice using the target language
naturally.
The effectiveness of learning English in WhatsApp.
The study concluded that learning English in WhatsApp groups provide space for practising
natural language, especially in written communication, keep students learn and practice
English outside the classroom and motivate them to learn from each other. In the aspect of
education, teachers can use it as the instructional media to facilitate students in learning
English. There are some basic considerations why the online media is used in the process of
learning. Firstly, it is believed that this tool can serve as an alternative device to provide
motivation and new learning experiences for learners.
Generally, teachers need efforts and ways to involve learners in classroom communication
and encourage them to practice speaking or writing in the target language. For instance, most
learners are neither interested in learning English not having self-confidence to practice using
English in the classroom. It is essential to make a use of online media to offer new learning
experiences, provide interest, and assist students to practice their language optimally. It is
likely true that the use of such media can engage learners in learning English and improve
their skills.
Furthermore, it is also important to note that students are probably familiar with such
technologies. Most of them use gadgets, and they are active in online social media, especially
WhatsApp. The use of this application will help them reduce their anxiety and encourage
them to take a part in learning English. Among various online media, WhatsApp is
considered as the easiest, most popular and effective tool that can be occupied by teachers. It
is a proprietary, cross-platform instant messaging subscription service for smart phones and
selected feature phones that use the internet for communication. The popularity of this
application is as noted by Trevor (2013) who claims that WhatsApp, cross-platform
messaging application, continues to grow in popularity with more 250 million users.
Additionally, Rolve (2013) adds that most users choose and use this application because it
allows to the send message one another with a low cost. Users are not only able to send text
message, but they can also post image, video, and audio media messages as well as their
location using integrated mapping features. Those features, therefore, offer a great
opportunity for people, including students, to express their feelings, thoughts, ideas, or events
with other more easily and efficiently.
With its easiness features, this application can help students interact with others at any
situation with or without the teacher’s guide, and it can encourage learners to participate in
group discussion to improve their skills. While the advantages of WhatsApp are true, this
media must be applied in positive and careful ways to assure the result of learning.
Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention on how to make a use of WhatsApp in teaching
English, especially to explore learners’ ability in writing. In accordance with that, this
research discusses the application of WhatsApp as one of technologies to teach English,
benefits, and the way how to establish a WhatsApp conversation among students to enhance
students’ writing skills and other skills.
Discussion
By learning English through WhatsApp application, learning English will be more interesting
for both students and teachers to learn. The five articles that have been selected have
confirmed or explained the advantages of learning English online, especially in this case for
WhatsApp. Although it doesn't explain the WhatsApp application, the articles has explained
online teaching and learning activities. In this case, online learning includes the use of the
WhatsApp application.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
Conclusion
This study has confirmed that the use of WhatsApp in online teaching and learning activities is
indeed beneficial for students, especially English subjects. This seems to be a solution for
dealing with teaching and learning situations like today. The use of WhatsApp is also useful to
help teachers create a more pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere new learning experiences for
students. Where they can get to know technology more deeply and at the same time. Fresh
learning activities, more active student involvement in asking and answering questions in the
group. The use of WhatsApp as a means of learning to teach English also makes students'
English skills better. They can develop their writing, reading, speaking, and also listening skills
simultaneously using one application. Therefore, WhatsApp can be a very good recommendation
for English teachers in online teaching as it is now.
SUGGESTION
The researcher would like to suggest other researchers to conduct further research on this topic.
Future research may investigate the same topic, but in different languages, for example: the use
of WhatsApp as an alternative teaching and learning tool for teachers and students. This is
expected to make WhatsApp grow and be recognized by the public as one of the reliable online
teaching and learning media.
REFERENCES
Ballew, (2017). The use of technology for teaching.
Devinder & Zaitun, (2019). Conventional teaching.
Essays, UK. (2018). English has become a global language. Retrieved from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/english-has-become-a-global-language-
english-language-essay.php?vref=1
Houwer, Barnes Holmes & Moors (2013). Learning as the developmental adaptation.
Kothari, (2004). Research methodology.
Rolve, (2013). The reason users choose and use WhatsApp application.
Scarcella & Oxford. Difficult English Task.
Siemens, (2006). The use of digital tools.
Singh, (2006). The role of methodology.
Trevor. (2013). The popularity of Whatsapp Application.
