Vietnamese Students’ Perceptions of Utilizing Social Media to Enhance English Vocabulary: A Case Study at Van Lang University

Abstract

Social media (such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) is widely used for people's entertainment and education across the globe. Furthermore, utilizing this sort of technology assists learners in mastering foreign languages such as English, Chinese, French, Japanese, and so on, which was proved by many foreign language experts and researchers worldwide. The study aims to find out students' perceptions of using social media to develop English vocabulary. A mix of quantitative and qualitative methods was exploited with surveys for 154 students from different majors at Van Lang University (VLU) in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam, and semi-structured interviews for 15. After the investigation, the research results show students' deep insights in using social media to improve their English vocabulary and its positive effects on students' learning vocabulary. Thanks to the findings, lecturers can consider more teaching methods with social media in their English courses.

Keywords: English vocabulary, social media, perceptions, Vietnamese students