Language Education Forum, 2022, Vol. 3, No.

1, 1-3
Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/lef/3/1/1
Published by Science and Education Publishing
DOI:10.12691/lef-3-1-1

The Use of Tiktok Videos in Enhancing the Speaking and

Grammar Skills of Higher Education Students
Rina Lorraine D. Cagas*

Higher Education Department, St. Rita’s College of Balingasag, Philippines

*Corresponding author:
Received June 05, 2022; Revised July 13, 2022; Accepted July 19, 2022
Abstract In the Philippines, English has always been the second language. From elementary school to college, it
has been taught. One of the courses in college is Criminology. In order to become a police officer, students must
have all the necessary skills. Criminology students need to know English so they can talk to people, get jobs, and
write reports. Still, speaking is a hard part of learning a language for these students. To write a good speech, one
need to know about grammar, spelling, punctuation, and vocabulary. So, the goal of this study is to look into how
criminology students can use micro videos in the Tiktok app to improve their speaking and grammar skills. Tiktok
app is a video streaming social media site. The respondents who took part in this study were 16 criminology students
from a private school in Misamis Oriental taking a foreign language class - English. The study took place over 7
weeks and used a single pre-experimental design. The respondents took a pre-test and a post-test, which were
compared using the T-test. Then there was an FGD, during which open-ended questions were asked. Findings show
that Tiktok videos help students improve their speaking skills and grammar skills. This study shows that English
teachers should use the Tiktok app to make short videos to help their students improve their speaking and grammar
skills. Students can improve speaking and grammar skills because of Tiktok application.
Keywords: micro-videos, Tiktok, Grammar Skill, Speaking Skill, Criminology students
Cite This Article: Rina Lorraine D. Cagas, “The Use of Tiktok Videos in Enhancing the Speaking
and Grammar Skills of Higher Education Students.” Language Education Forum, vol. 3, no. 1 (2022): 1-3.
doi: 10.12691/lef-3-1-1.

platforms and social media apps, to make sure that

1. Introduction
With the level of technology, we have now, there have
been improvements in learning, especially learning
through media. And because of this Covid-19 pandemic,
the number of educational institutions using mobile apps
for teaching and learning has gone up by a lot.
Language learning via distance learning is one of the
challenges faced by language teachers in the Philippines
considering that Philippines ranked low from the PISA
result released last 2018.
Tiktok was introduced to the social media marked in
September 2016 and quickly took a lead in all social
media sites most especially in pandemic Tiktok can be
described as a site that has attract all ages around the
globe. Someone who has Tiktok can make videos with 3
minutes maximum length. It can incorporate music, filters,
quick cuts, stickers, etc. [5]. Now, the way people learn,
like with the TikTok app, has to adapt to changing trends
and fads, like the rise of e-learning [1]. TikTok can also be
used on a mobile device, which is why it is also known as
"m-learning." Vijay [2] says that media-learning is having
a mobile device that can be used to set up learning
anywhere and at any time. Most schools that offer online
learning do so by using technology [1], especially online
students don't miss the material and can get to it whenever
they want.
Higher Education offers a general education subject -
Foreign Language class which must be taken by all
courses. Students have difficulty mastering English as a
language because they do not see the importance and
relevance of it in their career path. Criminology students
becoming public servants – police officer, fire officer, jail
officer, coast guards, and the like do not see the need to
learn the language more since their career has to do
something with public service [7]. Language learning has
been set asued by them. The need to identify the kind of
teaching style must be closely studied. And teaching such
subject requires Computer-assisted Instruction. In the
study of Mellgren [6], in 2020, most private HEIs utilize
computers in some way for instruction, nearly 75% of
HEIs use computers as part of instruction. However, in the
rising era of technology, college students must be exposed
to use of social media since “students are more familiar
and more engrossed to video arcades, social media, and
cellphone applications” [6].
According to what was said above, the researcher's
experience observing a Foreign Language class in an
institution in Balingasag, Misamis Oriental during the
school year 2020-2021 showed that speaking activities did
not go well in the classroom because high school teachers
2 Language Education Forum

rarely asked students to do speaking when explaining students made series of videos – narrative and grammar
lessons in English. It could be said that teachers mostly videos as teaching and learning activities in the subject.
teach with printed text (PPT) and ask students to choose a, (5) Posttest: The same test given from the pretest was also
b, c, or d as the right answer. Because of this, they don't given to the students to track is there difference on their
use many other media or apps to teach English, except for scores after the intervention.
Zoom meetings and Google Forms.
The researcher hopes that this will help students feel
better about themselves, especially when speaking English, 3. Results and Analysis
by having them retell stories using different word
structures in the TikTok program. Storytelling with a From the results of the pre-test, we know that four
descriptive text theme is one of the English language students (20%) scored between 40 and 69. On the other
learning texts that clearly describes the qualities of hand, ten students (66%) got a score below 40. Two
something, whether it is a person, an animal, a place, a students, or 14%, made less than 20. As shown in the table
plant, or an inanimate object. This gives the reader clear below, the students' pre-test scores were based on how
information about the thing being described. Students will well they could tell short stories based on the descriptive
be asked to make video stories that show how creative texts they had read in class.
they are. Also, the researcher lets the students edit the
video of the story. Indirectly, students also practice Table 1.
writing, which they do when they talk. With the TikTok Score Pretest %
app, students can tell stories to improve their English 90-100 0 0.00
speaking and writing skills. 70-89 0 0.00
With this study, it sought to see the effectiveness of 40-69 4 20.00
using micro-videos through Tiktok Application in enhancing 20-39 10 66.00
the speaking and grammar skills of Criminology students 0-19 2 14.00
who are taking Foreign Language class. the following TOTAL 16 100.00
questions were answered in this study, 1. What were the
scores of the students before intervention? 2. Is there The researcher encourages students to try to create a
a significant difference between the scores of the creative video in the style of a short story about explaining
respondents before and after the intervention? the topic they want to talk about in depth through the
TikTok app based on the pre-test that the researcher
completed using the TikTok app. The table below displays
2. Method the post-test results. Two students, or 14 percent, got a
score of 90 or higher. This means that the students' scores
Single pre-experimental design was used in this study. went up because when the post-test was given, there were
It aims to establish a cause-and-effect relationship 5 students (33%) who scored above 70 and 9 students
between variables in a single group [8]. Finding out what (53%) who scored 40.
occurs when students study a foreign language online or
use the TikTok app to tell stories is the aim of this Table 2.
research. And researcher made the decision to employ Score Posttest %
classroom action research procedures. The 16 criminology 90-100 2 14.00
foreign language students who created storytelling and 70-89 5 33.00
grammar videos based on the descriptive writing they
40-69 8 45.00
performed with the TikTok app will be expected to reflect,
20-39 1 8.00
which means researcher became involved in teaching. In
this study, the researcher took on the role of a teacher by 0-19 0 0.00
conducting online lessons and using the Zoom meeting TOTAL 16 100.00
app to evaluate classroom scenarios.
Here are the steps to take when collecting data: Based on the post-test scores in Table 2, we can say that
(1) Observation: Researcher made observations to collect students have made a very big improvement. Some
data by looking directly at what students do and how they students get the best score, which is 95, and others get the
do it while they are learning. From observations, data will worst score, which is 33.
be gathered about how active and involved students are
when they are learning. (2) Prettest: The researcher gave a
test to see how well the students understand what they 4. Conclusion and Recommendation
have learned. Students took a pretest by telling a story
through a video on the TikTok app. From this test, we'll The major objective of the current study is to assess the
get information about what students have learned, effectiveness of the TikTok app as a teaching resource in
(3) FGD: Focus group discussion. The researcher gathered teaching English as a Foreign Language. The majority of
via Zoom some of the respondents and asked questions the respondents favored this method due to its novelty and
about their language learning experience to identify intriguing aspects, hence the evidence from this study
root cause of the language incompetence. (4). Tiktok generally points to positive feedback. In addition, using
videos: using their Tiktok videos with a hashtag TikTok is consistent with five of Gilmore's listed
#ForeignLanguageclass, the intervention took place where principles [3] for multimedia learning. As adherence to the
 Language Education Forum
principles denotes a superior learning experience, this
illustrates its effectiveness as a learning tool.
The use of Tiktok is effective in enhancing students’
language skills as ut promotes creative positive learning
environment for students. In addition, it also improved
student attitudes for there were feedbacks gathered that some
students became expressive of themselves from being
aloof. Though, the application has significant challenges,
but it still has positive opportunities for language learning.
Despite the limited sample size and exploratory character
of the study, this research sheds some light on the potential
for combining social media and language teaching. Further
investigation is necessary to assess how well this strategy
integrates with other language-related skills like reading,
writing, pronunciation, and vocabulary growth. Based on
the study's findings, it can be concluded that the app can
be utilized as an interactive learning tool to assist students
develop their speaking abilities when used with the proper
approaches and procedures. Due to its numerous features
that can be used to aid in English learning, students can
make effective use of the TikTok app. In the study of Azlan
[4], it agrees that the TikTok app can also help teachers
and students access information more quickly, and
because it offers fresh ways for students to learn English,
it can make studying enjoyable. The study's findings
demonstrate that utilizing the TikTok app to learn English
is a pleasant and successful technique to increase students'
confidence in speaking the language, as evidenced by the
fact that their scores significantly improved.
This implies that educational environment is not only
limited with physical interactions, but also virtual
interactions. This study showed that social media, though
exist for communication purposes, can also be a learning
platform once used rightly and appropriately and this is
something to consider in the 21st century education.
© The Author(s) 2022. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
3
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