Social Media in Foreign Language Acquisition: An Analysis of the Role of Instagram in the Context of German as a Foreign Language

Yıl 2025, Sayı: Sonderausgabe: Band II, 1061 - 1080, 25.12.2025

Seda Yıldırım Fırat Sevinç Hatipoğlu

https://doi.org/10.37583/diyalog.1838275

Öz

Social media is widely used around the world and has a direct impact on all areas of life, especially education. With its features, it offers time- and location-independent learning as well as personalized experiences. In foreign language learning, social media is frequently used. Instagram has become a popular platform for learners and educators, as it offers visual and interactive features such as Stories, Reels, and quizzes, which make it suitable for educational purposes. This forms the starting point for the present study on the effectiveness of Instagram in learning German. For this purpose, a mixed-methods design was chosen in which quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed separately, but the results were interpreted together. The quantitative part of the study, conducted with a 15-item Likert scale, included 283 participants, while the qualitative part involved 6 participants. Findings show that participants see Instagram as an effective tool for learning German. It was particularly found that Instagram is effective in vocabulary acquisition for learners at the beginner level.

Anahtar Kelimeler

German as a foreign language , social media , digital learning , Instagram , autonomous learning

Soziale Medien im Fremdsprachenerwerb: Eine Analyse der Rolle von Instagram im DaF-Kontext

Öz

Die globale Verbreitung der sozialen Medien hat weitreichende Auswirkungen auf alle Lebensbereiche, insbesondere der Bildungsbereich ist erheblichen Veränderungen unterworfen. Sie ermöglichen zeit- und ortsunabhängiges Lernen. Insbesondere beim Fremdsprachenerwerb werden soziale Medien häufig genutzt. Instagram hat sich dabei zu einer beliebten Plattform für Lernende und Lehrende entwickelt, da es visuelle und interaktive Funktionen wie Stories, Reels und Quizze enthält, die es für Bildungszwecke nutzbar machen. Dies bildet den Ausgangspunkt für die vorliegende Untersuchung zur Effektivität von Instagram beim Deutschlernen. Hierfür wurde ein Mixed-Methods-Design gewählt, bei dem quantitative und qualitative Daten getrennt analysiert, die Ergebnisse jedoch gemeinsam interpretiert wurden. An der quantitativen Untersuchung, die mit einer 15-Item-Likert-Skala durchgeführt wurde, nahmen 283 Personen teil, während an der qualitativen Untersuchung 6 Personen beteiligt waren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Teilnehmenden Instagram als ein effektives Werkzeug zum Erlernen der deutschen Sprache ansehen. Es wurde insbesondere festgestellt, dass Instagram beim Wortschatzerwerb für Lernende auf Anfängerniveau wirksam ist.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Deutsch als Fremdsprache , soziale Medien , digitales Lernen , Instagram , autonomes Lernen

Kaynakça

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