THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN ENHANCING ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS: A CASE STUDY OF KARAKALPAK STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

This article is dedicated to studying the role of social media in improving English language learning among students at Karakalpak State University. A quantitative descriptive research approach was employed, and data was collected from 70 students through an online questionnaire. It focused on students' use of social networking platforms, what platforms they use for language learning purposes and their opinion if social media can help learning. This study also tried to identify which of their skills improved due to social media and its influence on their motivation. Findings are eye-opening: while Telegram is commonly used for general purposes, YouTube is the platform where students mostly engage in English content. It also shows clear preferences for video material, especially short videos. As most students "sometimes" or "often" try to learn new English words or phrases on social networking sites and use them in real-world, the most improved English skills are listening and speaking. These results show that social media can serve as a valuable supplementary tool in language teaching or learning process by providing authentic language input.