Teachers’ Perceptions towards Social Networking Sites in Teaching English Speaking Skill in Rural Areas of Sarawak

Abstract

This Cross-Sectional Survey Research purported to investigate Sarawak rural English teachers’ perceptions and possible challenges they faced when using Social Networking Sites (SNSs) to teach the speaking skill. The teaching of speaking skill has become imperative along with the abolishment of the standardise exams but the rural pupils still suffer from poor command of English. This demonstrated the need to employ newer teaching methods like SNSs in the rural classrooms. This research was conducted in 311 rural schools in Sarawak involving at least one English teacher from each school. A survey questionnaire was designed via Google Form and distributed to these schools. It had a return rate of 87.7% with 323 respondents. The data obtained was descriptively analysed through frequencies, percentages, and mean score interval. Findings of the study demonstrated that the Sarawak rural English teachers had moderately high perceptions on the use of SNSs based on the four elements of TAM 1. These teachers also encountered three main challenges during the implementation of SNSs namely hardware concerns, lack of readiness, and pupils’ view. This study had added value to the 21st century teaching methodologies and could act as a base for future studies utilizing SNSs in the rural areas.