The Effect of an Offline Tiktok ‘Duet Me’ on Primary Rural School Learners’ Speaking Skills in Banggi Island, Malaysia

Abstract

The field of teaching English has been revolutionized by the rapid development of social media. TikTok, the recent social media hit application, supplies plenty of English videos for 'duet me' with various topics for ESL learners. However, Banggi Island, Sabah, is facing an internet issue, making it difficult for rural learners to follow the trend of learning and acquire the language through 'duet me' on TikTok. In response to that, the videos were made offline for the learners to participate in 'duet me.' This study was conducted to investigate the effect of TikTok 'duet me' in improving learners' English-speaking skills in a rural school on Banggi Island, Malaysia. There were 25 participants involved, ranging from the age of 10 to 12 years old in SK Palak, Banggi Island. This study was conducted using mixed method. The methods of data collection are observations and semi-structured interviews. The research findings identified that 92% of the participants were at the mastery level of three to four compared to before the intervention, which was only 4%. This indicates an increment of 88%. Data from observations and interviews revealed that the participants were improving due to the offline TikTok 'duet me' used in delivering the lesson. From the data, it can be concluded that the offline TikTok 'duet me' has improved learners' English-speaking skills.