Social media usage for language literacy development in Indonesia

Literacy is one of the skills that a person needs to have, especially in this information age. This is partly due to the ease of obtaining information in everyday life, which can lead to information overload. The rapid development of the era needs to be balanced with an increase in the ability to live in the information age. Therefore, literacy skills are one of the crucial abilities that need to be improved. Efforts are needed to improve literacy skills in society. This literacy is critical because it relates to how people behave towards the information they have and obtain up to conveying it back. Literacy is described as a practical ability related to information, starting from realizing the need for information, sources for obtaining information, how to access it, finding it, evaluating it, and finally using and communicating it (Johan, 2019). Literacy is familiar to most people. In the current information age, literacy skills are essential skills needed by the community and can at least describe the quality of society from literacy-level data. In addition to the traditional forms of literacy, digital literacy has become increasingly important in today's society. Digital literacy effectively navigates, evaluates, and utilizes information and communication technologies (Feerrar, 2019). With the rise of the internet and digital media, being digitally literate is crucial for accessing, evaluating, and creating digital content. It involves skills such as internet research, critical evaluation of online information, online communication, and data management. Digital literacy empowers individuals to participate actively in the digital world, enabling them to engage with various forms of media, collaborate with others, and express themselves effectively. As technology evolves, digital literacy skills will become even more essential for individuals to thrive in the digital age. Over the decades, the notion of literacy has constantly changed. In the Big Indonesian Dictionary, literacy is related to the ability to read and write. However, in its broad meaning, literacy is also defined as the ability to read to understand the information well, find explicit and implied meanings, analyze the content of the information obtained, and be able to interpret it correctly before passing it on again (Delgadova, 2015). In the current era of technological and information development, literacy has also experienced a shift in meaning where information and other supporting technologies in information management are closely related to the term literacy and become the ability that a person needs to have to utilize technology in the era of globalization and the post-truth generation (Abidin, 2015; Fatmawati, 2019). Although, in general, literacy is often interpreted as the ability to read and write, literacy is a complex matter of language, thought processes, and abilities used for different purposes. Mustamin and Ulum (2018) have also stated that literacy has a role in multicultural education, one of which is by providing various kinds of correct and appropriate information based on the view that truth (in information) is monopolized by oneself and can be owned by others. Literacy is a term with a complex meaning. Literacy becomes a term describing the interrelationship of individual information in a community group. As social beings, humans need a place to actualize themselves. In the current era of technological development, self-actualization is described as something to pursue one's highest potential, thus encouraging individual action to use technology, especially social media, to the fullest extent possible in pursuing their potential (Susandi, Luayyin, & Dirgayunita, 2021). As well as technology, the media as an intermediary in a person's communication process is also developing, reinforced by the statement (Obar & Wildman, 2015). Social media is also defined as an interactive digital channel as a place for creating and sharing information, ideas, and interests through communities and networks virtually. According to Arisanty and Wiradharma (2022) social media are widely used by users for various activities, such as sharing and obtaining information and communicating. In this digital era, social media is one of the media that is widely used to communicate. Generally, media development is divided into broadcasting and interactive era (Aulia, Magistarina, & Sukma, 2023; Kholik, 2021). Social media was then merged into the second era because it has large-scale interactions and is connected without a break. Social media is one of the media that is widely used in communication, especially in long-distance communications. The term “social media” is often used to refer to new forms of media that involve interactive participation (Manning, 2014). Social media is becoming popular because of its ability to accommodate remote communication so that it remains as interactive as face-to-face communication. The use of social media is no longer a strange thing in the information age today. Various studies have examined various matters related to social media, ranging from media policy and the impact of social media to digital literacy (Sukmayadi, 2019; Xiao, Borah, & Su, 2021; Yates & Lockley, 2018). These various studies show that social media is not only related to communication media, but more than that, it is related to various things that make it complex. Social media is connected to specific digital platforms, both mobile and static. Manning (2014) states that social media has two characteristics, namely (1) it allows for a form of participation, and (2) it has interaction. This aligns with the previously stated regarding participation and interaction in communication that social media can facilitate. Upon recognizing the presence of these two fundamental aspects, namely participation, and interaction, the utilization of social media for communication becomes imperative. Consequently, the necessity for literacy activities arises as communication through social media is intricately intertwined with literacy, as elucidated before. The use of media in literacy is also not new. Although often not realized, the mass media is a means of literacy, such as television, radio, and print media (Silverblatt, Miller, Smith, & Brown, 2014). This is also in line with the development of the media in society. Along with the times, in addition to the media mentioned above, various new media have also emerged which have begun to take advantage of the existence of digital technology in society. According to Siapera (2018) new media is a phenomenon in which computerized communication logic is united and integrated. The existence of digital technology has led to the emergence of social media development, so social media is increasingly developing and widely used in society. In addition to pushing various conventional activities in new directions, these technological and media developments undoubtedly impact people's literacy. The development of technology and media in question has also led to technological literacy as a guide for the public in dealing with emerging media developments, especially technology-based media. This statement is reinforced by Johan (2019); it is believed that in technological literacy, possessing cognitive and technical skills for handling technology becomes a fundamental requirement in everyday life. As a result of the development and emergence of technology-based media, the use of media began to change. In recent years, various media have emerged, mainly social media, which is also widely used by the public, including Indonesia. Even the latest data report (Kemp, 2021), Indonesia is one of the countries with the most active social media users in the world, so it is possible to use social media as a literacy for Indonesian people. The discussion about literacy is closely related to language. Language can be described as a means for community groups to communicate daily. The existence of language makes it easier for humans to understand their intentions with each other, further strengthened by the opinion of Junadi and Laili (2021) that language is the ability of living things, particularly humans, to use this ability to exchange information with other humans. Language can be conveyed not only verbally but can also be conveyed using signs and gestures. In simple terms, language can be interpreted as a tool for conveying something, a means of thinking for humans, and the initial source of humans for learning and acquiring knowledge (Murti, 2015). Based on this explanation, language can be a means for someone to continue to develop their mindset by learning and expressing their thoughts so that their knowledge continues to increase. The first language a person learns is their native language. However, through contemporary literature, it can be seen that first language acquisition is quite sensitive to the impact of the learning environment, and the effect includes a variety of factors, making it a complex discussion (D’Elia, 2019). This at least shows how language impacts a person's learning process, so language becomes essential to pay attention to at the end of the learning process. While learning the language is centered on learning communication and entering into strategic process capabilities (Hanna, 2014; Khair, 2018). Learning means communicating knowledge, whereas communicating requires language so that what is meant can be appropriately conveyed. Language is essential to social life according to several meanings mentioned above. Based on various previous explanations, language influences various fields in social life. Some studies even state that language can improve other activities, from business strategy planning activities (Siakas & Siakas, 2015), to language being assessed as a critical factor in outsourcing (Wickramasinghe & Nandula, 2015). By learning a language, the learner will get many advantages. In essence, language aims to facilitate one’s life in society. However, optimizing it requires utilizing and exploring existing language knowledge to understand the features and ways to expand this knowledge (Ortlieb, 2014). Language is necessary to facilitate various activities that need to be completed in everyday life. Various school literacy activities are closely related to reading and writing activities. The 2013 curriculum also organizes language learning based on four aspects: reading, listening, speaking, and listening. Fadhli (2021) stated that the literacy activities encompass several programs, including socialization meetings, mandatory library visits, classroom reading corners, literacy competitions, silent reading sessions, readathons, library companions, literacy appreciation, literacy excursions, and writing activities. Even though it is often seen as an easy lesson compared to other exact studies, the Ministry of Education and Culture stated that there was a decline in Indonesian language learning outcomes from 2016-2017. In practice, many literacy activities launched by the government are associated with activities related to language learning that utilize various media types. In connection with this literacy activity, the government has made efforts to increase literacy levels by organizing programs and preparing various teaching materials and modules, which can be one of the efforts to increase linguistic literacy. An example is the Gerakan Literasi Sekolah (GLS) program which focuses on habituation activities by growing interest in reading through fifteen (15) minutes of reading activities, development by increasing literacy skills through activities responding to enrichment books, and learning by increasing literacy skills in all subjects (Wiedarti et al., 2016). Apart from being an activity program, the government also provides various modules and teaching materials to improve language literacy, such as Badan Bahasa Kemendikbud (https://badanbahasa.kemdikbud.go.id/produk) or Kemendikbud Repository (http://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/) freely and free of charge. In addition, several government-owned social media accounts, especially agencies that are part of the Ministry of Education and Culture, such as Instagram on the social media account @badanlanguagekemdikbud, then account @disdikjabar, even the account @kemdikbud.ri itself has sent a lot of various kinds of social media content related to language. It is noteworthy that Instagram is widely recognized as one of the most extensively used social media platforms for promotional purposes, owing to its non-verbal nature and focus on media sharing rather than conversation (Anindyaputri, Rusmana, & Komariah, 2020). Examples of content submitted by these accounts can be seen in figure 1. Figure 1. Content on social media @disdikjabar and @kemdikbud.ri about language Source: Dinas Pendidikan Jawa Barat, 2021; Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Riset, 2021 As time has progressed, the entry of various cultures into Indonesia and the dissemination of information that has accelerated with the existence of social media, the ability and use of language have also changed and are growing. As it is well known that social media is often used as a source of information, reinforced by the opinion of Guritno, Salsabilah, Pramudita, and Berlianza (2022), social media has advantages as a medium that provides opportunities for everyone to interact, socialize and exchange information without space and time barriers—even portrayed as more informative and up-to-date when compared to the mainstream media. Linguistic issues also cannot be ignored because language is the identity of our nation, which is always used in everyday life. Changes and developments in the use of this language can also be seen in the many social media accounts that promote language use or introduce terms in the language. Not only from the government side, as previously demonstrated, but some communities often share information about languages. Some examples of communities and figures who often share information about languages are the Instagram account @naralanguage which constantly shares information about linguistic terms, especially in Indonesian. Apart from that, there are also Twitter and Instagram accounts @ivanlanin, usually called Uda Ivan by netizens. Ivan Lanin is a language observer and also one of the editorial team in compiling the fifth edition of the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI). Uda Ivan often shares information about the Indonesian language through his social media account with netizens. Examples of content and forms of interaction between Uda Ivan and citizens regarding language can be seen in figure 2. Figure 2. Content on the social media account @ivanlanin regarding language Source: Lanin, 2021 The existence of these phenomena and changes raises things that can be studied. This is what researchers want to explore further to see the relationship between the use of social media and increased literacy, especially in language learning. Even though the use of social media in daily activities has become commonplace, this raises the researcher's question of how social media has the opportunity to become a means of developing literacy. This research then examines this matter so there will be recommendations to improve language literacy skills. Through a review of theories associated with current phenomena, it is hoped that this research will assess the use of social media in society and find the proper way to use it in developing language literacy, mainly in Indonesia. While social media’s potential for fostering language and literacy skills is recognized, a research gap exists in understanding how specific social media features and activities can effectively promote literacy development. Further exploration is needed to identify best practices and strategies for utilizing social media platforms to enhance reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. This research examines how social media can be a medium for developing language literacy regarding the activities and interactions that occur in language accounts on social media in the Indonesian setting.

This research employed a literature review method by reviewing studies and theories on media literacy, language acquisition, and language learning. This study followed the six steps needed for the literature review method developed by (Machi & McEvoy, 2022). These steps consist of selecting and defining the topic, developing the tools of argumentation, searching the literature, surveying the literature, critiquing the literature, and the last step is, writing the review. There is also the selection and determination of topics carried out in this study related to the use of social media in language literacy. The search for reference materials is determined by using Google Scholar, whose year of publication is limited to the last ten years. Keywords used to limit research related to “literacy, Bahasa,” “literacy Bahasa Indonesia,” and “media social kebahasaan,” even though in the process of searching for information using a combination of words or other sentences by information search techniques. The writing of research arguments is also strengthened by a documentation study based on the results of the researcher’s observations. The search for reference sources focuses on current language phenomena, the role of social media in language learning, and the use of social media as a language literacy development. All reference sources considered relevant and reviewed by researchers are to be criticized and written down the results of this study.

To assess how social media can develop language literacy, it is necessary first to review language phenomena that occur in Indonesia. One of the most common phenomena is the presence of slang in everyday conversations, both written and spoken, which influences the Indonesian language and its grammar usage (Puspitasari, 2017). In everyday life, slang is used to shorten communication and occurs due to language development. Slang is considered a form of language development that follows the development of the era, although this development affects the use of grammar according to spelling and linguistic rules. It also encourages language acquisition. The acquisition of this language can be seen by increasing the vocabulary in the Big Indonesian Dictionary every April and October, primarily because Indonesian is still considered new compared to other languages. We can also see the sociolinguistic side of Indonesia through mainstream media such as television. The use of language in the media reflects the use of language in Indonesia, which unfortunately does not comply with the principles of good language, one of which is evidenced by (Nugrahani, 2017), which states that the use of language, especially in social media, has pragmatic deviations. In line with what has been said before, this is a result of language development. In everyday life, adhering to good language rules is considered rigid and inflexible, so in communicating, a person tends to use shorter and easier to understand verbally. Even though the illiterate population in Indonesia has decreased from year to year, the literacy rate in Indonesia still needs much improvement. It can be seen from the following statistics in figure 3. Figure 3. Illiterate population in Indonesia until 2018 Sources: UNESCO, 2021 Figure 4. Literacy level in Indonesia until 2018 Sources: UNESCO, 2021 Figure 4 shows that the illiterate population in Indonesia has decreased. This is good news, which means that the efforts of various parties to reduce illiteracy in Indonesia are going well and following the objectives that have been designed. The population seen is people aged under 15 and between 15 to 24 years. Next are statistics that describe the level of literacy in Indonesia adapted from UNESCO. Table 1 Literacy rate in Indonesia until 2018 Literacy rate (%) Total Male Female Year 15-24 years 99.7 99.7 99.7 (2018) 15 years and older 95.7 97.3 94 (2018) 65 years and older 74.3 84.6 65.6 (2018) Sources: UNESCO, 2021 Table 1 shows that Indonesia's literacy level has statistically increased until 2018. Maintaining and increasing it requires efforts and cooperation from various parties. Each age group has a different increase where the population seen is people under 15 years, aged 15-24 years and over 65 years. Current technological developments also encourage various language activities through social media, causing them to move away from mainstream media. The ease of accessing social media, of course, also contributed to this development. The emergence of various online reading and writing media is one of the developments that can be found easily in life in the current era. These media, starting from blogs and other social media that are more interactive and popular, are considered ready to accommodate community language activities. There are also digital story platforms that are considered to be able to improve narrative writing skills, especially for students, and also digital reading platforms that can improve the reader’s experience, where the existence of these platforms can encourage the field of publishing in new directions by providing opportunities for its users to participate as readers and writers (Annamalai, Eng, Abdullah, & Sivagurunathan, 2015). Digital platforms’ emergence provides the broadest opportunity for writers to share their stories without thinking about publishing and disseminating their writings. Social media is a digital platform often used to share various activities, including literacy and language learning activities. The following table is attached, which shows data regarding social media accounts, especially Instagram, which are engaged in literacy and language learning activities. Table 2 Social media accounts engaged in literacy and language learning activities Account Name Focus Follow-ers Posts Ivanlanin Indonesian language learning 106,552 1271 Klubbukunarasi Literacy activities in the community 151,105 1783 Badanbahasakemdikbud Indonesian language learning 265,443 5300 Gwp_id Community literacy activities, publishing 20,687 972 Source: Processed personal data, 2023 Several social media accounts on Instagram social media focused on learning Indonesian and community literacy activities. These accounts regularly provided exciting information and trivia about languages, one of which aimed to increase public awareness of literacy and learning Indonesian (table 1). The use of social media has also increased from each generation and can meet psychosocial needs. In using social media, it is essential to pay attention to the factors in its use as things that influence the use of social media for someone to meet their information needs. A study by Leung and Bai (2013) suggests that positive results from social media use can be found by looking at five factors of social media users: motivation for use, ability to use, opportunity, involvement, and desire to re-access. These aspects can be used to design literacy development by utilizing social media. The more comprehensive development of social media also impacts things that exist and develop in society. One of those things is literacy. Literacy and language development can also be carried out through online media as a form of innovation (Wargadinata, Maimunah, Febriani, & Humaira, 2020). This can be seen from various social media accounts sharing information related to linguistic literacy. Gabriele (2016) found that digital fiction can be a means of developing autoethnographic methods in the research field. Digital fiction can be one of the topics for developing linguistic literacy through digital platforms. Coupled with the existence of social media also allows for interaction between writers and readers; according to the viewpoint expressed by Prayudi and Nasution (2020) that trends in social media can be seen from the interactions that occur in it; interactions on social media are more relaxed and informal so that without it is realized that the community in social media eventually uses the habit of face-to-face communication. Thus, helping to form communities and literacy activities. It is one of the opportunities that can be utilized to make language literacy development more accessible. Along with technology development, other things related to people's daily lives are also developing, including literacy activities. Good language skills are one of the essential abilities that someone must possess to face the times. This has led to various efforts to learn languages, including using social media with various methods and materials. In implementing practical and comprehensive language learning, there is a need for further review both through learning strategies and the methods used. One example is implementing a language learning approach using vocabulary enrichment. It is considered quite effective in increasing student scores when applied to elementary school students and can also be applied at the preschool level (Halijah, 2017). Learning from the most basic level will provide a better understanding in the future, and starting earlier will positively impact our language. Of course, the use of social media in language learning can be optimized by creating various kinds of content related to languages to increase language literacy. As one of the widely used media, social media has excellent potential to share various kinds of content related to linguistic literacy (Toivonen et al., 2019). This is reinforced by the viewpoint of Purawinangun and Yusuf (2020) that social media is preferred because it can quickly convey and exchange information and knowledge. This modern social media could already be used as an educational medium. Although there were not too many, based on the data obtained, it showed that there were social media that focused on developing content about languages, mainly Indonesian, where the existence of these contents could be a means to increase linguistic literacy, especially for social media users so that their language skills could improve (table 1). Implementing language literacy activities today, with all kinds of convenience in accessing technology, is a challenge. Existing technology sometimes only provides the benefits desired by its users because, in the end, it returns to the user's ability to utilize social media. In learning language literacy, several other factors also influence this. A study has stated that everyone has different experiences and language skills depending on their environment and daily lives. It includes being motivated to explore language experiences in either one language or bilingual, especially in class (Baihaqi & Bahrodin, 2022). The more often the use of this language is trained, the more accustomed to using the language and experienced in speaking. Strong encouragement and motivation are needed to create works supporting increased language literacy. As one of the media that has the potential to accommodate various activities to improve language literacy, social media needs to be optimized by managing content and learning methods appropriately for its users (Curum & Khedo, 2021). The study results presented by Król and Zdonek (2021) have suggested that the use of social media in Generation Z does not significantly impact because not many meaningful publications are found, even though there are visible aspects of motivation in creating works. It means that the existence of social media today has not significantly encouraged someone to improve their intended language literacy. In addition to the abovementioned factors, several other factors can influence someone learning a language to improve linguistic literacy. Some mentioned that other factors, such as family involvement, must be considered when learning a language (Czik & Lewis, 2016). As the first place for someone to learn, the family has an essential role in teaching language as an effort to improve one’s language literacy. Efforts to improve language literacy will only be carried out optimally, with family support as one of the factors. Other factors that influence a person in learning a language to improve linguistic literacy are motivation, a good relationship between a person and a teacher in their learning environment in terms of language, as well as the role of local authorities in making policies for learning languages as an effort to increase language literacy both in Indonesia and in other countries, as well as the challenges that need to be faced (Flint, Dollar, & Stewart, 2019; Hajisoteriou & Angelides, 2017; Liton, 2016; Mulyadi, & Nurhadayani, 2018). The government and several linguistic experts in Indonesia have attempted to facilitate this by making regulations and programs about literacy to increase motivation in learning languages. In addition, creating good relations, especially for social media followers, is starting to be realized by the government so that many government-owned social media have begun to pay attention to the style of language used, including the Instagram accounts @disdikjabar and @kemdikbud.ri when uploading content related to language and making followers can learn more informally. Some factors above affected how a person's language literacy skills developed. The increasingly massive use of social media did not significantly affect the increase in this ability. However, with appropriate content management coupled with the development of social media, it could be one of the opportunities in the future to utilize social media as a medium to improve language literacy skills.

Social media holds the potential to contribute to the development of language literacy in Indonesia. Paying attention to sound methods and programs to improve language skills is necessary. However, social media also influences changes in native languages due to the rapid flow of information and the influx of foreign cultures in the younger generation. Therefore, further screening is needed to design appropriate methods for using social media to develop language literacy. Other efforts to reduce the impact of this discoloration include preserving information and increasing language literacy, starting from information retrieval and information processing to conveying information related to language. Some recommendations for further research are expected to be able to examine the type of social media in question more precisely. This needs to be done so that social media becomes effective in increasing linguistic literacy. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to other factors that may affect language skills and the role that can be taken, especially by librarians and information experts, to improve language skills.