Social Media and Literacy Education: An Evaluation of Turkish Teaching Accounts on Instagram

Abstract

Along with the developments in technology, education and training activities have been moved to different channels. Social media, used by young and old alike, are also seen as educational tools. When we searched Instagram for Turkish language teaching accounts with the highest number of users, we found eight active and effective accounts. The aim of this study is to examine these accounts that were opened to teach Turkish, to examine their shares and their effects on followers, and to reveal their contributions to literacy education. For this purpose, document analysis and discourse analysis were used. The accounts were examined in terms of page layout, content, frequency of posts, way of handling Turkish, and methods used in teaching the language. In addition, the interaction with the followers, the number of likes, comments, the frequency responses was discussed and the effect values of the commented accounts on the followers were explored. As a result, it has been determined that there is no certain standard in the analyzed accounts. It was observed that the most followed pages shared posts about the exams held throughout the country, giving summary information, and explaining the answers to the questions. Since all these posts are mostly aimed at reading skills, it can be concluded that the followers improve their reading skills. As evident from followers’ comments, they develop literacy skills by reading the information given in these accounts and writing them in the comments. In addition, it is seen that these pages, which were opened to teach Turkish, were mostly opened by Turkish language and Turkish literature teachers. Considering that the use of technology is increasing, we believe that the study will contribute to the field of language education and literacy.