The impacts of social media use on English language usage among private university students: The mediating effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Leong, Kai Qi (2025) The impacts of social media use on English language usage among private university students: The mediating effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Final Year Project, UTAR.

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Abstract

Concerns have arisen regrading social media’s influence on students’ language practices with the widespread use of social media. This research examines the relationship between social media use and English language usage among Malaysian private university students, with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as the mediating factors. The study also employed a quantitative and crosssectional design guided by Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Convenience sampling was used to recruit a total of 321 students from various faculties. Data were collected through an online survey questionnaire and analysed using SPSS for data cleaning and SmartPLS for Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings revealed that social media use significantly impacted English language usage, with intrinsic motivation emerging as a strong and significant mediator. In contrast, extrinsic motivation demonstrated an insignificant mediating factor. The findings indicated the importance of promoting intrinsic motivation in language learning and offer practical and theoretical implications for employing social media to improve English proficiency in higher education.

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