STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF BRAIN ROT CULTURE IN LEARNING ENGLISH THROUGH SHORT-FORM MEDIA

Abstract

1. This qualitative descriptive research focuses on exploring the perceptions of English Education students towards the culture of brain rot as it has influenced their experiences of learning English language in the times of a short-form media consumption. The study was carried out in UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta and seeks to understand the effects of platforms such as Tik Tok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts on the focus, learning behaviors, and academic activities of undergraduate students. The collection of data occurred using open-ended questionnaires using an online snowball sampling method that resulted in eleven students of English Education responding to the questions at different semesters. Thematic analysis has shown the existence of compound mindsets in regards to brain rot phenomena, and the students exhibited high-order understanding of both benefits and limitations that the consumption of short-form content may pose. The results show that students are aware that brain rot is a phenomenon that exists and influences their cognitive processes, especially their attention capacity and focus on the same. They indicate vocabulary learning and pronunciation skills improvement as the main advantages, and mention the issue of attention fragmentation, loss of deep learning abilities, and the time management as major disadvantages. Learners use different self-regulation techniques with different degrees of success and underline the importance of teachers recognizing the existence of the digital world and fostering the importance of critical media literacy.