THE USE OF DUOLINGO TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS AT THE EIGHT GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 1 LANRISANG KAB. PINRANG

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the Duolingo application in improving students’ English writing skills at the eighth grade of SMPN 1 Lanrisang, Pinrang Regency. The research employed a quantitative approach with pre-test and post-test designs using SPSS version 26.0 for data analysis. Thirty-four students participated as the research sample. The results showed a significant improvement in students’ writing skills after using Duolingo as a learning medium. The mean score increased from 59.65 (pre-test) to 80.65 (post-test), and the proportion of students achieving the minimum competency standard (KKM) rose from 38.23% to 82.35%. The t-test result showed a significance value of 0.016 < 0.05, indicating that the use of Duolingo had a significant effect on improving students’ writing skills. The findings conclude that Duolingo is an effective technological tool to enhance English writing learning outcomes at the junior high school level.