Exposure to English Content on Social Media and Students' Reading Comprehension: A Study of 10th-Grade Students at SMKN 2 Mataram

Exposure to English-language content on social media provides authentic input for vocational high school (SMK) students outside the classroom; however, empirical evidence regarding its relationship with reading comprehension remains limited. This study aimed to identify the level of exposure to English-language content on social media among 10th-grade students, their level of reading comprehension, and the relationship between these two variables. A quantitative correlational design was employed, involving 68 10th-grade students from SMKN 2 Mataram, selected via purposive sampling. Data were collected using a 20-item questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale (Cronbach’s α = 0.925) and a 15-item multiple-choice reading comprehension test. The content validity of both instruments was assessed through expert judgment; questionnaire item validity coefficients ranged from 0.353 to 0.765, while the reliability of the reading comprehension test was determined using the KR-20 formula (KR-20 value: [insert value]). Details regarding item validity, difficulty levels, and discrimination indices are presented in the Methods section. Descriptive results indicate that 44.12% of students fall into the "high" exposure category and 8.82% into the "very high" category, while 66.18% of students achieved a "very good" level of reading comprehension. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test revealed that the distribution of reading comprehension scores was non-normal (p < 0.001); therefore, the analysis proceeded using the Spearman Rank Correlation. The results indicate a significant, low positive correlation (ρ = 0.398; p < 0.001; α = 0.05), leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis (H₀) and the acceptance of the alternative hypothesis (H₁). Consequently, while social media can serve as an additional source of authentic English-language exposure, it is not the sole factor associated with the reading comprehension of vocational high school students. The main limitations of this study include its implementation at a single school, the use of purposive sampling, a cross-sectional design, self-reported exposure data, the reliance on a single reading comprehension test, and the lack of control for confounding variables such as vocabulary proficiency, reading habits, motivation, prior knowledge, and the quality of instruction