ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN ENGLISH

LANGUAGE LEARNING.

INTRODUCTION:
Language can be defined as a medium of communication
between human beings. It is a system of words, symbols, and
sounds, learned and acquired by people. It can be in both the
forms; spoken or written. According to (Chomsky 1957)
language is looked upon as an order of limited and limitless
sentences, limited in length, and made out of finite set of
elements. It conveys thoughts, points, and feelings by the use
of freely and openly produced symbols (Sapir 1921).
English language now plays a vital role in the lives of people
as it has become an international plus official language.
People acquire English language as a foreign or second
language, and also for special purposes. Mastering this
language, will allow anyone to expand their world and job
opportunities will come easily to them. Also, it has become
an important tool to communicate and connect with people
around the world.
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Now is the world of social and electronic media and
networking, applications and websites. There are various
social media platforms, that help people in language learning,
and particularly English language. Social media and
technologies have evolved over the years, and has made an
impact over the learning community, in general. There are a
lot of social networking sites now; Facebook, WhatsApp,
YouTube, Twitter, and G-mail being the common names
among many. Blogs, articles, online and virtual learning, also
helps in English language learning. According to (Gaudel and
Perroni 2010), the key trait of social media is that, it helps in
sharing content and information, and in this way we get to
know other users as well. Since, people commonly use
English language, it has become easy for them to interact and
learn through social networking, because it doesn’t only
helps people in learning the language, but to get to know the
language better. As (Ferdig 2007) has said that social media
plays a fundamental role in interaction and learning of a
language through it, has become easy, as well as helpful.
Social media sites can be used by teachers for English
language teaching. So, if a teacher wants to teach in a
productive way, they need to think of such methods and
ideas. Communicative Language Teaching, can be a favorable
approach for the learners learning English language. Because
communication happens through both the means; social
media and English Language, and through these
communicative aspects, learners learn the language as well.
So, if a method that doesn’t work best in regards with second
or foreign language teaching, the acquisition may not have a
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greater impact (Faheem 2016). Environment and setting also
matters a lot for the language learning classroom, and as the
generation now is more inclined towards social media and
networking sites, mediums like these are quite helpful in
English language teaching and learning.
Vocabulary and overall impression of dialect does get better
with the use of social media, because everything that you
might need, is just one click away. Novels, poetry, stories,
NEWS, newspaper, articles, blogs, videos, research papers,
and many more reading and learning material are available
online. All these can influence one's language learning
process. In this modern era, all of this is steadily becoming a
part of a learner's life. Learners search and re-search about
their studies through google. Language learners look up to
any practice material available online. It is a medium of
sharing information and messages, and people learn through
this. Video lessons, online classes, PPTs and PDFs are also
some modes used for language teaching. Thus, in this
evolution of social media, it has become a tool for sharing
ideas, opinions, awareness, opportunities and interests. Thus,
vocabulary also plays an important part in language
development, as the language learning process is not only
about the structural development, but vocabulary should
also be a subject of focus. Via online means and social media,
one can see impressive development in their use of diction,
as we learn and improve by learning through social media.
One can find various online games, which can help in
language learning and develops a learner's interest in it.

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Rather than searching through books, learners look up to
various websites, if they find any confusion. A learner's four
language learning skills; reading, listening, speaking, and
writing can be enhanced with practicing many activities
available online.

PURPOSE STATEMENT:
The purpose of this research is to identify the role of social
media and the opportunities that comes with it for English
language learning.

IMPLICATION:
This study implicates that, many learners can find this study
beneficial and can understand the role of social media which
can help them in learning English language. It is a
fundamental factor, which many a times people don’t
consider, as they think that they won't find any significant
information online. One can learn many things in different
ways and specially English language acquisition and learning
becomes a bit uncomplicated through social media.

LITERATURE REVIEW:
(Ullah 2016) says that social media is beneficial in English
language vocabulary development. According to him, there
are many sources available online which helps in and
enhance a learner's use of vocabulary. As language is an
important part and tool for communication and interaction,
social media acts as a powerful resource for language
learning through communication and interaction. According

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to (Faheem 2016) social media created awareness and
opportunities which helps the learners in acquiring English
language. Digital learning is found as an effective tool in
learning English language as it increases interaction amongst
teachers and students as they discuss and relate to various
issues through social media (Cifuentes and Lents 2011).
In recent years, this evolution and development in social
media and networking sites has helped the student
community in not just language learning, but in all areas of
studies (Fischer 2013). WhatsApp and G-mail are the most
common applications used for the main means of sharing
information and learning (Dehghan 2019). A study of using
social media means was carried out in Spain, which examined
that how the students were enthusiastic in learning English
language via social media and mostly positive views came out
of it (Dehghan 2019). Various strategies and techniques can
be found online for the practice of English language learning
and many activities can be solved in this regards as well.
Materials, topics, lesson plan studies, anything in an
enormous amount is easily accessible to the students
(Kinshuk 2008).
Social media has now constructed many opportunities and
subjects of interests which are more affordable for learners
and they have great impact over students' English language
learning ability (Antilla 2018). Social media is a platform,
which helps the students' community in generating thoughts,
ideas, and opinions; creates possible interaction between
peers, friends, and colleagues, and serves as a good medium

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for language learning (Penni 2017). Thus, through social
media , learners can create content and information, which
develops the process of their language learning. Hence, these
evolutionary ideas of social media applications, attracts the
learners and they become more inclined towards these I
order to learn English language (Mao 2014). Another study
says that Facebook serves as a medium of cultural and
linguistic interchange (Slim and Hafedh 2018). Other
networking sites like Wikipedia helps in shared knowledge
enhancement, twitter and Facebook helps in social
networking (Lay 2016).
Social media enables connections and look past the cultural
boundaries as users can also express themselves globally
(Thorne 2010). Social media now offers a lot of possibilities
for both learners and educators, and limitless opportunities
for foreign or English language learning (Selwyn 2012).
Researchers have referred to social media as field of
education, and that it is not just restricted to classrooms, but
also used outside the classroom, especially for language
learning processes (Everson et al. 2013).

METHODOLOGY:
Research Method:
The method of this study is Quantitative method. According
to (Sheard 2018), quantitative research is a type of research
method, that focuses on statistics and data collection and
analysis which happens using various tools such as surveys,
questionnaires, or polls. It emphasizes on collecting

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numerical data and analyzing the findings through graphs,
that has been answered by people in accordance with their
opinions (Bhandari 2020). The main goal of quantitative
research is that focuses on a particular audience, as it gathers
information through a system of investigation.
Reason for opting this study:
The reason why I opted for quantitative research method is,
because it constructs understanding of the social world. This
method is used by many social scientists and researchers to
pinpoint and note the circumstances, which creates impact
upon individuals. It analyzes the various responses of
individuals, as we look at a particular topic from not just ours
but with different people's point of view. The information
gathered is easily recorded using online surveys or
questionnaires.
Research design:
The research design was made using questionnaire for the
collection of data and appropriate responses. The
questionnaire was adopted from an already conducted
research.
Questionnaires are basically a set of statements or questions,
in which the choice of answer is already given, so every
reader/individual can record the responses according to what
they think and understand of it. According to (Mcleod 2018)
questionnaire is a kind of a written interview, which is a quick
way of obtaining information from many people at the same

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time. (Cohen 2013) says that questionnaire is a primary data
collecting tool.
Why I opted for this tool is because, questionnaires are
designed so that relavant information regarding a particular
issue or research can be obtained, in regards with the
opinions of the respondents.
Population:
The population or the audience of my research are public
sector college level (intermediate) and private sector A'levels
learners, simply high school learners, and public and private
sector university level advance learners. The respondents are
basically of age-groups 17-22 years of age, as students of this
age-group are more interested in social media and language
learning.
Sampling:
The sampling technique used is convenience sampling. It is
the most common type of sampling used by the researchers.
Why researchers choose this technique is because, the
material or the subject of study is easily available, it is fast
and not at all expensive. Researchers have the access to their
area of study and selected topics, because of their
availability. The name of the technique says it all as
researchers can conveniently search and look for informative
topics of study. Approximately, around 75-100 students'
responses of intermediate, A'level and university level were
recorded.
Data collection tool:
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Online questionnaire, through google forms were made to
carry out this study. It was sent through WhatsApp (groups),
and G-mail and the responses were recorded.
Data analysis:
The data was collected via online questionnaire and
statistical response of the learners were collected by google
forms, through graphs. Its results consists of percentages of
what the participants marked as an option, and what they
think of the role of social in English language development
and learning.

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REFERENCES:
Chomsky, Noam (1957). Definition of language and grammar,
Syntactic Structures.
Sapir, Edward (1921). Language: An introduction to the study
of speech.
Gaudel, A., & Perroni, C. (2010). Reciprocal attention and
norm of reciprocity in blogging networks.
Faheem, M., (2016). International Journal of academic
research in business and social sciences.
Ullah, Irfan, (2016). The role of social media in development
of English language vocabulary at university level.
Cifuentes, O.E & Lents, N.H (2011). Increasing student-
teacher interactions at an urban computer campus.
Fischer, Y. (2013). The Facebook dead-long live WhatsApp.
Dehghan, Ferzaneh (2019). Social networks and their
effectiveness in learning foreign language vocabulary.
Kinshuk, H.K (2008). Effects of short-term memory and
content representation type on mobile language learning.
Antilla, Hameen (2018). Internet as a source of medicines
information (MI) amongst frequent users.
Penni, J. (2017). The future of online social networks (OSN): A
measurement analysis using social media tools and
applications.
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Mao, J. (2014). Social media for learning: A mixed methods
study on high school students' technology affordances and
perspectives.
Slim, Hadoussa, & Hafedh, Menif (2018). Social media impact
on language learning for specific purposes.
Lay, G. (2016). Students' learning styles and their effects on
the use of social media technology for learning.
Thorne, S.L (2010). The intercultural turn and language
learning in the crucible of new media.
Sewlyn, N. (2012). Social media in higher education.
Everson, M. (2013). Social media and the introductory
statistics course.
Sheard, Judith (2018). Research methods (second addition).
Bhandari, Pritha (2020). An introduction to quantitative
research.
McLeod, Saul (2018). Research methods/Questionnaire
Method.
Cohen, Manion, L. (2013). Research Methods in education.

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APPENDIX:
Adopted Questionnaire:-
1. Social media is helpful in English Language learning.
2. Social media develops English language learning.
3. Social media is not useful for English learners to share
their views with native speakers.
4. Learners feel bored while using social media for English
language learning.
5. Social media is an easy way for English language
learning.
6. Role of social media is more interesting than books in
English language learning.
7. Social media use is difficult for English language learners
at intermediate level.
8. Social media use is difficult for A'level students.
9. Social media use is difficult for university level students.
10. There are more opportunities available on social
media and online for English Language learning.
11. Social media facilitates English language learners.
12. Social media includes positive and impressive
factor in English language learning.

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