An Investigation of the effects of Social Media Language on Generation Z’s Communicative Competence and Vocabulary.

Abstract

The current study examined how social media language affected the communicative competence and vocabulary in first year students of English at Mohamed Kheider University of Biskra. The main problem of this research lies on the use of social media and how it allowed people to communicate with each other, English as a foreign language students were allowed to access information that was previously unavailable. The major purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of social media language on the communicative competence and vocabulary. This research aimed to investigate how social media affected Generation Z's communicative competence and vocabulary and how it was lacking through face-to-face interactions. This study examined the impact of social media on Generation Z's vocabulary learning, and how it affects their online and in-person relationships. It is hypothesized that if social media language impacts the communicative competence and vocabulary on Generation Z students, it will influence their social interactions. In regards, a questionnaire is given to 30 students first year of English at Mohamed Kheider University, in addition to a teacher interview submitted to 08 teachers of English from the same university. The purpose of this research was to investigate how social media effects the communicative competence and vocabulary of students and how it influences their online and face-toface- interactions. The results showed that EFL students were affected by social media and face difficulties in vocabulary learning and that it is necessary to know the meaning of words used in social media. Teachers agreed that social media language had a strong influence on classroom communication, giving students a false image of the formed language and introducing them to authentic everyday language. Generation Z needs more exposure to daily life interaction away from technology and the platform should be designed for educational purposes.