The Impact of Social Media Use on English Language Proficiency and Learning Experiences of University Students

Abstract

English is an international language that has been used in communication around social media and any online platform; hence every university student studying as a second language (ESL) or to meet certain academic and work requirements (ESP) needs to learn the language. This is a study that examines how the use of social media affects a person in the acquisition of the English language and the course of learning among students in the university. It will also create awareness to learners about the need of taking part in the activities in the English language via the use of social media in order to improve their interest and knowledge in the English language. The research adopted a descriptive and experimental quantitative research design that utilized 50 participants that consisted of 25 ESP learners, of NCBA&E Bahawalpur, and 25 ESL learners, of Government College of Women University Bahawalpur. A well-developed questionnaire was used to collect data to determine the perceptions of students regarding the usefulness of social media in language acquisition. The experiment lasted more than eight weeks, a teacher led the English language acquisition activities with the help of different social media platforms, and the results were determined with the help of SPSS. Findings showed that, 28% NCBA&E learners and 28.3% Government Women University learners were in agreement that engaging social media activities increased their vocabulary, whereas 33.4% and 29.8 % of the learners noted they recorded improvement in their four core language abilities. Also, 32.4 % of NCBA&E students and 31 % of learners in the Government Women University staff said that their pronunciation was improved because of using social media. The results illustrate that social media influences positively on the acquisition of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and basic language as it adds immense value to the English language acquisition of ESP and ESL students in the university setting.