A Comprehensive Analysis of Social Media’s Influence on English Vocabulary Development in Pakistan

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyse the role of social networking sites in influencing English vocabulary learning by the Pakistani youth, in terms of the kind of vocabulary learnt, the linguistic patterns that dominate as well as the difference between the different ages, among others. It also aims to determine the implications of incorporating social media into formal learning situations in terms of education. The research adopted quantitative research design with structured questionnaire meant to be filled out by 350 respondents (with ages 13-35 with diverse demographic backgrounds). The questionnaire comprised five parts which discussed demographics, use of social media, vocabulary impact, attitudes and the impact of the education. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, and correlation testing was made and reliability was ensured by means of the obtained Cronbach Alpha values of 0.62 and 0.82. Findings demonstrated that majority of respondents (70 percent) identified social media as having had positive influence on their English vocabulary with most of the improvement coming in informal slang (80 percent) and Urdu-English hybrid language expressions (60 percent) with 30 percent of the respondents reporting an improvement in formal or academic vocabulary. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube were found to be the most widely used, and their use remains very heavy every day. The younger participants and the urban youth were better adopters of new vocabulary than the older and rural people. Although 70 percent of people are in favour of such a strategy as the incorporation of social media in education, an issue arises as to its tendency of promoting the usage of informal rather than formal language. This paper can be seen as an empirical contribution to sociolinguistic and educational processes of social media in a multilingual perspective, including the pros and cons of its versatile nature as an open accessible language learning aid and its inability to achieve formal fluency in a language. The scholarly contribution of the findings is helpful to teachers, school administrators, and curriculum developers who aim to stay in line with both digital experience and maintaining the level of academic English in the Pakistani context.

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