EFL Adolescents' Use of English in the Era of New Digital Media: An Empirical Investigation

ABSTRACT The study reported here sets out to investigate to what extent Generation Z EFL speakers employ English in their linguistic practices on digital media platforms and how these compare to the patterns of English use on other social occasions. To that end, 630 adolescents (aged 14 to 18) from five grammar schools were targeted in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg. Results of a 27‐item survey pinpoint young individuals’ habitual reliance on English for (i) socializing on Facebook, Twitter, and similar platforms; (ii) consuming content on YouTube and TikTok; and (iii) watching series on various streaming platforms. Simultaneously, English is also revealed as an important linguistic variant underpinning their daily communicative practices, notably interactions with peers. The multiple linear regression analysis pinpoints statistically significant associations between learners’ habits of digital media use and their in‐group conversational practices. This is interpreted as a sign indicating the emergence of ESL‐like qualities in a traditional EFL setting. It is argued that consuming and engaging with digital media products through English may be affecting the psycholinguistic modus operandus of a noticeable cohort of young EFL speakers, who become increasingly bilingual as a result of those practices. Consequently, it is this adjusted psycholinguistic state (from predominantly monolingual to increasingly bilingual) that motivates the addition of English to the sociolinguistic repertoire of conversational practices.