The Impact of Social Media Discourse on Language Acquisition and Communication Competence

This research investigates the effect of social media language on language learning and communicative competence in the digital era. With social networking sites like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp becoming an integral part of everyday communication, they bring about new language habits marked by informality, multimodality, and speedy information transfer. The research investigates the impact of such sites on the grammatical accuracy, vocabulary acquisition, formal writing skills, and faceto-face communication of the users. In qualitative descriptive research, i.e., literature review and digital ethnography, the research identifies both positive and negative linguistic effects of social media use. On the one hand, the websites have opportunities for instantaneous communication, peer-to-peer acquisition, and observation of authentic use of language, which encourages creativity and intercultural consciousness. On the other hand, they can foster non-standard linguistic practices and over-reliance on informal grammar, which may hinder formal language acquisition. The findings highlight the necessity of integrating digital literacy into language learning in an effort to bridge the gap between informal digital communication and formal communicative competence.