The Impact of Social Media and Gaming On Elementary Students' EFL Acquisition

This study aims to find if there is a connection between social media usage and English vocabulary in Swedish fifth-graders and to question if social media usage is a viable method for SLA. The method used in this study was a self-evaluation questionnaire, and a vocabulary assessment test in both a rural- and an urban school. A Likert scale questionnaire was used to assess the frequency of the participants' social media usage and gaming. In addition to the participants' social media usage, the study also explored wheteher playing digital games and increased English vocabulary has a connection. The results suggest a correlation between social media and gaming with the participants' test scores, depending on the linguistic environment the participants have chosen to be in. The participants who predominantly spend time in English online linguistic environments scored higher on the English proficiency test than the participants who predominantly spend time in Swedish online linguistic environments. Potential improvements to the study include increasing the number of participants, investigating the effects of different social media platforms, and including different demographics.