How Social Media is Changing TESOL English

        Thanks to the development of technology and the boom in social media, our approach to TESOL English has changed dramatically. This means that the English we use to communicate doesn't look like standard English at all. It is difficult to understand even for native English speakers.

        So how is social media changing the way we use TESOL English?

        The obvious change is the replacement of words with acronyms. Social media often has character limits, so abbreviations are quickly used to be able to say what you want to say in fewer characters. Interestingly, these acronyms are now no longer only used on social media, but have become quite common in everyday English usage.

        And then there are all the new words that were created to be able to talk about technologies and phenomena that didn't exist before, or that changed their common meaning: think selfies, hashtags, tweets, googles and unfriends. Surprisingly, these words have become so widespread that many of them have been accepted into official dictionaries.

        Social media and technology have clearly played a role in shaping the English language in its current form. Is this something we should be worried about? of course not. Languages change all the time, and while TESOL teachers today lament young people's spelling abilities, claiming it's the result of social media, there's no real evidence that our language abilities are being affected by these new language trends.

        Should we teach these words in English classes?

        Yes and no. It might be fun to point out the most popular acronyms to our students, but if they use English social media, they're probably already aware of it. Spending too much time on them can be a bit of a waste of time considering how much English they still have to learn, remember we try to teach English that will work for our students.

        Are we keeping up with the skills of using technical language in English classrooms? Do it for fun, when necessary, but don't sacrifice other languages for it. TESOL will teach teachers how to teach English, friends, come and sign up!

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