Social Media Usage in Improvement of Vocabulary and Perception

The Effects of Social Media Usage in the Improvement of Individual Vocabulary and Individual Perception
Name
University
Course
Professor
May 16, 2021
Changes made from the first draft
The first draft was shallow, with scanty details about the research problem. The final draft has addressed these gaps by adding more details in most of the first draft sections. The amendments on the introduction included confining the study to Twitter only instead of the entire social media platforms. The changes made in the literature review section included adding one more article on the already cited sources. The final draft also elaborates in detail on the initial sources. In the methodology and data analysis section, the final draft introduced the use of Survey Monkey Software to reach global respondents on Twitter. Generally, the final draft uses is more detailed with several examples about the research topic drawn from different parts of the globe.
Final Draft
Introduction
The emergence of social media has affected language in several ways. Slangs used in countries like Jamaica is now spread in Africa and other parts of the globe. The global spread and acceptance of social media, which primarily uses language, raises questions on how it affects individual language. An endless debate exists on whether human language and vocabulary can help shape the way people perceive their world. Most mainstream linguistics does not support this argument. Among the few studies that support it is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis which suggests that the structure of a language affects its speakers globally, meaning that people's perception is relative to their spoken language (Chandler, 1994).
Prior studies have shown that a culture's language and vocabulary can somehow influence how an individual would perceive his immediate environment, given that such languages are also merely derived through the constant interaction of humankind with its external environment CITATION Mad18 \l 1033 (Madhusoodanan, 2018). For instance, African Americans speak a unique language often embedded in hip hop music. They used hip hop music to protest societal injustices when African Americans were mistreated and discriminated against by the whites. The genre developed into a music genre from a method of protest cultivating the language used in the people's usual way of living. Nonetheless, as could be seen from the various 'ideoscapes' that are happening in this highly globalized and digitalized world, new pieces of information have become readily available for consumption for everyone CITATION App90 \l 1033 (Appadurai, 1990). With a single click of one's mobile device, one becomes aware of the culture, language, and even the vocabulary of societies living on the opposite side of the planet.
Accordingly, this research work would like to focus on how constant exposure to social media can improve one's vocabulary and, ultimately, his perception of the external environment. To do this, the study will look for the top words or phrases that are trending in Twitter and conduct a survey that would measure the level of understanding and comprehension of users who have heard about the word as compared to those who find the word as foreign or unfamiliar in their native language.
Research Question and Hypothesis
Research Question
In line with this study's aims, this research's research question is: does the 'trending' nature of new words/terms/jargons in Twitter increase people's awareness about the 'unfamiliar word' and help shape their perception of their environment?
Research Hypothesis
Based on the research question above, the preliminary research hypothesis is as follows: The increase in viewership of Twitter contents improves awareness and knowledge of "foreign words" existence but does not increase its application in daily life. This study refers such words to as foreign because they originate from foreign languages or environment. A term can originate from the Jamaican culture and widely circulates to other global regions through social media. An example of such a word is the phrase "Jah Rastafari", which is now used globally by Rastafari and non-Rastafari people. Similarly, a term like "vlogging" is now used in different languages, including native African and Indian.
Review of Literature
Social media is perhaps one of the most commonly used commodities in today's world in developed and developing countries because both accessibility of mobile devices and the internet has exponentially increased through the years. For example, in some studies done about the penetration of social media platforms worldwide, it was found out that in 2020, the penetration rate of social media platforms around the world has reached around 49% of its total population. Additionally, it was East Asia (71%) and America (69%) which have the highest penetration rate among the various regions in the world CITATION Tan21 \l 1033 (Tankovska, 2021). In line with the study, this suggests that finding a research population anywhere in the world should not be difficult.
Slim and Hafedh (2019) researched the impact of social media on language learning. The study used a sample of 64 students divided into two groups; one learning using social media while the other group learned using traditional methods. Both groups were then given the same vocabulary. The results showed no significant difference between the two groups in terms of achievement. However, the Facebook-tutored group exhibited a positive satisfaction rate. It makes it hard to gauge the impact of social media learning a language, but it is evident that social media could effectively teach language and vocabulary in college studies. Another study done by Khan, Ayaz, and Faheem (2016) found out that social media usage could benefit the development of the English language of college students. Using a sample of 36 university tutors, the study aimed at determining the effect of social media in developing English language vocabulary. The findings showed that social media is a powerful platform for developing English language vocabulary. This confirms the power of social media on language because it is in line with the research done by Slim and Hafedh (2019).
Social media use is characterized by faster feedback mechanis...