The Influence of Social Media Language on Students’ Academic Writing Skills

The increasing prominence of social media among students has resulted in the development of a distinctive digital dialect marked by informal idioms, acronyms, emoticons, and a typical syntax. This communication style improves social interaction and creativity; yet, its impact on students' academic writing has elicited concerns among educators and scholars. This review systematically investigates the conveyance of language patterns obtained from social networking platforms to formal writing contexts, namely in secondary and post-secondary education. The study aggregates actual data from many educational contexts, highlighting ongoing issues such as the misuse of text-speak, reduced grammatical complexity, and deviations from standard punctuation conventions. It also analyzes how these developments influence students' ability to comply with academic writing requirements, including tone, structure, and clarity. The review analyzes students' perceptions of language boundaries and their capacity to switch registers properly in various contexts. The study investigates pedagogical strategies addressing this difficulty, including explicit instruction in language register, incorporation of digital literacy into curriculum design, and techniques for teacher feedback. The research, grounded in sociolinguistic and literacy theories, advocates for educators to leverage students' digital fluency as a foundation for imparting audience awareness and language management, rather than entirely disregarding social media language. The report concludes by promoting context-sensitive instructional practices that integrate informal and formal writing, and calls for further research in underrepresented settings, especially in multilingual and African educational institutions. This review provides a nuanced perspective on the evolving interaction between digital communication and academic writing in modern education by reframing the topic.

کلیدواژه ها:

Social Media Language ، academic writing skills ، Digital literacy ، Language Interference ، student writing ، Code-switching ، English language education