Language change and learning: The impact of technology on EFL students writing skills.

Abstract

Technology is like a speeding train, that lunched humanity into a new phase of evolution, in that, it is constantly changing the way we behave, think, and even the way we communicate, and the various dynamic types of tech, like ICT's and SNS', are strongly impacting languages, notably the English language. Consequently, most contemporary EFL students are at constants exposure to internet content, and if we correlated it with Boyd, 2005) motion, suggesting that the internet has created a new hybrid of English (espeak) which flaunted all aspects of language creativity by taking many shortcuts, this pushes us to wonder about the real impact of tech on English language learning and usage, especially its effect on EFL writing skills. Thus, we sought to investigate the role of tech on Algeria's EFL students from a more linguistic perspective, in particular the students of Ibn Khaldoun university taken as subject matter, our main objectives were to discover how technologies influence students academic writing performance, their vocabulary repertoire and word choice, in addition, we further inserted our theory that predicts the shift of EFL students preference as a speech community from using standard convention of English, to less formal conventions when writing. Moreover, the research has consisted of two main data collection instruments an online questionnaire posted on students and a semi-structured interview with teachers of the same university. Thereafter, while addressing our data, we found that EFL learners tend to include net-speak in their academic activities at school, tech may decrease vocabulary learning due to its repeated and limited glossary, and the overuse of abbreviation may lead to modem literacy as the worst outcome. Finally, the purpose of this study is set to raise both learners and educators awareness of language change, Identifying the particular properties of formal writing that are affected by the use of SNS, and most importantly build a valuable insight that can improve EFL learners writing skills, because technology is a part of evolution and will bring alternatives that allow subtle differences of expression, as such, we have to cop and direct it to serve our own advantages not the other way.