Social Media and COVID-19 Pandemic: Accelerating the Learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL)

Abstract

COVID-19 began in China (2019) and spread to other nations and become a world pandemic (2020). The news media and social media platforms have played an important role in information dissemination about the Coronavirus throughout the world. During COVID-19 Pandemic, social media has become a key tool for enhancing social networking and information sharing via the web. As more people turn to the internet for health information, social media platforms are helping to spread life-saving precautions that individuals, families, and communities may take to reduce their chance of contracting the virus. Language learners are linked to interactive social media platforms in Social Media Language Learning. The goal of this study was to look at the role of social media during COVID in foreign language acquisition. The participants in this study were Saudi Arabian college students. The study's sample comprised 200 (n=200) college students, and the social media platforms investigated included Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat and other platforms. Questionnaires were used to collect the data. The results indicated that the students used various social media platforms in order to get the appropriate information about the virus that indirectly helped and motivated them learning a new language. These learners lack the self-motivation needed to use social media to develop their English language abilities. The study discovered that adopting online social media during a pandemic for English language learning had a significant impact on interactions with peers and teachers.