An Investigation of ESL Students’ Perceptions on the Use of Social Networking Applications to Increase Motivation and Vocabulary Developmen

Abstract

This study examines the influence of social media on English vocabulary growth and motivation enhancement among ESL students in public and private institutions in Pakistan. This study is descriptive in nature. In this regard, data was gathered through the convenience sampling technique by using a questionnaire from 400 students, 200 males and 200 females, of four universities of Sialkot; two were from public sector and two from private sector. Data was analyzed through SPSS by measuring percentage, mean, standard deviation, and individual t-test to demonstrate the gender difference in the participants' views. The findings revealed that social media stimulates language learning interest among English language learners. As well, noticeably it showed that the majority of the ESL learners viewed the significance of social media sources for motivation enhancement and vocabulary development, and consequently, no gender difference was observed in the study's findings.