Innovation in Language Learning

Social networks are the most prominent of all virtual spaces. E-discourse is mostly apparent in facebook and twitter as the scope of electronic and virtual interaction is more important than in MSN, forums and other websites. This emergence of a new discourse along with the pervasive use of social networks lead us to reflect on and investigate the nature of e-discourse, its specificities, its peculiarities, its role and its impact on other discourses. Our reflection also concerns the permeation of such a discourse in EFL classrooms, and the new role EFL teachers must play to make a better use of the netspeak utilized by young learners in electronic spaces, which may help expand the learning process of English beyond real classrooms to virtual chat-rooms. Building on a personal experience, the present research work explores and unveils the role of social networks in giving rise to a new type of discourse, i.e. e-discourse, and in enhancing the learning process of English for EFL students. Through this exploration, we seek to find out new educational methods that fit students who are familiar with social media.