The Journal of Studies in Language ISSN:1225-4770(Print) 2671-6151(Online) 언어연구

This paper investigates the perception and the usage of college students on the language used in social media. For this study, surveys were conducted on 110 English-speaking students and 159 Korean students. As a result of the analysis, both English and Korean students consider conversations on social media are significant. However, they also think that it is not important but indispensable. Regarding when the language used in social media is uncomfortable, both groups responded that they did not understand the meaning of the language. As for the most problematic form of language on social media, both groups responded ‘space error’ was the most problematic. Views on the language used on social media were divided for and against. However, many English respondents stated that language variations in social media texts are not severe if they do not interfere with communication. Although college students are heavy users of social media, the study found significant negative views about language variants. This can be understood that a large number of college students have a normative view used in the traditional method of language use.