Abstract

This article reports on a long-term comparative exploratory study of Polish undergraduate and graduate university students who have been studying English as a second language (L2E). The foci of this article are twofold. The first is to establish the reasons for pursuing the study of L2E over a two-point time period: 2013 and 2019. The second is to discover the use and influence of cyberlanguage on communications and whether including English internet slang in the curriculum is desirable. The data, over an interval of six years, showed a strong interest in the daily usage of online slang (informal online written communication), as respondents considered this an important aspect of their foreign language acquisition. The article concludes that the L2 syllabus needs to be more relevant and interesting to young adults in order to enhance their engagement and learning. Teaching online slang should be included in the texts and classroom activities, as the command of such slang presupposes a good understanding of the base language (L2), especially when acronyms and substitutions are made common practice in cyberlanguage communications.