Nigerian Students’ Use of German in Social Media and Digital Communication: An Emerging Practice

This study investigates the informal use of German language by Nigerian undergraduate students on social media platforms and in digital communication contexts, with a focus on students at Imo State University, Owerri, in the South East geopolitical zone. The proliferation of digital communication tools has created new informal spaces for language practice that exist largely outside the formal classroom. Research in technologically advanced contexts has documented the language learning potential of such informal digital use, but this phenomenon has not been studied in relation to Nigerian German language students. The study adopts a digital ethnographic approach, collecting data through an online questionnaire administered to 160 German language students and content analysis of student-generated social media content shared with explicit consent. The questionnaire assesses frequency and purposes of German use in digital contexts, perceived benefits, and the relationship between informal digital practice and formal class performance. Findings reveal that a minority of students engage regularly with German on social media, primarily through viewing German YouTube content and following German news accounts. Active production of German content is limited. However, students who report higher levels of informal digital engagement demonstrate significantly stronger listening comprehension skills. The study recommends that German language educators leverage social media as a pedagogical resource by assigning reflective digital language tasks. Keywords: social media, German language, digital communication, Imo State University, informal learning.