Abstract

    English netspeak, fruit of this information age, emerges and develops with the advancement of network technology. It is closely related with people’s life, especially college students. This paper uses a questionnaire to get the quantitative data about the use of English netspeak among college students, including familiarity with English netspeak, attitudes towards English netspeak, and reasons behind their use of English netspeak. Then it gives a discussion on the use of English netspeak as well as its significance to college English teaching, hoping to help English learners know English better and communicate more efficiently.
     
Key words: English netspeak, questionnaire, characteristics, application

摘    要

网络英语是信息时代的产物，并随着网络技术的发展而产生、发展。网络英语和人们的生活息息相关，尤其是大学生。本文通过问卷调查，获取了大量关于大学生使用网络英语情况的数据，包括：大学生对网络英语的熟悉程度、对网络英语所持的态度以及使用网络英语的原因。本文还探讨了网络英语的使用及其对大学英语教学的意义，旨在帮助英语学习者更好地了解英语、更有效地交流。

关键词：网络英语；问卷调查；特点；应用

1. Introduction
The appearance of computers and the emergence of the Internet are the greatest inventions in 20th century. Network takes the lead in this information age. Since 1980s, Internet culture has drawn the attention of computer experts, socialists, psychologists, philosophers and linguists. People go online for an infinite number of reasons—to chat with friends, check e-mails, research homework problems, even play games. Online communication has gained its popularity mainly for its convenience. Netspeak, a variety of everyday languages used by different communities on the Internet, comes into being. Because of technological and historical factors, the language which is used by the computer and the network is designed on the basis of English. The fact determines the dominant role of English in nowadays network communication. It is reported that English information amounts to 90% of the total volume of information on the Internet, while Chinese information accounts for less than 1%. Therefore, to study English netspeak is of great research value.