THE MILLENNIAL GENERATION AND POPULAR CULTURE FarhanazRabbani The Millennial Generation and Popular Culture in EFL Classroom THEMILLENNIALGENERATIONANDPOPULARCULTURE INEFLCLASSROOM FarhanazRabbani Department of English, University of Dhaka, BangladeshE-mail: fnazrs@yahoo.comAPA Citation: Rabbani, F. (2015). The millennial generation and popular culturein EFL classroom. Indonesian EFL Journal, 1(1). 88-97 Received: 10-09-2014 Accepted: 13-10-2014 Published: 01-01-2015 Abstract: Writing instructors all over the world are facing new challenges in teaching writing tostudents who belong to the rapidly evolving digital age. These multitasking youngsters are popularlyreferred to as Generation Y or the Millennial Generation and are the most connected generation of thecentury. With the dissemination of digital communication, popular culture and online networkinghave become an integral part of Generation Y. Teachers need to address this connectedness and focuson a curriculum based on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) where interactive activities arehighlighted. The financially and technologically savvy Generation Y-ers want to use a discourse theyare familiar with and work with materials on popular culture. This paper shows the necessity ofpopular culture in teaching literature and academic writing courses to the Generation Y studentsbecause popular culture is the new global culture. Teachers need to use classroom materials andresources for formal, informal discourse and computer mediated discourse (CMD). Keywords: millennial generation, communicative language teaching, computer mediated discourse . INTRODUCTIONTeaching writing has been a challenge toinstructors throughout the ages. It has gonethrough stages of evolution andexperimentation over the past few decades.But the most interesting developments inlanguage research happened in the latenineteenth century when Berlitz proposedThe Direct Method which placed moreimportance to oral lessons and spontaneousparticipation of the students in their targetlanguage. In the 1950s, the Audio-lingualMethod used the basic tenets of Berlitz’smethod and added the use of tapes and visualaids in lessons. These changes eventually ledto the emergence of the CommunicativeLanguage Teaching (CLT) which advocatesthat learning is an intuitive process thatneeds the proper conditions to flourish(Howatt, 2004, p.192). Throughout thesetrials in teaching methods, teachers andinstructors overlooked critics and skepticsbecause they had only one goal: to determinethe best way to teach English effectively to atarget group or students (Howatt, 1984,p.298). Teachers have a natural inclination to protect academic discourse from outsideinfluences (brought in by students). But,today, the process of enforcing students tolearn knowledge in the traditional mannercollides with the discourse they use at homeand on the internet, thereby creating anineffective learning environment. Thisrealization prompts a teacher to remediatehimself in order to understand newdisciplines and understand the psychologicalorientation of students (Shaughnessy, 1999,p.94). Therefore, along with remediatingthemselves, teachers also have to redesignlearning environment, lesson plans andmaterials.When Latin was taught in the 16thcentury, it was accompanied by Anglo Saxontranslations and classroom exercises basedon the more familiar aspects (for example,farming, hunting) of the students (Howatt,1984, p.5). Much later, when CLT gainedmomentum, teachers began to providesimulated learning situations both in and outof classrooms (Mukalei, 1998, p.97). In orderto create these learning situations, it isessential to know which discourse the 88 Indonesian EFL Journal, Volume 1 (1) January 2015ISSN 2252-7427 students are more comfortable with.Students today, especially those belonging toGeneration Y, use and encounter severaltypes of discourses. Generation Y refers topeople who were born between 1981 to 1999.Rhetorical theories have repeatedlyaddressed the problems of familiarizingstudents with academic discourse or formalEnglish, as opposed to home discourse orinformal English. But, in the 21st century, it isnot only home discourse that acts as aresistance to academic discourse. Studentstoday are overwhelmingly immersed in thedigital media where popular culturedominates their thoughts, their attitudes andtheir actions. These students belong toGeneration Y and share some common traitslike obsession with popular From the culturalpoint of view, based on Gramsci’s ‘hegemony’,it is necessary to create an “educativealliance” between high culture and popularculture so that one establishes “an organicunity between theory and practice, betweenintellectual strata and popular masses,between rulers and ruled which constitutedemocratic centralism” (Forgacs, 1999: 218).Therefore, the classroom must haveinterpersonal communication betweenteachers and students, based on socio-cultural attitudes (Breen and Candlin, 2002:90-91). In recent years, studies have beenconducted on using elements of popularculture in EFL and ESL classrooms both insecondary and tertiary levels. Domoney andHarris (1993) conducted workshops inMexico on the use of pop music, especiallyrap music, in English language classrooms.They state that instead of treating rap musicas ‘discreet’ or ‘marginal items’, it shouldoccupy a more ‘central’ role in classrooms.Cheung (2001) suggests the use of popularmovies like Armageddon and Terminator 2 toteach concepts of self sacrifice both inhumans and robots in English classrooms ofHong Kong. But, so far the focus of thesestudies was only on popular culture, but notspecifically on the impact of popular cultureon Generation Y. I believe that it is necessaryto reinforce the significance of stimulationfound in popular and digital culture and itsrole in the Generation Y writing classroom because it has completely changed themotivational nature of students. The paperfocuses, firstly, on the need for writingteachers to analyze the social andpsychological orientation of the Generation Ystudents and secondly, proposes effectiveways of using popular culture specificallythrough the print media, non-print media andonline networking. SOCIO-POLITICALORIENTATIONOF GENERATIONYGeneration Y refers to those bornapproximately between 1975 to the late1990s. Reilly (2012: 3) cites Lancaster andStillman’s survey and classifies thegenerations as: The Baby Boomer generation(1946–1964), Generation X (1965–1980), Generation Y (1981–1999), Generation Z(2000–present). Generation Y are thegrandchildren of the Baby Boomers. Childrenof Generation X are also known as EchoBoomers, Millenium Generation, iGeneration,Google Generation etc. The term wasoriginally coined as Generation ‘Why’because they always question the ‘commandand control’ attitudes of parents andauthoritarian institutions like thegovernment (Sheahan, 2011).The oldest Generation Y students havewitnessed the fall of the Soviet Union (1991),First Gulf War (1991), Return of Hong Kongto China (1997), the Death of Princess Diana(1997) and the Dot Com Bubble Burst (2000).They have seen the end of the cold war andthe emergence of the anti terrorist campaignin Iraq. The younger Generation Y-ers haveexperienced Y2K, 9/11 Terrorist attacks(2001), Anthrax scare (2001), the Formationof the European Union (2002), theCatastrophic Tsunami of 2004, and Swine Flu(2009). These youngsters grew upmonitoring the rapid boom in globalcommunication and technology andconsequently suffered through the suddencrash of the dot com businesses and thelayoffs prompted by mergers of bigcompanies. Therefore, they are more restlessand skeptical of established norms. They arefinancially more cunning than their parentsin their professions, usually triggering them 89 FarhanazRabbani The Millennial Generation and Popular Culture in EFL Classroom to change jobs frequently. According to asurvey by the Diversified InvestmentAdvisors (2005), 37 percent of Generation Ymembers start saving for retirement beforethey reach the age of twenty five. Since theywere raised by more protective parents,Generation Y students exhibit a heightenedsense of narcissism. Twenge (2006) labelsthem as ‘Generation Me’ and specifies thatthey prefer to socialize through the digitalworld. With both parents working outsidethe home, this multi-tasking generation reliesheavily on the internet and loves to work athome (Reilly, 2012).After Arab Spring, it is evident thatyoungsters rely heavily on digital media toraise their voice against political and socialinstitutional control. Along with digitaldictionaries and thesaurus, students haveaccess to a wide range of information online.Online social networking is used to share andadapt to the new popular culture. Writingclassrooms should integrate these devices inthe lectures and lessons provided by teachers.Hornby suggests a similar practice in thesituational approach where the best methodof teaching the meaning of language patternsis achieved by embedding them in simplesituations and by enabling students to act outin class (Howatt, 1984).Apart from the internet, a heavydependence on other forms of digital medialike TV has changed behavioral patterns ofGeneration Y members as well. Due to theintense competition between network TV andcable TV, Generation Y-ers have plenty ofoptions to investigate. Instead ofconcentrating on one or two channels, theyclick on their remote controllers and ‘surf’the channels just as they surf on the internet.Therefore, there is less ‘sense ofhomogeneity’ among these youngsters (Salt,2007). The popular shows are often ladenwith excitement and suspense, exposing thebrain to “constant bombardment of change”(Yan, 2006). Generation Y students havebrains which are accustomed to rapid story-telling and stimulating scenes. But thecontinual exposure to external stimuliprovided by new technologies sometimes results in a drastic change in human behavior(Saffo, 2007). WRITINGANDCREATIVITYSheahan (2011) points out: “Gen Y arethe most connected people on the planet, andthey want to work in places that reflect thatlevel of connectivity”. A classroom is also awork place to these students. Since thesestudents can connect with the whole world ina fraction of a second, they regard the actionof writing essays tenaciously in classroomsredundant. Although this change is a cause ofconcern for many teachers, Gee and Hayes(2011: 1) view these changes from ahistorical perspective. They state that “digitalmedia ‘power up’ or enhance the powers oflanguage, oral and written, just as writtenlanguage ‘powered up’ or enhanced thepowers of oral language”. Whenever a newsoftware is developed, Generation Y adoptsand adapts it to their needs, paving the wayto create and distribute in the media withoutany cost. Creativity does not mean hours ofplanning, organizing and drafting a writtenpiece.According to Saffo (2007), Generation Yis always engaged in acts of micro-creationwhenever they leave a comment onAmazon.com, on different blogs, or postinghome-made videos on YouTube. A blog is aweblog dedicated to various issues orpersonalities. Anyone can type in a commenton a blog and share their ideas with othersonline. YouTube is the free video sharingwhere users can share or upload videos. Thusthe whole concept of creativity has shiftedfrom the traditional, pre-conceived definitionto a new digital definition. From thebehaviorist perspective, Generation Ystudents engage in metadiscursivity becausethey are accustomed to navigate throughvarious discourses- formal, informal anddigital at the same time (Moje et al., 2008).As a result common national cultures arefraying (Anderson, 2007). For example,YouTube shows how, in Anderson’s words, a“massively- parallel culture” is taking theplace of common culture. As Bhabha relates:“Youth in the millennial world of high speedinformation transfer lie in the in between of 90 Indonesian EFL Journal, Volume 1 (1) January 2015ISSN 2252-7427 global and local spaces” (Moje, 2002).Generation Y youngsters are more globalizedthan any other generation so far and popularculture is the sole platform that unites themtogether. POPULARCULTUREThe word ‘popular’ is derived from aterm used in the late Roman Republic-‘populares’ which means ‘favouring thepeople’. It was a political term used to reflectdemocratic ideologies of political parties.Today, popular refers to the quality of beingwell liked, well received and easy tounderstand. Therefore, popular cultureimplies the social and political practiceswhich are widely liked by the masses or theordinary people. It is a culture made by thepeople for themselves (Williams, 1999). Inthe history of English language teaching,much emphasis was given on formal andclassical texts to facilitate students to acquirethe necessary skills to communicate in astrictly formal environment. But with theintroduction of CLT, the use of tape recorders,compact discs (CDs), television programs,and music began to be crucial parts ofclassroom activities. Gradually,contemporary music, movies and the digitalmedia made their way into writingclassrooms all over the world. Therefore,social interaction and conversation playdominant roles when popular culture isintegrated into the language classroom. Popular culture and literacyTeaching youths in the 21st centuryrequires a deeper perception of youthliteracy from the socio-cultural perspective.As Moje (2002: 108) asserts, literacy cannever be well understood “unless one attendsto people’s literary practices-the values, thebeliefs, and actions that people bring toreading and writing and to the multiplesymbol systems and signs with which readingand writing of print are articulated”. Anabsence of representations of the symbolic,visual and oral codes makes reading andwriting very limited in scope (Moje et al.,2008). When the youngsters of Generation Yuse popular culture in the classroom, they read or watch to create and comment on newtexts in different ways. According toAlvermann young people utilize popularcultural texts in “unpredictable ways” tomake a sensible connection between theclassroom and their own worlds. They alsoutilize popular culture to assert theiridentities in their communities (Moje, 2002:116). How to use popular culture in the classroomFor the convenience of the readers, Ihave divided the illustrations in threesegments: print media, non print media andonline networking. Popular culture is foundin all of these three spheres. The print mediaincludes newspapers, magazines, comics andbest seller books. Non print media includesthe whole gamut of digital entertainment, forexample, television, movies, music (YouTube).Online networking includes social networkslike facebook, twitter and blogs. Print media: NewspapersApart from the prescribed texts,newspapers and magazines have beenhabitually used in writing and literatureclassrooms. Teachers can highlight currentevents and skillfully blend them into thelessons as authentic materials. In ELT,artificial or non-authentic materials areidentified as prescribed texts which are moremethodical and organized. Authenticmaterials in curriculum imply additional non-traditional materials which are used to bringstudents closer to the target language culture(Peacock, 1997: 144). In a classroom wherenewspaper articles and cartoons were suedas authentic materials, Peacock found thatauthentic materials “significantly increasedlearner on task behavior”. Hodson (2008)mentions a series of British newspaperspublished during the 2008 Olympics. Heused some of the following newspaperheadlines to illustrate puns and wordplay:  “Peach volleyball”[The Sun, 14 August]  “It’s oar-inspiring” [Daily Mirror, 18 August]  “It’s the Bei-bling Olympics” [The Sun, 18August]Although using authentic materials likethese may be challenging for teachers, they 91 FarhanazRabbani The Millennial Generation and Popular Culture in EFL Classroom however, provides students with a freshoutlook on language itself. Teachers canutilize the London Olympics 2012 and collectmaterials for language instruction in class. Print advertisementsPrint advertisements are availableeverywhere-on billboards and in newspapersand magazines. Since they are visuallyattractive, teachers can use advertisements todiscuss different issues and attitudes of thecurrent society. As Williams (1999) states,advertising has crossed the “frontier of theselling of goods and services and has becomeinvolved with the teaching of social andpersonal values”. In figure 1, aprint advertisement has the caption‘iPod….I’m your father’. This interestingadvertisement focuses on the existence of thecassette tape long before iPod came intobeing. Generation Y students will be highlymotivated to study this advertisement sincethey are very familiar with iPods. Teacherscan ask students to discover the history ofthe cassette tape and link it to thedevelopment of the iPod. Students will learnresearching skills and will be able to writeessays on definition and classification ofdifferent technological tools over the pastfew decades. CartoonsOther visual aids like cartoons can beused as authentic materials to motivate andto aid in comprehension. Exercises withvisual aids like cartoon strips not only captivate students, but also help to transcendfirst and second language barriers. Cartoonscan be ideal authentic materials because theyhave intersting story lines, promotingdiscussions on theme, moral, and characteranalysis. Cartoon strips like Garfield, Peanuts,Charlie Brown and Dilbert may be used tohighlight comedy, satire and symbolism.Editorial cartoons can be used as excellentresources for writing teachers. Editorialcartoons may be used to initiate a discussionof current events, to introduce writingassignment related to those events, and todesign vocabulary exercises based onparticular cartoon strips.Figure 2 shows a cartoon published onJune 26, 2008 in a Bangla daily newspaper The Daily Naya Diganta. The word on thehuge hand implies the ‘Rising prices ofessential commodities’ in Bangla. ESL andEFL students in Bangladesh who look at thiscartoon will immediately feel comfortablebecause the text is in Bangla. As the figureshows, the price of essentials is creating awrenching pressure on an ordinary citizenwho, according to his attire, belongs to themiddle class. Students may be asked toevaluate the significance of the wrench in thepicture and how it is related to real lifesituations. The colour schemes, and theexpression on the face of the little man in thepicture may also be discussed to help themunderstand the context. Once students are intheir comfort zone, teachers can give themwriting assignments. Figure 2. Editorial cartoon(Source: http://editorialcartoon.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/cartoon1.jpg) 92 http://editorialcartoon.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/cartoon1.jpg Indonesian EFL Journal, Volume 1 (1) January 2015ISSN 2252-7427 For Generation Y students, manga offersa combination of text and image on paper.Manga are Japanese comics on paper and areoften called graphic novels. This Japanesephenomenon is extremely popular withyoungsters today specifically because of thestereotypical characters portrayed in them.Soon after Manga became popular, anotherform of cartoons-Anime came into being.Anime is characterized by colorful graphicsand often have themes for an adult audience.Anime fans are a tight knit group whoreligiously follow their favourite characterson TV. Teachers may begin with the printedManga and introduce other “meaningmaking” elements like Anime, or artwork ortelevision interviews related to Manga. Thesame form of relationships between print andnon-print forms can be found in other textsor documents used in classrooms (Mojo et al.,2008). Non-print media: Television cartoonsApart from print cartoons, televisioncartoons like ‘The Simpsons’ are widelypopular for its satire and the symbolicrepresentations of characters. While Homerepitomizes the stereotypical ‘man’ (foolish,dumb, materialistic yet innocent at the sametime), his wife Marge symbolizessophistication and intelligence. Theirchildren’s antics and comments can be usedfor animated discussions in the classroom-where students can feel comfortable. Someepisodes of ‘The Simpsons’ are based onclassical texts like Lord of the Flies (Das Bus),A Streetcar Named Desire (A StreetcarNamed Marge), Moby Dick (Diatribe of a MadHousewife) etc. By showing the cartoons first,teachers can then show the original moviesand ask the students to compare them.Students will feel more at ease to expresstheir opinions and be more honest in theiranalysis. MoviesMovies and videos in languageinstruction is strongly recommended inCommunicative Language Teaching.Therefore, it is natural for teachers to usethese materials as authentic materials in classrooms. Eken (2003) identifies thefollowing literary elements that can be foundin movies and films:Narrative CharacterSetting ThemeSigns GenreAfter selecting a specific movie, teacherscan guide students to discuss on any of theseliterary topics or focus on elements that arealso found in TV and digital advertisements:cinematography, acting, colour schemes anddesign. Movies like 2012 (directed by RolandEmmerich, 2009) is a good example of howfilms can be used to motivate students tothink about their society. As the world faces acatastrophe in the form of huge tsunamis andearth quakes, the huge ships carrying menfrom different races and some people payingbillions of dollars to get inside the ship dwellson the darker sides of human nature.Teachers can focus on any aspect of themovie and also encourage students to createa list of words commonly repeated in themovie. This enhances their listening,speaking and writing skills simultaneously.The chosen movie can also be compared totexts like Robinson Crusoe or Heart ofDarkness. The following question may beasked to students: Identify the sections in themovie and the text where you findCommercial /human exploitation, internalconflicts or poignant imageries.Students feel highly motivated and selflearning occurs almost spontaneously. Oncemovies and videos are introduced in aclassroom, the possibilities are endless. Aftercompleting their assignments on the movie 2012, students can watch the TV movie The Heart of Darkness (directed by Nicholas Roeg,1993) and engage in a debate to determinewhether book is better than the movieversion. However, before showing any movieas a complimentary material to the text, it isessential for the teachers to ascertain that themovie corresponds to the written text(Whatley, 2012). Television showsNowadays reality shows and sitcoms like Survivor and Friends are watched by almost 93 FarhanazRabbani The Millennial Generation and Popular Culture in EFL Classroom all Generation Y-ers. Teachers can easilydraw in students by referring to a wellknown situation in a sitcom like Friends andask students to comment on the crisis,conflict or humour found in that particularscene. The Emmy winning sitcom The Big Bang Theory is another show that GenerationY students find enjoyable mainly due to therepresentation of their interests. Accordingto statistics by CBS, in the show’s thirdseason premiere in 2009, The Big Bang Theory ranked as CBS's highest-rated show ofthat evening in the adults 18–49demographic. This proves that The Big Bang Theory and the major characters in it areextremely popular among the Generation Y-ers. Sheldon Cooper, the geeky physicist whohas an IQ of 187, is seen playing video gamespassionately completely disregarding whathappens around him. This character traitappeals greatly to the narcissistic GenerationY students (Twenge, 2006), enabling them toengage in an interactive discussion on thecharacter and his dialogues. MusicIn 1989, Griffee, in his preface to aspecial issue of The Language Teacher onSongs and Music, wrote: “As the Audio-lingual method receded, we can also expectone of its children, the ESL songbook torecede with it. In its place will come anincreased awareness of popular songs andmusic.” His prophesy came true. Due tocompact disks, MP3 and MP4, iPhones, iPadsand YouTube, music is an integral part of thelives of the Generation Y. Whenever a song ora music video becomes ‘viral’ , it breaks downcultural and linguistic barriers andtransforms into a global trend. The SouthIndian song ‘Kolaveri Di” is a good examplebecause it was instantly translated intodifferent languages by Generation Yyoungsters. Most songs have themes that arerelated to love or emotions experiencedfrequently by listeners. Therefore, whenGeneration Y students listen to a song, theyimmediately try to connect the song to theirown worlds. Murphey (1989) opines thatsongs can act as initiators of studentinteraction, thereby propagating the CLT approach in the classroom. The simple lyricsand repetitive structure of pop songsillustrate psycholinguistic and neuro-psychological qualities which make thediscourse extremely useful in the classroom.According to Millington (2011), songs canenhance: listening skills and pronunciation,speaking skills, vocabulary and grammar(cloze passages and using key words) andtranslation skills when EFL studentstranslate it into their mother tongue.Today, students of Generation Y listen toLady GaGa and Beyonce. But teachers can useYouTube and refer to Linkin Park (Crawling),Bob Dylan (Like a rolling stone), John Lennon(Imagine), Eminem (Stan) and Josh Groban(You raise me up) in literature courses toillustrate concepts like imageries, dramaticelements, climax and crisis. Wallace (2009)proudly quotes Professor Belcher who said:"Today's popular culture is tomorrow's highculture," Belcher explained, adding, "Why notteach a popular form on the rise, rather thanonly after it has become respectable ormoribund?" Online networkingIn using popular culture, teachers haveto view students as a collective force,determine their preferences and choose theaccurate context for a classroom. It will notbe feasible to choose a song from a JudyGarland movie and expect the Generation Ystudents to feel enthusiastic about it.Teachers need to contemplate on motivatingGeneration Y by looking at them collectivelyas a highly connected generation who love todo networking online. Online networking viathe internet is more focused on creatingcommunities where people come together tocollaborate, learn and build knowledge.Therefore, students take control of thecontent they want to use and the manner inwhich they want to use it. The teacherdominated classroom becomes obsolete andstudents make new connections and createnew ideas through inquiry (McLoughlin,2007). As Gee and Hayes (2011) point out,digital media is reshaping communicationand therefore reshaping our classroomlessons. 94 Indonesian EFL Journal, Volume 1 (1) January 2015ISSN 2252-7427 Taking advantage of online networkingin a language classroom requires an indepthknowledge of computer mediated discourse(CMD). CMD, which is an essentialcomponent of computer mediatedcommunication (CMC), is the communicationproduced by human beings when theytransmit messages to one another throughnetworked computers. In the past, teachershad to ward off informal discourse toemphasize on formal discourse. But inGeneration Y classrooms, teachers have tonegotiate with computer mediated discourseand find a middle ground to implement theirlesson plans. I use the term ‘negotiate’because in a networked classroom, teachersalso need to understand the language appliedin the virtual environment. As studentscommunicate online, they create a languageof their own. For example, LOL in emails andinstant chat sites means ‘laughing out loud’.Online networking has developed a‘metadiscourse’ (discourse within discourse)or ‘metalanguage’ (Thurlow, 2006) for theteachers to examine before using computersas pedagogical tools in a writing classroom. BlogsThere are several ways in whichstudents can use online networking sites in alanguage class. A blog (or weblog) is awebsite in which items are posted and oftenfocus on a particular subject, such as food,politics, or local news. Blogs are like onlinejournals. According to Khampusaen (2012),blogs can be used as a pedagogical toolreplacing pre-writing and drafting stages ofwriting. In a blog, teachers can write orattach a given essay for the students and askthem to leave a comment on that essay orliterary piece. As more students comment onthe blog, it will promote an online peerdiscussion. Teachers may use these blogs toguide the students to determine the variousdimensions of the topic and the languageused in the given essay. Generation Ystudents will enjoy this exercise immensely. TwitterTwitter is an online social networkingservice and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read text-basedposts of up to 140 characters, known as"tweets”. For example, the following websitesmay be useful for instruction:  twitaholic.com,  http://twitter.com/#!/webenglishteach,  http://wheretheclassroomends.com/teaching-logical-fallacies PodcastsPodcasts may also be used for writingexercises. Podcast is a parody of thetraditional broadcast, the first 5 letters beingreplaced by the last 3 letters of iPod. BBC hasvery useful podcasts which reflect ondifferent aspects of daily life. Students mayeither read or listen to podcasts and thenproceed to answer the teacher’s questions. FacebookFacebook is probably the most familiarsocial networking site for Generation Y.Facebook users can send instantmessages/comments and upload visual aidseasily. Facebook can be used in the followingways: events can be ‘created’, useful sites canbe used for research by looking at the activitylog, facebook community pages can becreated and ‘liked’. Clicking on the ‘like’option is not just a passive activity.Generation Y students prefer to learn morefrom facebook than a dictionary of literaryterms. Facebooking provides ampleopportunities for research activities. Forexample, in Bangladesh, Tagore’s songs arecalled Rabindra Sangeet. ‘Rabindra Sangeet’on facebook has 273,000 likes. But on visitngthis page, students encounter a list of ‘similar’or ‘related links’ options. ‘Baul Influences onTagore’ is in the ‘related links’ list provided inthe Rabindra Sangeet page. Therefore,through facebooking, students not only learnmore about the core topic, but they can alsoexplore other related topics and issues in the‘related links ‘option. CONCLUSIONAs the world becomes globalized,teachers have to attune themselves to thecurrent trends and use them in the classroom.Having examined the various possibilities ofusing popular culture in the writingclassroom, it is evident that just as 95 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_service http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microblogging http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_(computing) FarhanazRabbani The Millennial Generation and Popular Culture in EFL Classroom Generation Y students are re-wired bypopular culture and media, teachers can alsobe re-wired, retrained and remediated for thesole purpose of making the writing classroommore meaningful. But reshaping ourclassrooms requires extensive planning inboth communicative language teaching (CLT)and computer mediated communication(CMC). In using popular culture, it isnecessary to maintain a fine balance betweenauthentic materials like songs, videos, andcartoons and artificial materials for the singlepurpose of effective teaching. In using thedigital devices, teachers need to addressissues related to computer mediatedcommunication and the metadiscoursearising from instant messaging and socialnetworking. Since the dimensions of theclassroom and student teacher relationshipare changing rapidly, it is extremelyimportant to ascertain the perfect syllabus orcurriculum that will aid Generation Y to becreative and effective in all the four skills.While we are rapidly moving on to the year2020, the urgency of such a change in theclassrooms is intensifying, since the nextcyber generation, Generation Z, will infiltratewriting classrooms all over the world toprovide new challenges to writing teachers. ReferencesAnderson, C. (2007). Massively Parallel Cultures. 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