The TEFL Academy says Gen Z is reshaping British English

New research from The TEFL Academy argues that English is not declining, but evolving faster through Gen Z, social media, streaming culture and multicultural Britain. The report says fluency now depends on context, tone and code-switching as much as grammar, with slang spreading from online spaces into everyday speech.

Why it matters: - The TEFL Academy says the debate over “bad English” misses the bigger shift: modern communication is becoming more digital, more multicultural and more context-dependent. - The report argues that fluency now includes knowing when to use informal slang, formal English and code-switching across school, work and online spaces. - The findings point to a broader change in how language spreads, with social platforms accelerating vocabulary changes across Britain.

What happened: - The TEFL Academy released a report called It’s Giving… Fluent on June 23, 2026. - The report examines how Gen Z, TikTok, streaming culture and multicultural Britain are changing modern British English. - Rhyan O’Sullivan, managing director at The TEFL Academy, said Gen Z is accelerating linguistic change rather than weakening English. - Dimitris Kottis, a UK TEFL instructor at The TEFL Academy, said English is now “a moving target.” - The company included a full report link in the release.

The details: - Recent UK data cited in the report shows 43% of UK consumers use social media as a daily search tool. - The same data says 34% use platforms such as TikTok to find information. - The report says 41% of Gen Z use social media as their primary search platform. - It also says 66% of young people rely on social media for information research, compared with 35% who use traditional search engines. - The report says English is increasingly learned through feeds, captions, streaming platforms, memes, creators and online communities. - Census 2021 data cited in the report shows the share of people in England and Wales who speak English as their main language fell from 92.3% in 2011 to 91.1% in 2021. - More than 5.5 million people now speak another primary language, according to the report’s Census 2021 references. - Nearly 1 in 5 UK school pupils has a first language other than English, the report says. - London is now home to more than 300 spoken languages, according to the release. - The report highlights Multicultural London English as a major influence on modern British speech. - Expressions such as “mandem,” “fam,” “wagwan,” “peng,” “bare” and “bruv” have spread nationally through grime, drill music, TikTok, streaming culture and online creators, the report says. - The report says these terms are rooted in multicultural Britain and urban youth identity, not just internet culture. - The report’s Gen Z Dictionary documents more than 200 widely used British expressions shaped by internet culture, Multicultural London English and digital communication. - The dictionary defines “peng” as attractive or high quality. - It defines “bare” as a lot or very. - It defines “allow it” as stop or leave it. - It defines “dead” as disappointing, boring or, in context, hilarious. - It defines “gassed” as genuinely excited. - It defines “long” as tedious or too much effort. - The report compares older idioms with newer digital equivalents, including “spill the beans” to “spill the tea” and “no lie” to “no cap.” - The report also pairs “awkward” with “cringe,” “charming” with “rizz” and “best thing since sliced bread” with “elite.” - Trinity College London data referenced in the report says 71% of Gen Z English learners ask teachers to explain slang from TikTok and Instagram. - The same data says 80% acquire a significant amount of English through social media. - It says 74% learn English through streaming television. - It says 67% of teachers now incorporate multicultural English slang into lessons. - It says 45% of students prefer American accents over British accents.

Between the lines: - The report frames language change as a speed issue, not a decline issue. - Social media and streaming are compressing the timeline for slang adoption, turning niche phrases into mainstream speech in days instead of years. - The findings also suggest that British English is being shaped by migration, youth culture and digital platforms at the same time. - That mix could make classroom English, workplace English and online English diverge further for younger speakers.

What's next: - The TEFL Academy says the shift will keep pushing students and teachers to focus more on context, tone and audience. - The report suggests future English instruction will need to account for rapidly changing slang and multicultural usage. - British English will likely keep evolving in real time through algorithms, creators, memes and online communities.