Chatting with friends online in English is an approach to enjoying the delight brought by using a foreign language as a real tool of communication. But I don't think it is the best way to improve our English.

 

Firstly, as you know, when you are chatting, you have no time and energy to pay attention to the grammar and it is common to spell words in wrong ways, and NO teacher will check and correct errors for you. So if you overlook such kind of mistakes and fall into the habit of spelling and writing without thinking carefully, you will most likely forget the Standard English and totally be confused eventually. Here, I take the liberty to suggest that you should remember to confirm what you have ‘said’ online as soon as possible by turning to your dictionaries and grammar books after being offline.

Secondly, during the spell of chatting, you have to answer the same questions such as 'where are u from', 'how old are u' etc. patiently in order to show your politeness. And I don’t think they are good questions, even it is not too much to say they are dull and tasteless. In other words, it will make both you and your friend feel tiresome soon. As a result, the atmosphere of chatting will be frozen. I suggest you should switch your topic wisely at that time instantly. Otherwise, both of you will be in low spirit, let alone learn something from each other and improve your English level. The only benefit, I guess, you can get from it is killing your precious time in an expensive way.

When it comes to talking about the fee spent for being online, I think it is still too high to be accepted by most students and unfortunately the greater proportion of chatters (who like chatting in English) are students who are supported by parents. And each penny is drenched in parents' sweat.

So, my conclusion is that chatting with friends in English online can’t be totally substituted for learning English in class, and if you want to improve your English overall, then, chat online properly not frequently and do more hard work after being offline.