Lieke Verheijen - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Lieke Verheijen
Collecting Facebook posts and WhatsApp chats. Corpus compilation of private social media messages
Text, Speech and Dialogue, 2016
This paper describes the compilation of a social media corpus with Facebook posts and WhatsApp ch... more This paper describes the compilation of a social media corpus with Facebook posts and WhatsApp chats. Authentic messages were voluntarily donated by Dutch youths between 12 and 23 years old. Social media nowadays constitute a fundamental part of youths’ private lives, constantly connecting them to friends and family via computer-mediated communication (CMC). The social networking site Facebook and mobile phone chat application WhatsApp are currently quite popular in the Netherlands. Several relevant issues concerning corpus compilation are discussed, including website creation, promotion, metadata collection, and intellectual property rights/ethical approval. The application that was created for scraping Facebook posts from users’ timelines, of course with their consent, can serve as an example for future data collection. The Facebook and WhatsApp messages are collected for a sociolinguistic study into Dutch youths’ written CMC, of which a preliminary analysis is presented, but also present a valuable data source for further research.
Recent decades have seen an explosive growth in computer-mediated communication (CMC). Since the ... more Recent decades have seen an explosive growth in computer-mediated communication (CMC). Since the language used in CMC can deviate from standard language conventions, concerns have been expressed that CMC may degrade youths' reading, writing, or spelling skills. However, before studying the possible impact of CMC on traditional literacy, the ways in which 'CMC language' differs from the standard language need to be established. This article discusses the first findings of an ongoing large-scale corpus study examining the register of written CMC of Dutch youngsters between the ages of twelve and twenty-three, revealing how their CMC language differs from Standard Dutch in various dimensions of writing. The focus here is on a salient orthographic feature, namely the use of textisms (unconventional spellings). A range of CMC modes was investigated, including instant messages, text messages, and microblogs. It is shown that the extent to which CMC users deviate orthographically from the standard language and the degree to which they use particular textism types depends both on CMC mode and on individual user characteristics such as age.
Written Language and Literacy, Nov 2, 2018
Social Media zijn niet meer weg te denken uit het media landschap en staan volop in de belangstel... more Social Media zijn niet meer weg te denken uit het media landschap en staan volop in de belangstelling. Maar welke platformen worden op dit moment gebruikt? En met welke frequentie? Wat zijn de stijgers en dalers? Newcom voert al sinds 2010 het grootste onderzoek van Nederland uit naar het gebruik van Social Media. Dit grootschalige landelijk onderzoek is in 2018 voor het achtste jaar op rij gehouden, met opnieuw een indrukwekkende respons (n=6.783).
Collecting Facebook Posts and WhatsApp Chats
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2016
This paper describes the compilation of a social media corpus with Facebook posts and WhatsApp ch... more This paper describes the compilation of a social media corpus with Facebook posts and WhatsApp chats. Authentic messages were voluntarily donated by Dutch youths between 12 and 23 years old. Social media nowadays constitute a fundamental part of youths’ private lives, constantly connecting them to friends and family via computer-mediated communication (CMC). The social networking site Facebook and mobile phone chat application WhatsApp are currently quite popular in the Netherlands. Several relevant issues concerning corpus compilation are discussed, including website creation, promotion, metadata collection, and intellectual property rights/ethical approval. The application that was created for scraping Facebook posts from users’ timelines, of course with their consent, can serve as an example for future data collection. The Facebook and WhatsApp messages are collected for a sociolinguistic study into Dutch youths’ written CMC, of which a preliminary analysis is presented, but also present a valuable data source for further research.
The Effects of Text Messaging and Instant Messaging on Literacy
English Studies, Aug 1, 2013
ABSTRACT This article reviews empirical studies published in the last decade on the effects of te... more ABSTRACT This article reviews empirical studies published in the last decade on the effects of text messaging and instant messaging on literacy to determine whether they positively or negatively affect literacy. Although the majority of studies found a positive correlation between texting and/or instant messaging and literacy, others found a negative correlation, while still others report conflicting findings or no significant correlation at all. The studies reveal that literacy scores may correlate differently with frequency of texting, use of textese/textisms and knowledge of textisms; that there may be different correlations for reading, writing and spelling; and that the correlations may differ for formal and informal writing. The mixed results could also be caused by differences in the designs and populations of the studies. In addition, the correlational analyses conducted in most of the studies do not warrant conclusions about causality. All this suggests that there is a need for further research, preferably longitudinal studies with experimental intervention, on the relationship between text messaging or instant messaging and literacy.
Table of Contents Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction Part 1. Theoretical background on CMC ... more Table of Contents Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction Part 1. Theoretical background on CMC and literacy Chapter 2. Literacy in the age of computer-mediated communication Chapter 3. Relations between written CMC and literacy: Prior research Part 2. Language use in Dutch youths' written CMC Part 2.1 Data collection Chapter 4. Collecting Facebook posts and WhatsApp chats: Corpus compilation of private social media messages -with W. Stoop Part 2.2 Data analysis Chapter 5. Out-of-the-ordinary orthography: The use of textisms in Dutch youngsters' written computer-mediated communication Chapter 6. Orthographic principles in computer-mediated communication: The SUPER-functions of textisms and their interaction with age and medium Chapter 7. WhatsApp with social media slang? Youth language use in Dutch written computer-mediated communication Part 3. Relations between Dutch youths' written CMC and school writing Chapter 8. Linguistic characteristics of Dutch computer-mediated communication: CMC and school writing compared Chapter 9. Relationships between Dutch youths' social media use and school writing -with W. Spooren and A. van Kemenade Chapter 10. The impact of WhatsApp on Dutch youths' school writing skills -with W. Spooren Chapter 11. Conclusion References Appendices First of all, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisors Wilbert Spooren and Ans van Kemenade, without whose expert advice, patience, and guidance I would not have been able to complete this thesis, and who co-authored (a) paper(s) included in this dissertation. Many thanks are extended to fellow PhDs Alan Moss and Laura Hahn, who were the greatest office mates in room E6.23 of the Erasmus tower. Alan was always there to cheer me up with a silly joke or a delicious home-made pastry when my spirits were low, and Laura's two PhD babies made me realize there is more to life than writing a thesis. I would also like to thank the other PhDs from the Dutch department, specifically Paul Hulsenboom, Nadine de Rue, and Marten van der Meulen, and later also Fons Meijer and Adriaan Duiveman, for the fun times we had at pub quizzes and drinks at the CultuurCafé. 'Letterbekjes' ftw! I am grateful to computer wiz Wessel Stoop for his help with the collection of my social media data; without his computational linguistic skills, I would not have been able to collect the WhatsApp chats that provided such a valuable addition to my corpus studies, and the Facebook posts that I can use in future research. My thanks go out to other wonderful colleagues of the Department of Dutch Language and Culture, the Centre for Language Studies, and the Graduate School for the Humanities at Radboud University; former colleagues of Communication and Information Sciences at Tilburg University, in the last year of writing up my thesis; and my current colleagues of Communication and Information Studies at Radboud University, during the very final months of finishing this book. I wish to acknowledge the assistance provided by my student assistants Iris Hofstra, Anne Janssen, Iris Monster, and Nicky Riemens. They helped me double code part of my corpus, input the survey data, type out the 400 (!) hand-written essays and 500 (!!) hand-written stories produced by the participants of my correlational and experimental studies, and create the website for my WhatsApp data collection. Also greatly appreciated were my bachelor thesis students in Nijmegen (Anke de Bruijn, Lianne Görtz, Geke Kloosterziel, Nicky Riemens, Fabiënne Stoffels, and Melchior Twal) and Tilburg (Arianne van Helden, Tess van der Laan, and Alyssa Rosenau), who got inspired by my passion for 'WhatsApp language' and conducted invaluable pilot experiments and follow-up analyses for me. A big thanks once again to the youths who voluntarily donated their social media messages to my corpus, as well as to the 900 students and their teachers of Canisius College, Dominicus College, Karel de Grote College, ROC Nijmegen, and Radboud University for their participation -particularly to those students in the control groups who at first had no clue how colouring mandalas could possibly be part of a scientific study. My gratitude also goes out to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), for providing the financial support for my PhD project, including for the many conferences I visited, which helped me become an independent, internationally oriented researcher. 8 Is Textese a Threat to Traditional Literacy ? Chapter 1: Introduction 17 Chapter 11, finally, presents the general discussion, including an overview of the main findings, implications of the results, limitations of the studies presented in this thesis, suggestions for further research, and my current conclusion on the effects of informal written CMC on Dutch youths' school writings. Since CMC has become part and parcel of youths' communicative practices, the socalled "Gr8 Db8" has arisen: people have conflicting opinions on the possible effects of CMC on traditional literacy . As mentioned above, many adults fear that CMC is detrimental to youths' writing skills, or even to (the Dutch) language in general. For example, they believe that too much exposure to non-standard forms in CMC may come to replace the standard representation of words in youths' mental lexicons -or, simply put, may cause them to forget the standard spelling or grammar. Such concerns have been openly expressed in the media , as exemplified in newspaper headlines such as "Techspeak Ruining Kids' Grammar" (Mlot, 2013) and "Help, My Child Writes in Textese" ("Help, mijn kind schrijft in digi-taal," . On the other hand, there are also some linguists who point out the possible language benefits of CMC, such as creativity and playfulness with written language, more motivation to read and write, increased exposure to written texts, and even a greater awareness of letter-sound correspondences in language -the latter due to abbreviations based on sounds, e.g. strax < straks ('later'), suc6 < success ('success') (
Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction Part 1. Theoretical background on CMC and literacy Chapt... more Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction Part 1. Theoretical background on CMC and literacy Chapter 2. Literacy in the age of computer-mediated communication Chapter 3. Relations between written CMC and literacy: Prior research Part 2. Language use in Dutch youths' written CMC Part 2.1 Data collection Chapter 4. Collecting Facebook posts and WhatsApp chats: Corpus compilation of private social media messages -with W. Stoop Part 2.2 Data analysis Chapter 5. Out-of-the-ordinary orthography: The use of textisms in Dutch youngsters' written computer-mediated communication Chapter 6. Orthographic principles in computer-mediated communication: The SUPER-functions of textisms and their interaction with age and medium Chapter 7. WhatsApp with social media slang? Youth language use in Dutch written computer-mediated communication Part 3. Relations between Dutch youths' written CMC and school writing Chapter 8. Linguistic characteristics of Dutch computer-mediated communication: CMC and school writing compared Chapter 9. Relationships between Dutch youths' social media use and school writing -with W. Spooren and A. van Kemenade Chapter 10. The impact of WhatsApp on Dutch youths' school writing skills -with W. Spooren Chapter 11. Conclusion References Appendices First of all, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisors Wilbert Spooren and Ans van Kemenade, without whose expert advice, patience, and guidance I would not have been able to complete this thesis, and who co-authored (a) paper(s) included in this dissertation. Many thanks are extended to fellow PhDs Alan Moss and Laura Hahn, who were the greatest office mates in room E6.23 of the Erasmus tower. Alan was always there to cheer me up with a silly joke or a delicious home-made pastry when my spirits were low, and Laura's two PhD babies made me realize there is more to life than writing a thesis. I would also like to thank the other PhDs from the Dutch department, specifically Paul Hulsenboom, Nadine de Rue, and Marten van der Meulen, and later also Fons Meijer and Adriaan Duiveman, for the fun times we had at pub quizzes and drinks at the CultuurCafé. 'Letterbekjes' ftw! I am grateful to computer wiz Wessel Stoop for his help with the collection of my social media data; without his computational linguistic skills, I would not have been able to collect the WhatsApp chats that provided such a valuable addition to my corpus studies, and the Facebook posts that I can use in future research. My thanks go out to other wonderful colleagues of the Department of Dutch Language and Culture, the Centre for Language Studies, and the Graduate School for the Humanities at Radboud University; former colleagues of Communication and Information Sciences at Tilburg University, in the last year of writing up my thesis; and my current colleagues of Communication and Information Studies at Radboud University, during the very final months of finishing this book. I wish to acknowledge the assistance provided by my student assistants Iris Hofstra, Anne Janssen, Iris Monster, and Nicky Riemens. They helped me double code part of my corpus, input the survey data, type out the 400 (!) hand-written essays and 500 (!!) hand-written stories produced by the participants of my correlational and experimental studies, and create the website for my WhatsApp data collection. Also greatly appreciated were my bachelor thesis students in Nijmegen (Anke de Bruijn, Lianne Görtz, Geke Kloosterziel, Nicky Riemens, Fabiënne Stoffels, and Melchior Twal) and Tilburg (Arianne van Helden, Tess van der Laan, and Alyssa Rosenau), who got inspired by my passion for 'WhatsApp language' and conducted invaluable pilot experiments and follow-up analyses for me. A big thanks once again to the youths who voluntarily donated their social media messages to my corpus, as well as to the 900 students and their teachers of Canisius College, Dominicus College, Karel de Grote College, ROC Nijmegen, and Radboud University for their participation -particularly to those students in the control groups who at first had no clue how colouring mandalas could possibly be part of a scientific study. My gratitude also goes out to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), for providing the financial support for my PhD project, including for the many conferences I visited, which helped me become an independent, internationally oriented researcher.
De macht van nieuwe media. Hoe Nederlandse jongeren communiceren in sms’jes, chats en tweets
Leuven/Den Haag : Acco eBooks, 2016
Communicatie via nieuwe media, oftewel computer-mediated communication (CMC), is alomtegen-woordi... more Communicatie via nieuwe media, oftewel computer-mediated communication (CMC), is alomtegen-woordig. De digi-taal die jongeren in nieuwe media gebruiken, wijkt vaak af van de 'officiële' spelling -en grammaticaregels. Door veel ouders en leraren wordt digi-taal in een kwaad daglicht gesteld, omdat zij het Standaardnederlands als strikte norm hanteren. Onder de jeugd geniet ze echter juist status en wordt ze beschouwd als speels, informeel en cool. Er is dus een interessant machtsconflict tussen het overt prestige van de standaardtaal en het covert prestige van digi-taal onder jongeren. Om vast te stellen hoe de digi-taal van de Nederlandse jeugd precies verschilt van het Standaardne-derlands heb ik een uitgebreide registeranalyse uitgevoerd van zo'n 200.000 woorden aan digitale teksten: sms'jes, MSN-chats en microblogs (tweets). Dit corpusonderzoek richt zich op allerlei taal-kundige kenmerken van drie schrijfdimensies: orthografie, syntaxis en woordgebruik. De resultaten bieden linguïstische profielen van de taal van drie nieuwe mediagenres en twee leeftijdsgroepen.
Computer-mediated communication has become essential in many youths' lives. Because language in C... more Computer-mediated communication has become essential in many youths' lives. Because language in CMC frequently deviates from standard language norms, it is feared to harm youngsters' traditional literacy skills. To determine if and, if so, how social media affect their writing skills, we first need to establish how CMC actually differs from the standard language. This paper presents findings of a study comparing CMC texts and school essays by youths from the Netherlands. Linguistic analyses were done with T-Scan, software specifically designed for Dutch texts. A range of lexical measures (lexical diversity, 'special' words, lexical density, ellipses) and syntactic measures (dependency lengths, subordinate clauses, sentence length, D-level) were studied. Results reveal that in comparison to their school writings, Dutch youths' computer-mediated communication is syntactically less complex, contains more omissions, and is lexically more diverse, different, and dense. These youths thus employ different registers in the writing contexts of CMC and school.
Dutch journal of applied linguistics, Aug 17, 2015
Because quotation is a fundamental aspect of academic texts, this corpus study examines the langu... more Because quotation is a fundamental aspect of academic texts, this corpus study examines the language of quoting in (L2) academic writing. To find out whether there are subtle linguistic differences in the use of quotation by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and professional academics who are native speakers of English (NSE), I compare two corpora of scholarly writings: one by upper intermediate and advanced EFL students and one by NSE experts. 1201 Quotes were extracted from the writings and examined for a broad range of lexico-grammatical features relevant to using quotes, including introductions to quotes, lexical items in introducing quotes, 'special' quotes, and punctuation surrounding quotes. The findings make clear that EFL students and NSE experts differ significantly on various points in their language of quoting. Making students aware of these differences could make their academic writing more professional, native-like, and sophisticated.
This paper examines whether use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and non-standard informa... more This paper examines whether use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and non-standard informal written language therein harms youths' literacy skills. An experiment was conducted with 500 Dutch youths of different educational levels and age groups to assess if social media use affects their school writings. It was measured if chatting via WhatsApp directly impacts youths' performance on a narrative writing task, in terms of writing quality and spelling, or their ability to detect and correct deviations from the standard language in a grammaticality judgement task. WhatsApp use had a direct effect on the story writing task, but only on participants' spelling: adolescents who were primed with WhatsApp immediately beforehand produced significantly fewer misspellings in their narratives. The present study thus gives no cause for concern about negative transfer from social media to school writing: if anything, CMC use may provide youths with greater orthographic awareness and positively affect their spelling performance.
Journal of Writing Research, May 1, 2021
This paper examines whether use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and non-standard informa... more This paper examines whether use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and non-standard informal written language therein harms youths' literacy skills. An experiment was conducted with 500 Dutch youths of different educational levels and age groups to assess if social media use affects their school writings. It was measured if chatting via WhatsApp directly impacts youths' performance on a narrative writing task, in terms of writing quality and spelling, or their ability to detect and correct deviations from the standard language in a grammaticality judgement task. WhatsApp use had a direct effect on the story writing task, but only on participants' spelling: adolescents who were primed with WhatsApp immediately beforehand produced significantly fewer misspellings in their narratives. The present study thus gives no cause for concern about negative transfer from social media to school writing: if anything, CMC use may provide youths with greater orthographic awareness and positively affect their spelling performance.
Dutch journal of applied linguistics, May 6, 2013
Although texts produced by (very) advanced Dutch learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) ... more Although texts produced by (very) advanced Dutch learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) may be perfectly grammatical, they often feel distinctly non-native. Dutch, as a verb-second language, makes separate positions available for discourse linking and aboutness-topics. Although the English sentences of these advanced learners conform to the Subject-Verb-Object order of English, the pre-subject adverbial position in English is made to perform the information-structural function of the verb-second discourse-linking position, producing texts that are perceived as non-native, without being ungrammatical. A side-effect of this L1 interference is the underuse of special focusing constructions in English, like the stressed-focus it-cleft. This paper investigates the progress of Dutch writers towards a more native-like use of the pre-subject position and the it-cleft in a longitudinal corpus of 137 writings of Dutch university students of English. We conclude that information-structural differences present the final hurdle for advanced Dutch EFL writers.
Manifold code-mixing in computer-mediated communication: The use of English in Dutch youths’ informal online writing
Ampersand
Contains fulltext : 235914.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access)4 p
Is Textese a Threat to Traditional Literacy
Help, mijn kind schrijft digi-taal
Investigating Computer-Mediated Communication
Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Aug 19, 2018
Collecting Facebook posts and WhatsApp chats. Corpus compilation of private social media messages
Text, Speech and Dialogue, 2016
This paper describes the compilation of a social media corpus with Facebook posts and WhatsApp ch... more This paper describes the compilation of a social media corpus with Facebook posts and WhatsApp chats. Authentic messages were voluntarily donated by Dutch youths between 12 and 23 years old. Social media nowadays constitute a fundamental part of youths’ private lives, constantly connecting them to friends and family via computer-mediated communication (CMC). The social networking site Facebook and mobile phone chat application WhatsApp are currently quite popular in the Netherlands. Several relevant issues concerning corpus compilation are discussed, including website creation, promotion, metadata collection, and intellectual property rights/ethical approval. The application that was created for scraping Facebook posts from users’ timelines, of course with their consent, can serve as an example for future data collection. The Facebook and WhatsApp messages are collected for a sociolinguistic study into Dutch youths’ written CMC, of which a preliminary analysis is presented, but also present a valuable data source for further research.
Recent decades have seen an explosive growth in computer-mediated communication (CMC). Since the ... more Recent decades have seen an explosive growth in computer-mediated communication (CMC). Since the language used in CMC can deviate from standard language conventions, concerns have been expressed that CMC may degrade youths' reading, writing, or spelling skills. However, before studying the possible impact of CMC on traditional literacy, the ways in which 'CMC language' differs from the standard language need to be established. This article discusses the first findings of an ongoing large-scale corpus study examining the register of written CMC of Dutch youngsters between the ages of twelve and twenty-three, revealing how their CMC language differs from Standard Dutch in various dimensions of writing. The focus here is on a salient orthographic feature, namely the use of textisms (unconventional spellings). A range of CMC modes was investigated, including instant messages, text messages, and microblogs. It is shown that the extent to which CMC users deviate orthographically from the standard language and the degree to which they use particular textism types depends both on CMC mode and on individual user characteristics such as age.
Written Language and Literacy, Nov 2, 2018
Social Media zijn niet meer weg te denken uit het media landschap en staan volop in de belangstel... more Social Media zijn niet meer weg te denken uit het media landschap en staan volop in de belangstelling. Maar welke platformen worden op dit moment gebruikt? En met welke frequentie? Wat zijn de stijgers en dalers? Newcom voert al sinds 2010 het grootste onderzoek van Nederland uit naar het gebruik van Social Media. Dit grootschalige landelijk onderzoek is in 2018 voor het achtste jaar op rij gehouden, met opnieuw een indrukwekkende respons (n=6.783).
Collecting Facebook Posts and WhatsApp Chats
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2016
This paper describes the compilation of a social media corpus with Facebook posts and WhatsApp ch... more This paper describes the compilation of a social media corpus with Facebook posts and WhatsApp chats. Authentic messages were voluntarily donated by Dutch youths between 12 and 23 years old. Social media nowadays constitute a fundamental part of youths’ private lives, constantly connecting them to friends and family via computer-mediated communication (CMC). The social networking site Facebook and mobile phone chat application WhatsApp are currently quite popular in the Netherlands. Several relevant issues concerning corpus compilation are discussed, including website creation, promotion, metadata collection, and intellectual property rights/ethical approval. The application that was created for scraping Facebook posts from users’ timelines, of course with their consent, can serve as an example for future data collection. The Facebook and WhatsApp messages are collected for a sociolinguistic study into Dutch youths’ written CMC, of which a preliminary analysis is presented, but also present a valuable data source for further research.
The Effects of Text Messaging and Instant Messaging on Literacy
English Studies, Aug 1, 2013
ABSTRACT This article reviews empirical studies published in the last decade on the effects of te... more ABSTRACT This article reviews empirical studies published in the last decade on the effects of text messaging and instant messaging on literacy to determine whether they positively or negatively affect literacy. Although the majority of studies found a positive correlation between texting and/or instant messaging and literacy, others found a negative correlation, while still others report conflicting findings or no significant correlation at all. The studies reveal that literacy scores may correlate differently with frequency of texting, use of textese/textisms and knowledge of textisms; that there may be different correlations for reading, writing and spelling; and that the correlations may differ for formal and informal writing. The mixed results could also be caused by differences in the designs and populations of the studies. In addition, the correlational analyses conducted in most of the studies do not warrant conclusions about causality. All this suggests that there is a need for further research, preferably longitudinal studies with experimental intervention, on the relationship between text messaging or instant messaging and literacy.
Table of Contents Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction Part 1. Theoretical background on CMC ... more Table of Contents Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction Part 1. Theoretical background on CMC and literacy Chapter 2. Literacy in the age of computer-mediated communication Chapter 3. Relations between written CMC and literacy: Prior research Part 2. Language use in Dutch youths' written CMC Part 2.1 Data collection Chapter 4. Collecting Facebook posts and WhatsApp chats: Corpus compilation of private social media messages -with W. Stoop Part 2.2 Data analysis Chapter 5. Out-of-the-ordinary orthography: The use of textisms in Dutch youngsters' written computer-mediated communication Chapter 6. Orthographic principles in computer-mediated communication: The SUPER-functions of textisms and their interaction with age and medium Chapter 7. WhatsApp with social media slang? Youth language use in Dutch written computer-mediated communication Part 3. Relations between Dutch youths' written CMC and school writing Chapter 8. Linguistic characteristics of Dutch computer-mediated communication: CMC and school writing compared Chapter 9. Relationships between Dutch youths' social media use and school writing -with W. Spooren and A. van Kemenade Chapter 10. The impact of WhatsApp on Dutch youths' school writing skills -with W. Spooren Chapter 11. Conclusion References Appendices First of all, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisors Wilbert Spooren and Ans van Kemenade, without whose expert advice, patience, and guidance I would not have been able to complete this thesis, and who co-authored (a) paper(s) included in this dissertation. Many thanks are extended to fellow PhDs Alan Moss and Laura Hahn, who were the greatest office mates in room E6.23 of the Erasmus tower. Alan was always there to cheer me up with a silly joke or a delicious home-made pastry when my spirits were low, and Laura's two PhD babies made me realize there is more to life than writing a thesis. I would also like to thank the other PhDs from the Dutch department, specifically Paul Hulsenboom, Nadine de Rue, and Marten van der Meulen, and later also Fons Meijer and Adriaan Duiveman, for the fun times we had at pub quizzes and drinks at the CultuurCafé. 'Letterbekjes' ftw! I am grateful to computer wiz Wessel Stoop for his help with the collection of my social media data; without his computational linguistic skills, I would not have been able to collect the WhatsApp chats that provided such a valuable addition to my corpus studies, and the Facebook posts that I can use in future research. My thanks go out to other wonderful colleagues of the Department of Dutch Language and Culture, the Centre for Language Studies, and the Graduate School for the Humanities at Radboud University; former colleagues of Communication and Information Sciences at Tilburg University, in the last year of writing up my thesis; and my current colleagues of Communication and Information Studies at Radboud University, during the very final months of finishing this book. I wish to acknowledge the assistance provided by my student assistants Iris Hofstra, Anne Janssen, Iris Monster, and Nicky Riemens. They helped me double code part of my corpus, input the survey data, type out the 400 (!) hand-written essays and 500 (!!) hand-written stories produced by the participants of my correlational and experimental studies, and create the website for my WhatsApp data collection. Also greatly appreciated were my bachelor thesis students in Nijmegen (Anke de Bruijn, Lianne Görtz, Geke Kloosterziel, Nicky Riemens, Fabiënne Stoffels, and Melchior Twal) and Tilburg (Arianne van Helden, Tess van der Laan, and Alyssa Rosenau), who got inspired by my passion for 'WhatsApp language' and conducted invaluable pilot experiments and follow-up analyses for me. A big thanks once again to the youths who voluntarily donated their social media messages to my corpus, as well as to the 900 students and their teachers of Canisius College, Dominicus College, Karel de Grote College, ROC Nijmegen, and Radboud University for their participation -particularly to those students in the control groups who at first had no clue how colouring mandalas could possibly be part of a scientific study. My gratitude also goes out to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), for providing the financial support for my PhD project, including for the many conferences I visited, which helped me become an independent, internationally oriented researcher. 8 Is Textese a Threat to Traditional Literacy ? Chapter 1: Introduction 17 Chapter 11, finally, presents the general discussion, including an overview of the main findings, implications of the results, limitations of the studies presented in this thesis, suggestions for further research, and my current conclusion on the effects of informal written CMC on Dutch youths' school writings. Since CMC has become part and parcel of youths' communicative practices, the socalled "Gr8 Db8" has arisen: people have conflicting opinions on the possible effects of CMC on traditional literacy . As mentioned above, many adults fear that CMC is detrimental to youths' writing skills, or even to (the Dutch) language in general. For example, they believe that too much exposure to non-standard forms in CMC may come to replace the standard representation of words in youths' mental lexicons -or, simply put, may cause them to forget the standard spelling or grammar. Such concerns have been openly expressed in the media , as exemplified in newspaper headlines such as "Techspeak Ruining Kids' Grammar" (Mlot, 2013) and "Help, My Child Writes in Textese" ("Help, mijn kind schrijft in digi-taal," . On the other hand, there are also some linguists who point out the possible language benefits of CMC, such as creativity and playfulness with written language, more motivation to read and write, increased exposure to written texts, and even a greater awareness of letter-sound correspondences in language -the latter due to abbreviations based on sounds, e.g. strax < straks ('later'), suc6 < success ('success') (
Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction Part 1. Theoretical background on CMC and literacy Chapt... more Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction Part 1. Theoretical background on CMC and literacy Chapter 2. Literacy in the age of computer-mediated communication Chapter 3. Relations between written CMC and literacy: Prior research Part 2. Language use in Dutch youths' written CMC Part 2.1 Data collection Chapter 4. Collecting Facebook posts and WhatsApp chats: Corpus compilation of private social media messages -with W. Stoop Part 2.2 Data analysis Chapter 5. Out-of-the-ordinary orthography: The use of textisms in Dutch youngsters' written computer-mediated communication Chapter 6. Orthographic principles in computer-mediated communication: The SUPER-functions of textisms and their interaction with age and medium Chapter 7. WhatsApp with social media slang? Youth language use in Dutch written computer-mediated communication Part 3. Relations between Dutch youths' written CMC and school writing Chapter 8. Linguistic characteristics of Dutch computer-mediated communication: CMC and school writing compared Chapter 9. Relationships between Dutch youths' social media use and school writing -with W. Spooren and A. van Kemenade Chapter 10. The impact of WhatsApp on Dutch youths' school writing skills -with W. Spooren Chapter 11. Conclusion References Appendices First of all, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisors Wilbert Spooren and Ans van Kemenade, without whose expert advice, patience, and guidance I would not have been able to complete this thesis, and who co-authored (a) paper(s) included in this dissertation. Many thanks are extended to fellow PhDs Alan Moss and Laura Hahn, who were the greatest office mates in room E6.23 of the Erasmus tower. Alan was always there to cheer me up with a silly joke or a delicious home-made pastry when my spirits were low, and Laura's two PhD babies made me realize there is more to life than writing a thesis. I would also like to thank the other PhDs from the Dutch department, specifically Paul Hulsenboom, Nadine de Rue, and Marten van der Meulen, and later also Fons Meijer and Adriaan Duiveman, for the fun times we had at pub quizzes and drinks at the CultuurCafé. 'Letterbekjes' ftw! I am grateful to computer wiz Wessel Stoop for his help with the collection of my social media data; without his computational linguistic skills, I would not have been able to collect the WhatsApp chats that provided such a valuable addition to my corpus studies, and the Facebook posts that I can use in future research. My thanks go out to other wonderful colleagues of the Department of Dutch Language and Culture, the Centre for Language Studies, and the Graduate School for the Humanities at Radboud University; former colleagues of Communication and Information Sciences at Tilburg University, in the last year of writing up my thesis; and my current colleagues of Communication and Information Studies at Radboud University, during the very final months of finishing this book. I wish to acknowledge the assistance provided by my student assistants Iris Hofstra, Anne Janssen, Iris Monster, and Nicky Riemens. They helped me double code part of my corpus, input the survey data, type out the 400 (!) hand-written essays and 500 (!!) hand-written stories produced by the participants of my correlational and experimental studies, and create the website for my WhatsApp data collection. Also greatly appreciated were my bachelor thesis students in Nijmegen (Anke de Bruijn, Lianne Görtz, Geke Kloosterziel, Nicky Riemens, Fabiënne Stoffels, and Melchior Twal) and Tilburg (Arianne van Helden, Tess van der Laan, and Alyssa Rosenau), who got inspired by my passion for 'WhatsApp language' and conducted invaluable pilot experiments and follow-up analyses for me. A big thanks once again to the youths who voluntarily donated their social media messages to my corpus, as well as to the 900 students and their teachers of Canisius College, Dominicus College, Karel de Grote College, ROC Nijmegen, and Radboud University for their participation -particularly to those students in the control groups who at first had no clue how colouring mandalas could possibly be part of a scientific study. My gratitude also goes out to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), for providing the financial support for my PhD project, including for the many conferences I visited, which helped me become an independent, internationally oriented researcher.
De macht van nieuwe media. Hoe Nederlandse jongeren communiceren in sms’jes, chats en tweets
Leuven/Den Haag : Acco eBooks, 2016
Communicatie via nieuwe media, oftewel computer-mediated communication (CMC), is alomtegen-woordi... more Communicatie via nieuwe media, oftewel computer-mediated communication (CMC), is alomtegen-woordig. De digi-taal die jongeren in nieuwe media gebruiken, wijkt vaak af van de 'officiële' spelling -en grammaticaregels. Door veel ouders en leraren wordt digi-taal in een kwaad daglicht gesteld, omdat zij het Standaardnederlands als strikte norm hanteren. Onder de jeugd geniet ze echter juist status en wordt ze beschouwd als speels, informeel en cool. Er is dus een interessant machtsconflict tussen het overt prestige van de standaardtaal en het covert prestige van digi-taal onder jongeren. Om vast te stellen hoe de digi-taal van de Nederlandse jeugd precies verschilt van het Standaardne-derlands heb ik een uitgebreide registeranalyse uitgevoerd van zo'n 200.000 woorden aan digitale teksten: sms'jes, MSN-chats en microblogs (tweets). Dit corpusonderzoek richt zich op allerlei taal-kundige kenmerken van drie schrijfdimensies: orthografie, syntaxis en woordgebruik. De resultaten bieden linguïstische profielen van de taal van drie nieuwe mediagenres en twee leeftijdsgroepen.
Computer-mediated communication has become essential in many youths' lives. Because language in C... more Computer-mediated communication has become essential in many youths' lives. Because language in CMC frequently deviates from standard language norms, it is feared to harm youngsters' traditional literacy skills. To determine if and, if so, how social media affect their writing skills, we first need to establish how CMC actually differs from the standard language. This paper presents findings of a study comparing CMC texts and school essays by youths from the Netherlands. Linguistic analyses were done with T-Scan, software specifically designed for Dutch texts. A range of lexical measures (lexical diversity, 'special' words, lexical density, ellipses) and syntactic measures (dependency lengths, subordinate clauses, sentence length, D-level) were studied. Results reveal that in comparison to their school writings, Dutch youths' computer-mediated communication is syntactically less complex, contains more omissions, and is lexically more diverse, different, and dense. These youths thus employ different registers in the writing contexts of CMC and school.
Dutch journal of applied linguistics, Aug 17, 2015
Because quotation is a fundamental aspect of academic texts, this corpus study examines the langu... more Because quotation is a fundamental aspect of academic texts, this corpus study examines the language of quoting in (L2) academic writing. To find out whether there are subtle linguistic differences in the use of quotation by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and professional academics who are native speakers of English (NSE), I compare two corpora of scholarly writings: one by upper intermediate and advanced EFL students and one by NSE experts. 1201 Quotes were extracted from the writings and examined for a broad range of lexico-grammatical features relevant to using quotes, including introductions to quotes, lexical items in introducing quotes, 'special' quotes, and punctuation surrounding quotes. The findings make clear that EFL students and NSE experts differ significantly on various points in their language of quoting. Making students aware of these differences could make their academic writing more professional, native-like, and sophisticated.
This paper examines whether use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and non-standard informa... more This paper examines whether use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and non-standard informal written language therein harms youths' literacy skills. An experiment was conducted with 500 Dutch youths of different educational levels and age groups to assess if social media use affects their school writings. It was measured if chatting via WhatsApp directly impacts youths' performance on a narrative writing task, in terms of writing quality and spelling, or their ability to detect and correct deviations from the standard language in a grammaticality judgement task. WhatsApp use had a direct effect on the story writing task, but only on participants' spelling: adolescents who were primed with WhatsApp immediately beforehand produced significantly fewer misspellings in their narratives. The present study thus gives no cause for concern about negative transfer from social media to school writing: if anything, CMC use may provide youths with greater orthographic awareness and positively affect their spelling performance.
Journal of Writing Research, May 1, 2021
This paper examines whether use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and non-standard informa... more This paper examines whether use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and non-standard informal written language therein harms youths' literacy skills. An experiment was conducted with 500 Dutch youths of different educational levels and age groups to assess if social media use affects their school writings. It was measured if chatting via WhatsApp directly impacts youths' performance on a narrative writing task, in terms of writing quality and spelling, or their ability to detect and correct deviations from the standard language in a grammaticality judgement task. WhatsApp use had a direct effect on the story writing task, but only on participants' spelling: adolescents who were primed with WhatsApp immediately beforehand produced significantly fewer misspellings in their narratives. The present study thus gives no cause for concern about negative transfer from social media to school writing: if anything, CMC use may provide youths with greater orthographic awareness and positively affect their spelling performance.
Dutch journal of applied linguistics, May 6, 2013
Although texts produced by (very) advanced Dutch learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) ... more Although texts produced by (very) advanced Dutch learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) may be perfectly grammatical, they often feel distinctly non-native. Dutch, as a verb-second language, makes separate positions available for discourse linking and aboutness-topics. Although the English sentences of these advanced learners conform to the Subject-Verb-Object order of English, the pre-subject adverbial position in English is made to perform the information-structural function of the verb-second discourse-linking position, producing texts that are perceived as non-native, without being ungrammatical. A side-effect of this L1 interference is the underuse of special focusing constructions in English, like the stressed-focus it-cleft. This paper investigates the progress of Dutch writers towards a more native-like use of the pre-subject position and the it-cleft in a longitudinal corpus of 137 writings of Dutch university students of English. We conclude that information-structural differences present the final hurdle for advanced Dutch EFL writers.
Manifold code-mixing in computer-mediated communication: The use of English in Dutch youths’ informal online writing
Ampersand
Contains fulltext : 235914.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access)4 p
Is Textese a Threat to Traditional Literacy
Help, mijn kind schrijft digi-taal
Investigating Computer-Mediated Communication
Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Aug 19, 2018