How Texting wreck our language (original) (raw)

The Impact of Texting on Standard English: The Students’ Perspective

Arab World English Journal, 2019

Overindulgence in social networking, in general, and texting, in particular, is much in practice. It is cutting across various population boundaries and has almost assumed an endemic proportion. Its consequential impact on the standard language has acquired greater importance. This paper aims to determine the perceptions and attitudes of English Second Language (ESL) learners at Aligarh Muslim University towards the consequences of texting on Standard English. The data were collected through a five-point scale questionnaire from ninety students who were enrolled at Aligarh Muslim University during the academic year 2010-2011. The respondents completed a 16-item questionnaire. The students from which the data were collected were grouped according to their levels. The results indicate the negative impact of this new usage of the language in breaking the rules of English language and influencing their literacy. Moreover, the questionnaire results from respondents' point of view show that regardless of their heavy use of texting, most respondents have a negative attitude towards texting and they viewed it as a threat to Standard English.

Impact of SMS on English Language

Slang use were determined, as well as the features of SMS language they reportedly use while SMSing, speaking and Internet Usage. In addition, samples of their English essays were examined for the following features of: (deliberate) spelling errors; lack of punctuation; over-punctuation; omission of function words; and use of abbreviation, acronyms, emoticons and rebus writing. The questionnaires indicated that these learners are avid users of the SMS and Internet. All participants reported using features of SMS speak in their SMSes, and more than 40% reported using SMS speak in their academic writing. Despite this, features of SMS speak infrequently occurred in the written work of the learners, which could indicate that the learners are able to assess when it is and is not appropriate to use a certain variety of language. That said, a number of SMS speak features were indeed present in the samples, which indicates that SMS speak had some impact on the written work of these learners. Not all of the nonstandard features of their written English could, however, necessarily be attributed to the influence of SMS language; specifically some of the spelling and punctuation errors could have occurred in the academic writing of students from before the advent of cell phones.

A Study on Text Messaging Affects Teen Literacy and Language

Cell phones have become one of the necessities in today " s modern life style for every teenager and adults. We can " t even think of to stay away with it for few hours. Human beings are growing at increasing rate with these devices. People are depending on cell phones for accomplishing their day to day activities related to their professional and personal lives. Nowadays, we are taking advantage of cell phones for sending text messages to our colleagues as well as friends at very rapid speed. Wherever you go, you may find that people around you, are always engaged with their cell phones screens, either they are sending messages or receiving it. For example, schools, colleges, malls, and cars, sidewalks, streets, we usually see them as head down and fingers glued to phones keyboard or touch screen and doing something. Sometimes, we may be one of those people. Basically, our motto to do this research is to find out the positive and negative aspects of text messaging on teenagers and whether it affects the literacy. The research is based on primary data.

Texting Behavior and Language Skills in Children and Adults

John Wiley & Sons, Ltd eBooks, 2015

This document is the author's post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.

he Impact of Technology upon Formal Communication: Texting Impacting the Standard English

Journal of Business & Tourism, 2021

With the invention of mobile phones text messaging has become a popular medium of communication. Its users are multiplying with every passing day. Its use is not only limited to informal but to formal communication as well. Students are the advent users of mobile phones and of SMS as well. The present study manifests the fact that students are practicing SMS for a number of reasons and a good amount of time is spent upon it which is resulting in typographical features, graphones and rebus writing. Data is collected through questionnaires and came to the conclusion that its effect is obvious in the L2 users in general and examinations in particular.

Texting and It's Implication on English Grammar Skill

Psychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2024

In sending text messages on mobile phones, students often use a special type of register, called textese. This register allows the omission of words. It is possible that a student’s grammar system is influenced by textese as well as grammar rules which are often transgressed in this register. This paper aimed to find out the implication of texting on the English grammar skills of grade 7 students. Specifically, the study sought to answer the problems of how the respondents were characterized in terms of texting characteristics and its duration, their level of English grammar skills, and the significant relationship between their texting characteristics and their English Grammar as well as the significant relationship between their exposure to texting and their English Grammar skills level. The study employed a qualitative-quantitative research method. Respondents were asked to answer the English Grammar test composed of 6 parts; Sentence structure, Syntax, Spelling, Capitalization, Punctuation, and Abbreviation. In analyzing the data objectively, the statistical tools used included frequency and percentage, mean, and Pearson-product moment. Based on the respondents’ characteristics on text messaging, the grade 7 students spent about 1-6 hours a day, incurred occasional to frequent shortcut spellings, and tended to have 50% to 75% content use of English. Second, among the different competencies in English grammar, the results revealed Spelling as the highest while Sentence Structure was their weakest performance. Third, in the correlation analysis between exposure to text messaging in English in terms of duration of texting, frequency of shortcut words, extent of texting in English, and Level of English Grammar Skills, the three variables revealed negative low correlations. Hence, after an intensive analysis of the data, the study concluded that texting has negative implications on the English grammar skills of grade 7 students.

The Impact of Texting/SMS Language on Academic Writing of Students- What do we need to panic about?

2013

A B ST R A C T The growing concern about the profuse use of texting endangering the standard forms in language prompted the present research to determine the presence or absence of SMS features in the academic writing of the participants. Triangulation was used for data collection i.e. questionnaires for learners and educators and samples of the learners’ English written work were examined for SMS features. Suppliance in Obligatory Context was used for data recording. Simple average and ratio were used for descriptive analysis of the data. Contrary to the expectation, there were no significant evidences of these features in the sample. It seems being proficient in standard forms, these learners are context conscious and can switch to the appropriate register or style when writing formally .Thus the present study has de mystified the popular belief about texting adversely affecting writing and thus destroying Standard English. Moreover, the evidences of one punctuation mark used in p...

IMPLICATIONS OF TEXT MESSAGING ON STUDENTS' LANGUAGE SKILLS: THE CASE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUEA

This article examines the implications of SMS text messaging on the writing skills of students at the University of Buea. A survey was carried out on students' of level 500 with the aim of finding what they write in their messages and giving the samples and full forms. It identifies the kind of messages that students write and shows how different they are from the formal contracted forms that are known by writers and linguists. An analysis of the presented forms shows that they are very different from the regular contractions that are known in the English language. Students present what is understood by their readers and friends which is different from Standard English forms. Research carried out also shows that contrary to what many people think SMS texting is not all negative. The phenomenon of SMS texting has a positive side to it as many students today write more than ever before. The paper shows that there is much to achieve with its use than otherwise. This new school of thought is spearheaded by David and Baron (2008) who see more positive aspects to SMS text messaging than other linguists and some writers.

Investigating the Impact of SMS Speak on the Written

2016

This study examined the impact of SMS speak on the written work of English first language (L1) and English second language (L2) grade 8s and 11s. The aim was to establish whether these learners make use of features of SMS speak in their English written work. The participants, 88 learners from an English-Afrikaans dual medium school, completed questionnaires from which the frequency and volume of their SMS use were determined, as well as the features of SMS speak they reportedly use while SMSing. In addition, samples of their English essays were examined for the following features of SMS speak: (deliberate) spelling errors; lack of punctuation; over-punctuation; omission of function words; and use of abbreviation, acronyms, emoticons and rebus writing. The questionnaires indicated that these learners are avid users of the SMS. All participants reported using features of SMS speak in their SMSes, and more than 40% reported using SMS speak in their written school work. Despite this, features of SMS speak infrequently occurred in the written work of the learners, which could indicate that the learners are able to assess when it is and is not appropriate to use a certain variety of language. That said, a number of SMS speak features were indeed present in the samples, which indicates that SMS speak had some impact on the written work of these learners. Not all of the nonstandard features of their written English could, however, necessarily be attributed to the influence of SMS speak; specifically some of the spelling and punctuation errors could have occurred in the written English of high school learners from before the advent of cell phones.