Use of English Textism: A Study of the Impact of Text Messaging on the Academic Writing Abilities of University Students

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the ramifications of excessive text messaging on the written proficiency of students in their acquisition of a second language. It investigated whether WhatsApp and other text messaging portals had an influence on students’ written English. The popularity of Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) has given rise to the fabrication of more simplified language terms called “textisms”, which in turn have impacted their “textiquettes'. A reasonable number of language students from a private university were taken into consideration for conducting the study. The data was collected from each student in three forms: one in the form of students’ rough or during lecture note jotting; other their internal and summative assessments like quizzes and exam papers; third in their daily emails. This data was compared against another form of data that was actually the collection of text messages from each student. It provided the researcher with evidence of recurrent short forms and contractions used by the sample students during texting. The technique of content analysis was employed. The results indicated that text messaging impacted their language usage in informal situations. But when students were brought to their formal register, they did not deviate from the normal pattern of writing. Mistakes pertaining to spelling and punctuation were plethoric in both registers. It was also found that they generally got affected by automatic keyboard responses, which caused them to forget the actual spellings of words. The text messages assisted students in imparting knowledge and information concisely.