ArticlePDF Available

Different Language Usage on Social Media

Authors:
International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science
(IJAEMS)
ISSN: 2454-1311
Vol-7, Issue-3; Mar, 2021
Journal Home Page Available: https://ijaems.com/
Journal DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaems
Article DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaems.73.12
www.ijaems.com Page | 93
Different Language Usage on Social Media
Maria Angela S. Esteron
English Teacher, College of Education, Central Luzon State University, Philippines
Received: 14 Dec 2020; Received in revised form: 03 Feb 2021; Accepted: 21 Feb 2021; Available online: 28 Mar 2021
©2021 The Author(s). Published by Infogain Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Abstract The research presented the effects of Social Media on the formation of new words that are
being used by the Social Media users that often includes in the formal use of language in the academe. The
emergence of different Social Networking Sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Twitter, and E-mail have driven
a more advanced change in the way people communicate. The study aimed to assess how Social Media
affects the formal English Language used in the academe. The result of the study also highlighted how
often do Social Media users of the Central Luzon State University, College of Education use the proper
abbreviations, exclamatory spelling of emoticons, use letter homophones, acronyms, commit misspelled
words, use shortening of words, use numbers to represents words, and use combination of two different
language in their papers. The qualitative method of research used the survey technique and was utilized for
gathering data. The questionnaires serve as the instrument for collecting data. 50 students of the College
of Education, English Majors of the said university are the respondents.
Keywords academe, language, new words, social media, usage.
I. INTRODUCTION
A. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
English Language is said to be the universal
language and learning it, means having access to the
world, to other people, ideas, ways of thinking and
literature. It is the medium for teaching different subjects
in the academe and also a medium of knowledge in
transferring and sharing certain ideas and feelings. English
is one of the important way of communication used among
people in different field such as in business,
advertisements, engineering mechanics and so on and so
forth. That is why English language proficiency is now a
must in all aspects of everyday life for us to be able to
engage in the globalization.
Nowadays, people make use of the Social Media
that became the major form of communication wherein
language use has stuck in various areas especially in the
teaching and learning. The emergence of different Social
Networking Sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Twitter, e-
mail have driven a more refined revolution in the way
people communicate.
According to Simpson (2014), former chief editor
of the Oxford English Dictionary said that the words that
surround us every day influence the words we use. Since
so much of the written language we see is now on the
screens of our computers, tablets, and smartphones,
language now evolves partly through our interaction with
technology. And because the language we use to
communicate with each other tends to be more malleable
than formal writing, the combination of informal, personal
communication and the mass audience afforded by social
media is a recipe for rapid change.
The 21st century people has come wherein
technologies are emerging so fast, and it is affecting the
language tremendously. The number of SNSs users
especially among students and teenagers have increased
extremely over the years and created Internet slangs, new
word and symbols or old words having a new meaning
such as in Facebook; from unfriend to “selfie”, using
Emoticons, acronyms like “ATM” which means at the
moment, social media is clearly having an impact on
language. In the long run people may tend to bind with
Maria Angela S. Esteron International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 7(3)-2021
www.ijaems.com Page | 94
those words which can strengthen or weaken the student’s
English Language proficiency.
B. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
This research aims to answer the central question
“How Social Media Affects the Formal English Language
used in the Academe?”
What are the different Language Usage
commonly used to communicate through the
Social Networking Sites?
How do people in 21st century aware of the
evolution of language and formation of new
words brought by the modern technology?
How does frequent use of internet slang weaken
or develop the English language?
How often do Social Media Users use the proper
abbreviations, exclamatory spelling of emoticons,
use letter homophones, acronyms, commit
misspelled words, use shortening of words, use
numbers to represents words, and use
combination of two different language?
How the language of social media affects the
formal language used in the academe?
C. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study entitled “The Different Language
Usage in Social Media” aims to meet the following
objectives:
1. To determine the socio-demographic characteristics of
the respondents from the Fourth year- English Majors of
the College of Education, Central Luzon State University
including the age, and gender while residing at the
aforementioned school.
2. To determine the words that are usually used by the
SNS’s users.
3. To gain insights from the SNSs users on how often they
commit misspelled words or use more than one language
combined in conversations.
4. To distinguish how language used in Social media
affects the formal language use in the academe.
D. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The Researcher
The importance of this study to the researchers is
to determine the different language usage in Social
Networking Sites and how they use this informal language
that will affect the student’s attitude to grammar and how
they use the internet language in everyday life. This study
has a huge impact to the researchers as a translator in the
future to be aware on the new generated language used in
Social Networking Sites when they will encounter variety
of language that has need for translation.
The Students
This study aims to help the students to become
aware that misspelling, incorrect use of words and other
form of figurative language is not accepted when it comes
to formalities and the proper usage of English language.
However, students who are engaged in SNSs
communication, leading to the creation of new phrases and
words seems to be extremely worsening students’
vocabulary.
To the Academe
This study is very essential in the academe
because it gives awareness to teachers and students
regarding on their English Language proficiency. The
research may use by the academe in the awareness that
language now evolves partly through our interaction with
technology. Because the language we use to communicate
with each other is the combination of informal, personal
communication and the mass audience. In the long run
people may tend to bind with those words which can
lessen the English Language proficiency.
The Society
The communication styles thus become more
informal and more open, and this connects into other
aspects of life and culture as we reflect in society. This
study in pertains to society that different Language usage
in Social Networking Sites has an impact to those people
who use in making messages, posting different stories that
were placed due to the modernization of technology. Thus,
in a society the people will adapt with their writing and
speaking strategies as they apply in reality.
The Nation
The significance of this study in the nation will
apprehend the evolution of language and the formation of
different words that will create another standard or new
writing and communication skills due to common use of
abbreviations and unusual jargon, thereby damaging
students’ ability to employ formal literacy skills. English
language proficiency is a need to become globally
competent that will affect the growth of the economy of
the nation.
E. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION
This study entitled “The Different Language
Usage on Social Media” will focus only on the language
being created by the social media users and how it affects
the English Language. The data gathering will only limit to
the students of Central Luzon State University specifically
in College of Education and will meet 50 randomly
selected students who are avid user of Social Networking
Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and etc.
Maria Angela S. Esteron International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 7(3)-2021
www.ijaems.com Page | 95
II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
According to Thomson Wadsworth (2007) in the Article
entitled Social Media Violated English Language he stated
that, a language consists of symbols that convey meaning,
also has rules for combining those symbols that can be
used to create messages.
It means that language is a way of expressing
ideas and emotions through symbols, it can be in the form
of verbal or non- verbal consisting of the use of words in a
structure and conventional way. Perhaps, language is
dynamic, it can evolve or it can regress therefore language
cannot confine in a box because it will be stagnant and will
tend to die. Technology nowadays become one of the
reasons of the evolution of language.
Language is influenced by many factors such as
class, society, and developments in science and
technology. But the major influence on English language
is and has been the media. Language is influenced by
many factors such as class, society, developments in
science and technology etc. However the major influence
on English language is and has been the media stated by
Dr. Neha Sharma (2012) in her study entitled Impact of
Social Media on English Language: A Review.
The development and changes of language can be
the effect of some groups in the society that people
encountered in everyday life. This days the group of
LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender)
community especially the gay group has extreme influence
in the language, their “gay language” were adapted by
many people and become part of the vocabulary. Another
factor is the modernization, the bloom of different gadgets
and machineries can influence the language such as the use
of the Social Media as a way of communication.
As defined by Andreas Kaplan and Micheal
Haenlein(2010),in the book entitled Users of the World,
Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social media
said that Social Media allows the creation and exchange of
user- generated content because it is a group of internet-
based applications that build on the ideological and
technological foundations of Web 2.0.
Social Media has become one of the most
powerful sources for information and news updates
through platforms such as Facebook, Blogger, Twitter,
Word Press, LinkedIn, Google+ Tumblr, MySpace and
Instagram. On the other hand, from a linguistic point of
view, the impact of social media reflects on the new words
or expression like newsfeeds, viral, hashtag which do not
make sense few years ago but meant something completely
different than they do nowadays.
Perhaps, Schonfeld (2010) in an article entitled
Discourse of Twitter and Social Media, pointed out that
Social Networking Sites (SNS) are the most commonly
used form of Social Media wherein millions of people
around the world can create and produce also millions of
different messages.
According to Aydin (2012) in a review of
research on Facebook as an educational environment.
Education Tech Research Development, the amount of
SNS users has increased tremendously over the past five
years, especially among teenagers and students. Many
users have created Internet slang to communicate and
express their thoughts on SNSs and mobile networks.
As the time pass by, technology became part of
everyone’s life. It is really emerging so fast and the new
generation have been immediately adapt this change in our
lifestyle. Most of the users are the students for their
researches and there studies, and for teenagers who always
communicate with their friends through the Social Medias.
In the study entitled Code-switching in E-distance
learning education, Abdul Kadir & Zubir (2012 found that
code-switching occurs intentionally and not through lack
of competence in the base language. The students used
code-switching functions for various purposes such as to
capture attention, to show respect, to show empathy and to
indicate a shift in topic.
Code switching is concurrent use of more than
one language in a sentence. It occurs intentionally because
in communicating, you have to relay the message properly
and can only make it if you are able to express the
thoughts. There are concepts that are present in one
language that is not present on the other so through code
switching you may able to make them understand the
message you are sending.
An earlier study entitled Communicative
Functions and Reasons for Code Switching: A Malaysian
perspective, Muthusamy (2009) showed that
undergraduates of a Malaysian public university had
emphasised that lack of register proficiency was also
another contributing factor for code switching. The study
concluded that the ability of the speakers who were able to
speak more than one language fluently played an important
role during their interaction.
The interaction is effective if the sender relay the
message to the receiver accurately. Using of one or more
language in a sentence played an important role during
interaction to express the thoughts and ideas that can’t be
expressed or does not have any translation in the concept
of just one language.
Maria Angela S. Esteron International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 7(3)-2021
www.ijaems.com Page | 96
According to Drouin (2011) in the journal entitled
College Students’ Text Messaging: Journal of Computer
Assisted Learning, use of “texts” and literacy skills, he
examined the frequency of text messaging, use of ‘‘texts’’
and literacy skills such as reading accuracy, spelling and
reading fluency in a sample of college students in
America. Co-relational analyses revealed significant
positive relationships between text messaging frequency
and literacy skills in spelling and reading fluency but
significant, negative relationships between texts usage in
certain contexts like emails to professors and literacy
especially in reading accuracy. Those reportedly using
more texts on SNSs and those using more texts in emails
to professors had significantly lower reading accuracy
scores.
This only means that in some cases texting trough
Social Networking Sites can affect the literacy of the
students. It may lower reading accuracy because there are
internet slangs that may interrupt the vocabulary of the
students and can lead to confusion.
In addition to that, Craig (2003) and David (2008)
in the study entitled Reflections of Student’s Language
Usage in Social Networking Sites: Making or Marring
Academic English. They said that the longer time that
students are engage in texting through the Social
Networking Sites the more they improve the student’s
literacy.
In some instance Social media has a positive
effect on the student’s learning because it has the potential
for use in educational applications. Moreover, social
media, enable students to share information, to learn about
their classmates, to communicate with their classmates and
professors, and to post and discuss relevant class
information.
According to Thurairaj et al., (2012) in an article
entitled Teachers’ Emotions in ELT Material Design.
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, he
indicated that the students do improve their language as
well as their writing skills, because Facebook and Twitter
provides activities preferred by the students and leads to
positive language learning.
In using Social Networking Sites such as
Facebook, the users may encounter different Linguistic
items which they can read and use in posting thus enriches
the individual’s vocabulary but having different meaning
from the standard meaning which is acceptable.
Drouin (2011) in a Journal entitled College
students’ text messaging, use of textese and literacy skills
a Journal of Computer Assisted Learning specified that
one should be guide and equipped with a variety of
strategies and knowledge of different communication
modes, which includes social networking and media
platforms like Facebook.
In using the social media some people are not
aware of some words that are being formed. The users are
not able to differentiate formal language from informal
language as more often than not, the students at tertiary
level, are inclined to use improper formats and sentences
that deaden Standard English.
Cummings (2011) in a study entitled An
Experience with Language, ProQuest Dissertations &
Theses: Literature & Language states that computer-
assisted language learning will never be able to substitute
for teachers because there could be issues of control in
administrating relevant exercises in language teaching and
learning.
There are some instances that words on Social
Media have different meaning with regards to the
Philippine Standard English language that was taught in
the academe. And in that case teachers are responsible in
clearing the meaning.
According to Plester et al., (2008) in a journal
entitled Txt msg n school literacy: Does texting and
knowledge of text abbreviations adversely affect children's
literacy attainment? Literacy, stated that Internet slang and
short message services have been shown to have an impact
on the English language. It was estimated that 90% of
school children owned a mobile phone, and 96% used text
messaging. This shows that young people are active
“texters”. Internet slang was invented for the purpose of
saving keystrokes. As typing is much slower than
speaking, in order to counter this problem, people started
shortening words and creating new words.
Social media users mostly teenagers are avid of
chatting with their friends. In order for them to have a long
and fast changing of messages they do shortening of words
for example the word Please becomes pls. and it makes
easier and faster to type.
According to Mphahlele & Mashamaite (2005),
text messaging is deemed to be detrimental to students’
language proficiency since students mix this “text
language” with the standard language they learn at school.
Consequently, students displayed numerous errors ranging
from incorrect spellings to “ungrammatical” sentence
constructions.
The words and symbols that people use in making
messages were placed and adapt with their writing and
speaking. The short term of words and some other text
languages have been used and combined with the Standard
English that is accepted and known by most of the people.
They become unaware with the words they are using and
Maria Angela S. Esteron International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 7(3)-2021
www.ijaems.com Page | 97
become a factor to decline the English language
proficiency.
According to Craig (2003), in an article entitled
Instant messaging: The language of youth literacy, The
Boothe Prize Essays 2003, it is also found that texting also
threatens students’ literacy because it creates undesirable
reading and writing habits due to common use of
abbreviations and unusual jargon, thereby damaging
students’ ability to employ formal literacy skills.
Texting may affect the individual’s reading and
writing skills because of using language of the internet like
exclamatory spelling of emoticon such as hahah, acronyms
such as LOL and letter homophones such as U. Another
thing is that if an individual is interacting with other
people the language used might mix with the language of
the other.
According to John Simpson (2014), Facebook has
also done more than most platforms to offer up new
meanings for common words such as friend, like, status,
wall, page, and profile. Other new meanings which crop up
on social media channels also reflect the dark side of social
media: a troll is no longer just a character from Norse
folklore, but someone who makes offensive or provocative
comments online; a sock puppet is no longer solely a
puppet made from an old sock, but a self-serving fake
online persona; and astroturfing is no longer simply laying
a plastic lawn but also a fake online grass-roots movement.
Furthermore, Scott (2010) in an article entitled
Discourse of Twitter and Social Media, believed
Emoticons are can pose a significant problem. Depending
on the configuration of the concordance software used,
some of the characters used in emoticons are not
considered valid letters for that system, they may also be
interpreted as marking word breaks. In addition some
characters may have other special meanings to the system.
Through the use of social media channels like
Facebook, Twitter etc. the old words are having a new
meaning based on the usage of the words on the said
channels. The language of the internet now becomes the
language of the world wherein there’s no grammar being
followed.
According to Mphalele and Mashamaite (2005),
in the book entitled The impact of short message service
(sms) language on language proficiency of learners and the
sms dictionaries: A challenge for educators and
lexicographers stated that in order to save space, time, and
money. Mobile phone users can communicate with others
by using symbols or abbreviated forms of words and
sentences.
These Social Networking Sites users utilize every
second engaging in Social Networking Sites
communication, leading to the creation of new phrases and
words. The shortcut language used and created on instant
messaging, on the offset, seems to be extremely worsening
students’ vocabulary.
Language usage is changing because of using
different linguistic features in the social media such as
Exclamatory Spelling of Emoticons, Letter Homophones,
Acronyms, Misspelled Words, Shortening of Words,
Numbers representing words, Combination of two
different language.
III. INDENTATIONS AND EQUATIONS
METHODOLOGY
This chapter includes the methods and procedures made
on gathering the data, research design of the study, the
participants, data analysis, and instrument used in the
paper.
A. DATA GATHERING PROCEDURES
The researchers will use a convenience sampling
technique in conducting this research by distributing a
survey questionnaire to the English Majors in the
College of Education at Central Luzon State
University to collect data necessary for the study.
B. RESEARCH DESIGN
This paper used qualitative- interview design
because it aims to assess the experiences of the
students from the College of Education on how they
are affected by the Social Media in the formation of
new words that they may use in the formal use of the
language in the school.
C. DATA ANALYSIS
In analyzing the data, the researcher will get the
percentage of the result of the given questionnaire and
percentages were primary tools used in analysing and
interpreting the data.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1: Respondent’s Socio-Demographic Characteristics
Respondents
No.
Age
1
18
2
18
3
18
4
18
Maria Angela S. Esteron International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 7(3)-2021
www.ijaems.com Page | 98
5
18
Male
6
18
Male
7
18
Female
8
18
Male
9
18
Female
10
18
Female
11
18
Male
12
18
Female
13
18
Male
14
18
Female
15
19
Male
16
19
Female
17
19
Female
18
19
Male
19
19
Male
20
19
Male
21
19
Female
22
19
Female
23
19
Male
24
19
Male
25
19
Female
26
19
Female
27
19
Female
28
19
Male
29
19
Female
30
19
Male
31
19
Female
32
19
Male
33
19
Female
34
19
Female
35
19
Female
36
20
Male
37
20
Male
38
20
Female
39
20
Female
40
20
Female
41
20
Female
42
20
Male
43
20
Female
44
21
Female
45
21
Male
46
21
Female
47
21
Male
48
21
49
22
50
22
Illustrate the socio-demographic characteristics of the
respondents.
The table above shows the demographic characteristics of
the respondents wherein the age bracket is from 18-21 years
old. 14 out of 50 are 18 years old, 21 of them are 19 years old,
eight of the respondents are 20 years old while 5 respondents
are 20 years old and the remaining two respondents are 21
years old. With regards to their gender almost all of them are
female which has the sum of 29 whereas 21 of them are male.
As supported by (Aydin, 2012) said that the amount of
SNS users has increased tremendously over the past five years,
especially among teenagers and students.
Table. 2: Represent the answers to the given questions
stated in the survey questionnaire
QUESTIONS
NEVER
ONCE
1
0
0
2
7
10
3
6
6
4
5
8
5
13
6
6
4
6
7
9
12
8
15
18
9
12
18
10
5
4
QUESTIONS
NEVER
ONCE
1
0
0
2
7
10
3
6
6
4
5
8
5
13
6
6
4
6
7
9
12
8
15
18
9
12
18
10
5
4
QUESTIONS
NEVER
ONCE
1
0
0
2
7
10
3
6
6
Maria Angela S. Esteron International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 7(3)-2021
www.ijaems.com Page | 99
4
5
8
5
13
6
6
4
6
7
9
12
8
15
18
9
12
18
10
5
4
QUESTIONS
NEVER
ONCE
1
0
0
2
7
10
3
6
6
4
5
8
5
13
6
6
4
6
7
9
12
8
15
18
9
12
18
10
5
4
QUESTIONS
NEVER
ONCE
1
0
0
2
7
10
3
6
6
4
5
8
5
13
6
6
4
6
Never
0%
Once
0%
Sometime
s
34%
Always
66%
Question 1
Fig.1: How often you use Social Networking Sites?
In question number one, 66% of the respondents
always use SNSs while the remaining 34% sometimes use
SNSs. None of the respondents had never or even once been
logged in to SNSs. Due to the trends of today’s generation
teenagers are fond of using the different social media
platforms, thus everyone already have their own mobile
phones and have their own social; media accounts.
Schonfeld (2010) in an article entitled Discourse
of Twitter and Social Media, pointed out that Social
Networking Sites (SNS) are the most commonly used form
of Social Media wherein millions of people around the
world can create and produce also millions of different
messages.
Fig.2: Do you use only one language in
communicating with your friends via SNSs and mobile
phone in each conversation?
In question number 2.62% of the respondents
sometimes used one language in communicating with
their friends via SNSs, while 5% of them used once, 9%
belongs to always and the remaining 24% never used
only one language in communicating via SNSs.
An earlier study (Muthusamy, 2009) showed that
undergraduates of a Malaysian public university had
emphasised habitual expression that was related to
psychological aspect of behaviour as their main reason for
code switching. Lack of register competence was also
another contributing factor for code switching. The study
concluded that the ability of the interlocutors who were
able to speak more than one language fluently played an
important role during their interaction.
Maria Angela S. Esteron International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 7(3)-2021
www.ijaems.com Page | 100
Never
12%
Once
12%
Sometim
es
52%
Always
24%
Question 3
Fig.3:.How often you use proper abbreviations or short
forms when communicating with your friends through
SNSs?
In question number 3, 6% of the respondents always
used abbreviations or short forms when communicating with
friends through SNSs, once and never used abbreviations are
with the same percent which is 5% and the remaining 84% are
the respondents sometimes uses proper abbreviation and short
forms of language.
According to Craig (2003), in an article entitled
“Instant Messaging: The language of youth literacy, The
Boothe Prize Essays 2003,” it is also found that texting also
threatens students’ literacy because it creates undesirable
reading and writing habits due to common use of abbreviations
and unusual jargon, thereby damaging students’ ability to
employ formal literacy skills.
Never
10%
Once
16%
Sometime
s
28%
Always
46%
Question 4
Fig.4: How often do you use language like Exclamatory
spelling of emoticons. (For example hahaha, wah, wooh)
In a result of the table above, 46 % of the
respondents always used language like exclamatory
spelling of emoticons, 28 % for sometimes, 16% belongs
to once and the rest which is 10% of the respondents
never used the statement mentioned.
Scott (2010) in an article entitled Discourse of
Twitter and Social Media, believed Emoticons are can
pose a significant problem. Depending on the
configuration of the concordance software used, some of
the characters used in emoticons are not considered valid
letters for that system, they may also be interpreted as
marking word breaks. In addition some characters may
have other special meanings to the system.
Through the use of social media channels like
Facebook, Twitter etc. the old words are having a new
meaning based on the usage of the words on the said
channels. The language of the internet now becomes the
language of the world wherein there’s no grammar being
followed.
Never
26%
Once
12%
Sometim
es
54%
Always
8%
Question 5
Fig.5: How often you use letter homophones (Example: U
to represents the word” You”
In the given question above 26 % of the SNSs users
have never been used letter homophones, 8 % of the
respondents always used letter homophones, 54 % of them
sometimes used homophones and the rest which is 12 %
used homophones once.
According to Plester et al., (2008) in a journal entitled Txt
msg n school literacy: Does texting and knowledge of text
abbreviations adversely affect children's literacy attainment?
Literacy, stated that Internet slang and short message
services have been shown to have an impact on the English
language. Internet slang was invented for the purpose of
saving keystrokes. As typing is much slower than speaking,
in order to counter this problem, people started shortening
words and creating new words.
Maria Angela S. Esteron International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 7(3)-2021
www.ijaems.com Page | 101
Fig.6: How often do you use Acronyms (Example: LOL,
ATM, JGH, IDK, OTW, BRB)
As a result in the table 6 answered the question of
how often they used Acronyms 9% always used, 53% used
sometimes, 8% used once and the respondents whose never
used Acronyms is 30%.
According to Mphalele and Mashamaite (2005), in
the book entitled “The impact of short message service (sms)
language on language proficiency of learners and the sms
dictionaries: A challenge for educators and lexicographers”
stated that in order to save space, time, and money. Mobile
phone users can communicate with others by using symbols
or abbreviated forms of words and sentences.
Fig.7: How often do you commit misspelled words?
In a result of question 7 the respondents admit that 15%
of them always commit misspelled words, 70% commit
sometimes, 10% for once and the remaining 5% never
commit misspelled words.
According to Mphahlele & Mashamaite (2005), text
messaging is deemed to be detrimental to students’
language proficiency since students mix this “text
language” with the standard language they learn at school.
Consequently, students displayed numerous errors ranging
from incorrect spellings to “ungrammatical” sentence
constructions.
Fig.8: How often do you use shortening of words?
(Examples: msg. instead of messages and tnx. Instead of
thanks)
As a result in the given question above 15% of the
respondents always used shortening of words, 20% of
them used sometimes while 40% of them use once and
the rest which is 25% never used shortening of words.
Fig.9: How often do you use numbers to represents words?
(Example: 143 represents I love you.)
10% of the respondents always used numbers to
represent words, 20% of this are the respondents who used
sometime, 10% for used once and the remaining 60% are
Maria Angela S. Esteron International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 7(3)-2021
www.ijaems.com Page | 102
those respondents who never used numbers to represents
words.
According to Plester et al., (2008) in a journal entitled
Txt msg n school literacy: Does texting and knowledge of
text abbreviations adversely affect children's literacy
attainment? Literacy, stated that Internet slang and short
message services have been shown to have an impact on
the English language. It was estimated that 90% of school
children owned a mobile phone, and 96% used text
messaging. This shows that young people are active
“texters”. Internet slang was invented for the purpose of
saving keystrokes. As typing is much slower than
speaking, in order to counter this problem, people started
shortening words and creating new words.
Fig.10: How often do you use combination of two different
language? (Example: Taglish)
In question number 10, 33% of the respondents always
used combination of two different language like Taglish,
52% of them sometimes used, while 5% of them used once
and lastly the remaining 10% never used combination of
different language.
Abdul Kadir & Zubir (2012) on e-distance learning
students in a public university in Malaysia. The study
found that code-switching occurs intentionally and not
through lack of competence in the base language. The
students used code-switching functions for various
purposes such as to capture attention, to show respect, to
show empathy and to indicate a shift in topic
General Question 1: How does Social Media affects
the formal English Language by using the following given
questions above?
Based on the answered of the respondents most of
them stated that Social Media affects the formal English
Language by using different language usage or the given
questions above. First, of course the formality of language
will vanish and according to them it is one of the problem
of the “millennial” because nowadays our country is
modernized by the use of modern technology and the
Social Media. They create their own language and
influence one another by using those kind of form of
language.
According to John Simpson (2014), Facebook
has also done more than most platforms to offer up new
meanings for common words such as friend, like, status,
wall, page, and profile. Other new meanings which crop
up on social media channels also reflect the dark side of
social media: a troll is no longer just a character from
Norse folklore, but someone who makes offensive or
provocative comments online; a sock puppet is no longer
solely a puppet made from an old sock, but a self-serving
fake online persona; and astrosurfing is no longer simply
laying a plastic lawn but also a fake online grass-roots
movement.
Fig.11: Are you in favor of using different language usage
in Social Media with regards in the formal English
Language in the academe?
In general question number 2, 40% of the respondents
answered yes in favor of using different language usage in
social media with regards in the formal English language
in the academe, on the other hand 60% of the respondent
disagree or answered no in the given question stated
above.
Drouin (2011) examined the frequency of text
messaging, use of ‘‘textese’’ and literacy skills (e.g.,
reading accuracy, spelling and reading fluency) in a
sample of college students in America. Co-relational
analyses revealed significant positive relationships
between text messaging frequency and literacy skills
(spelling and reading fluency) but significant, negative
relationships between textese usage in certain contexts
(e.g. emails to professors) and literacy (reading accuracy).
Those reportedly using more textese on SNSs and those
Maria Angela S. Esteron International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 7(3)-2021
www.ijaems.com Page | 103
using more textese in emails to professors had
significantly lower reading accuracy scores.
V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion
The result shows that most of the respondents
are 18 years old and most of them are female. 90% of the
respondents always use Social Networking Sites that they
preferred such as Facebook and Twitter. In communicating
with their friends via SNSs and mobile phone, 62% of
them sometimes uses only one language. On the other
hand, 84% of the respondents sometimes use proper
abbreviations or short forms when communicating with
friends through SNSs. Most of the respondents always use
language like exclamatory spelling of emoticons for
example Haha! Huhu! and Wooh! With the rate of 65%.
While 60% of the SNSs users have never been used letter
homophones like U for the word YOU and D for the word
THE. According to the results 53% of the respondents use
acronyms like LOL, ATM, JGH, IDK, FYI, and OTW.
Most of the respondents commits misspelled words in their
daily communication with friends. Out of 20 respondents,
40% of them once used shortening of words such as msg.
instead of message, and tnx instead of the word thanks.
Moreover, 60% of the respondents never used number to
represent words for example 143 to represent I Love You.
Most of the respondents sometimes uses the combination
of two different language like Filipino and English in
communicating through Social Media. Therefore Social
Networking Sites like Facebook creates their own
language and adapts and influence one another by using
different language usage such as using Acronyms,
Shortening of words, Letter homophones and Exclamatory
spelling of Emoticons. They also disagree that the newly
created words by the language usage they are using in
Social Media in the Formal English Language used in the
Academe.
Recommendation
Based on the findings and conclusions presented,
the researchers’ offers suggestions and the
recommendations are suggested:
1. The researcher recommend to the future researchers
to maximize the respondents in gathering of their
data. They should become fair for choosing
respondents either male or female to know their
opinions in certain issues.
2. The researcher suggest to the future researchers to
use Survey Questionnaire because it is one of the
effective style in gathering of data in which you can
use Convenience Sampling to minimize the time
and you can efficiently proceed to the next chapter
of you research.
3. The researcher offer to the future researchers to use
topic about modernization in 21st century that can
actually more understand by the respondents. It can
be the development of language by generation to
generation and how people deal with that kind of
language.
Those statement mentioned above is an alternative formal
recommendation for the future researcher that is best
supported in conducting their study.
REFERENCES
[1] Abdul Kadir, Z. & Zubir, Z. (2012). Code-switching in E-
distance learning education. Paper presented at the
International Conference on Humanity, History & Society.
IPEDR. Vol 34. Singapore: IACSIT Press.
[2] Aydin, S. (2012). A review of research on Facebook as an
educational environment. Education Tech Research
Development.
[3] Craig, D. (2003). Instant messaging: The language of youth
literacy. The Boothe Prize Essays 2003, 118-119.
[4] Cummings, A.B. (2011). An experience with language.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: Literature & Language,
10.
[5] Drouin, M.A. (2011). College students’ text messaging, use
of textese and literacy skills. Journal of Computer Assisted
Learning, 27, 67-75.
[6] Kaplan, A. Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the World, Unite!
The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media.
Muthusamy, P. (2009). Communicative functions and
reasons for code switching: A Malaysian perspective.
[7] Retrieved on 5 August, 2011 from
www.crisaps.org/newsletter/summer2009/Muthusamy.doc.
Plester, B., Wood, C. & Bell, V. (2008). Txt msg n school
literacy: Does texting and knowledge of text abbreviations
adversely affect children's literacy attainment? Literacy.
42(3), 137-144.
[8] Mphahlele M.L. & Mashamaite, K. (2005). The impact of
short message service (sms) language on language
proficiency of learners and the sms dictionaries: A
challenge for educators and lexicographers. Proceedings of
the IADIS International Conference Mobile Learning 2005,
161.
[9] Plester, B., Wood, C. & Bell, V. (2008). Txt msg n school
literacy: Does texting and knowledge of text abbreviations
adversely affect children's literacy attainment? Literacy.
42(3), 137-144.
[10] Schonfeld, Zappavigna, M. (2010). Discourse of Twitter
and Social Media: How We Use Language to Create
Affiliation of the Web. 10, A&C Black, 2012.
[11] Scott, Zappavigna, M. (2010). Discourse of Twitter and
Social Media: How We Use Language to Create Affiliation
of the Web. 10, A&C Black, 2012.
Maria Angela S. Esteron International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 7(3)-2021
www.ijaems.com Page | 104
[12] Simpson, J. (2014). Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University
Press. Retrieved from
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2014/06/social-media-
changing-language/
[13] Thurairaj, S. and Roy,S.S., 2012. Teachers’ Emotions in
ELT Material Design. International Journal of Social
Science and Humanity, 2(3), 232-236. www.ejel.
[14] Thurairaj, S. and Roy,S.S., (2012). Reflections of Students’
language Usage in Social Networking Sites: Making or
Marring Academic English (15) www.ejel.
[15] Wadsworth, T. (2017). Impact of Social Media on English
Language. Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/social-media-violated-
english-language
[16] https://www.teachingenglish.org.UK/article/ language-
usage
[17] PDF (The Impact of Social Media on Vocabulary learning
Case Study)
Article
Full-text available
This article is an endeavour to highlight the relationship between social media and language evolution. It reviews the current theoretical efforts on communication and language change. The descriptive design, which is theoretically based on technological determision, is used. The assumption behind this review is that the social media plays a significant role in language evolution. Moreover, different platforms of social media are characterized by being the easiest and fastest means of communication. It concludes that the current theoretical efforts have paid much attention to the relationship between social media and language evolution. Such efforts have highlighted the fact that social media platforms are awash with a lot of acronyms, cyber slangs, initialisms, morphological shortenings, etc. Much importantly, previous research has suggested that the larger the network size is, the more will be its effect on language evolution.
Article
Full-text available
Social networking sites (SNSs) have become a major form of communication in today’s day and age whereby language use has been impacted in various areas especially in that of learning and teaching. Young users use literally half their week engaging in SNSs communication, thereby giving rise to a brand of internet slang which is entirely their own. This youth-speak has gone on to influence other areas of language usage. The questions asked in the survey increased the identification of the linguistic features such as the frequency of code switching and erratic spelling and leet, thus expanding the research base. The survey participants, the majority of who are from the Chinese ethnic group had experienced mother tongue interference in their English Language proficiency. The descriptive statistical method was used to analyse the questionnaires, wherein the data collected indicated a rather excessive usage of short messaging texts by almost all respondents owning a mobile device. To authenticate the research findings, an analysis of the text discourses was found to be necessary. The findings proved that the frequent use of short messaging had not majorly affected the English language proficiency of the participants. In academic writing there was a conscious effort to stay clear of SNSs language. The mushrooming SNSs has helped create a whole young generation who have their own meta-language, which provides an opportunity to probe to what extent the English language is altered. This research should kick-start research on how the English language in these areas is used and whether the frequent use of it can develop or weaken proficiency in the language. The results of the present study will definitely enrich the corpus of work conducted on the influence of language of social media and encourage further detailed research in this area.
Article
Full-text available
The concept of Social Media is top of the agenda for many business executives today. Decision makers, as well as consultants, try to identify ways in which firms can make profitable use of applications such as Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, Second Life, and Twitter. Yet despite this interest, there seems to be very limited understanding of what the term “Social Media” exactly means; this article intends to provide some clarification. We begin by describing the concept of Social Media, and discuss how it differs from related concepts such as Web 2.0 and User Generated Content. Based on this definition, we then provide a classification of Social Media which groups applications currently subsumed under the generalized term into more specific categories by characteristic: collaborative projects, blogs, content communities, social networking sites, virtual game worlds, and virtual social worlds. Finally, we present 10 pieces of advice for companies which decide to utilize Social Media.
Article
The purpose of this study is to present a review of Facebook as an educational environment, as research on its use within education is relatively new. The study is categorized into six sections: Facebook users; reasons people use Facebook; harmful effects of Facebook; Facebook as an educational environment; Facebook’s effects on culture, language, and education; and the relationship between Facebook and subject variables. Additionally, the study compares Facebook usage in Turkey to its use on a global scale. To conclude, there has been a serious lack of research on Facebook’s use as an educational resource, as current literature reflects how Facebook might more readily be utilized as an educational environment. Finally, the study ends with practical recommendations for researchers and educators.
Article
This paper reports on two studies which investigated the relationship between children's texting behaviour, their knowledge of text abbreviations and their school attainment in written language skills. In Study One, 11–12-year-old children provided information on their texting behaviour. They were also asked to translate a standard English sentence into a text message and vice versa. The children's standardised verbal and non-verbal reasoning scores were also obtained. Children who used their mobiles to send three or more text messages a day had significantly lower scores than children who sent none. However, the children who, when asked to write a text message, showed greater use of text abbreviations ('textisms') tended to have better performance on a measure of verbal reasoning ability, which is highly associated with Key Stage 2 (KS2) and 3 English scores. In Study Two, children's performance on writing measures was examined more specifically. Ten to eleven-year-old children were asked to complete another English to text message translation exercise. Spelling proficiency was also assessed, and KS2 Writing scores were obtained. Positive correlations between spelling ability and performance on the translation exercise were found, and group-based comparisons based on the children's writing scores also showed that good writing attainment was asso-ciated with greater use of textisms, although the direction of this association is nor clear. Overall, these findings suggest that children's knowledge of textisms is not associated with poor written language outcomes for children in this age range.
Article
Abstract In this study, I examined reported frequency of text messaging, use of textese and literacy skills (reading accuracy, spelling and reading fluency) in a sample of American college students. Participants reported using text messaging, social networking sites and textese more often than was reported in previous (2009) research, and their frequency of textese use varied across contexts. Correlational analyses revealed significant, positive relationships between text messaging frequency and literacy skills (spelling and reading fluency), but significant, negative relationships between textese usage in certain contexts (on social networking sites such as MySpace™ and Facebook™ and in emails to professors) and literacy (reading accuracy). These findings differ from findings reported in recent studies with Australian college students, British schoolchildren and American college students. Explanations for these differences are discussed, and future directions for research are presented.
Code-switching in Edistance learning education
  • Abdul Kadir
  • Z Zubir
Abdul Kadir, Z. & Zubir, Z. (2012). Code-switching in Edistance learning education. Paper presented at the International Conference on Humanity, History & Society. IPEDR. Vol 34. Singapore: IACSIT Press.
An experience with language
  • A B Cummings
Cummings, A.B. (2011). An experience with language. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: Literature & Language, 10.
The impact of short message service (sms) language on language proficiency of learners and the sms dictionaries: A challenge for educators and lexicographers
  • M L Mphahlele
  • K Mashamaite
Mphahlele M.L. & Mashamaite, K. (2005). The impact of short message service (sms) language on language proficiency of learners and the sms dictionaries: A challenge for educators and lexicographers. Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference Mobile Learning 2005, 161.