The Impact of Short Text Messaging Slang on Students’ Written Academic Communication: A Study of Undergraduate Students of Daystar University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of SMS slang on students’ written academic communication with a specific focus on Daystar University undergraduate students. The objectives of the study were to: establish the frequency of SMS slang use among undergraduate students, find out the SMS slang styles of communication among undergraduate students and evaluate the effect of SMS slang use on written academic communication among the undergraduate students. An explanatory sequential research design was used and both quantitative and qualitative data methods were used. Stratified random and purposive sampling techniques were used in selecting a sample size of 103 respondents. Data analysis was done using SPSS to obtain descriptive statistics such as frequency, means and percentages. Data was presented in form of tables and charts based on the research objectives. From the research findings, text messaging among the target population was the preferred mode of communication because they frequently engaged in texting which was a key element in their social lives. Findings further indicated that the undergraduate students frequently used truncation, initialization/abbreviation/acronyms, vowel deletion, non-conventional spelling, and code mixing as SMS slang styles. The study concluded that use of SMS texting had negative influence on the written language skills of Daystar University undergraduate students and the influence occurs in their spelling and punctuation. Further, use of SMS slangs contributed to poor academic performance in students’ written academic communication skills as it encourages abbreviations and non-conformity with English grammatical rules. The study recommends that students should adhere to the practice of using correct grammatical conventions when writing their instant messages to achieve competence in written academic communication.