Societies nowadays
live in a
world where interaction
through advanced technology
is also necessary.
Everywhere, people are
texting, sending emails,
writing their blogs
and even tweeting.
It is very
difficult to go
to any places
without seeing someone
using a gadget
or the internet
to connect and
communicate with others. The
growth of computer- mediated communication
(CMC) around the
world has brought
with it changes in how language is utilized,
including faster composition
and reading of texts
(Baron, 2002), and diffusion of oral
discourse features into written
language (Werry, 1996; Yates, 1996). Instant
messaging (IM) is
one of the
most used means of communication
nowadays. As students
become technologically- dependent,
there is a
rapid increased of
students who prefer
instant messaging as a primary
source of communication. It
is a kind
of online chat
or conversation that
offers a real-
time text or chat using
a medium which
is the internet.
Some instant messaging
applications have an
advanced feature that
provide its users
to transfer files, audio recordings, and communicate with
your friend through video chat. The
advantage of instant
messenger compared to
normal interaction systems
is that you
can easily know
whether your co- workers
are available to you and
can be connected
through selected service.
One
of the renowned
features of people’s text messages
is that they
do not follow
to standard language rules and
apply a register
that is called
textese.
In this form
of register, people utilizes
phonetic replacements , such as
w8
instead of wait or
ur
as a substitute
for your and acronyms such as
lol
and ikr which led to
belief that characteristics
of textese
may leak into
students’ general writing , eventually resulting in language
deterioration . Internet
is moderately changing the language because
of
the creation of new lexical items(Crystal, 2008). Moreover ,
Mphahlele and Mashamaite(2005) emphasized that
excessive exposure to the SMS
language has a
negative impact on
the English language
proficiency of the
learners. This hypothesis tallies
with Craig in his article Instant Messaging: The Language of Youth Literacy
who asserted that Instant
Messaging endangers youth
literacy since it
produces a series
of undesirable patterns
in reading and
writing and such
informal language use harms mastery
of formal and
standard literary skills. Therefore, constant use of instant messaging applications can
lead to the
decrease of the ability
to spell words
correctly, worsening of grammar
and even literacy
barriers between the users
of IM. Textism can be considered
as the fastest
growing style of electronic
communication which is
regularly used in
Computer Mediated Communication (CMC).
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In
a study conducted by Chantal
Nvan (2016), he found
out the with
the children’s increasing use of mobile phones,
concerns have been
raised about its influence
on their literary
skills. This research
has been expanded
to the
effects of textese on children’s
grammar abilities in written
language. Outcomes of some
research suggest a
negative impact of
textese in grammar. However, variability in coding
of textese between studies and use
of written assignments, which do
not
strictly embody grammar,
may have concealed the effect
of textese on children’s
grammar abilities.
For that reason,
the main goal
of the present
study is to determine whether use of
textese influences children’s grammar performance in spoken
language. As time
progresses, textisms
may
no longer be
thought of as
incorrect. This is
attributed to the
idea that our
language is constantly
changing (Verheijen 2007). According
to AHN Media
Corp (2010), Philippines
has been tagged
as the “texting
capital of the
world”. Many Filipinos exchange
text messages or
chats with the
use of their
mobile phones. Filipinos have
become frequent texters, and
they have started
sending messages in
shortened ways. This
problem cropped up
with the innovation
of this new
technology, and its possible
effects on the
students’ language proficiency.
In instant messaging,
abbreviations used, assaults
written English and resulted into
students poor writing
composition, grammar and
spelling recognition. On average,
eighty two percent of twelve
to fifteen year olds
and forty nine
percent of eight
to eleven year
olds have a mobile phone (Plester, Wood, Bell 2006).
This occurrence is
somehow bringing educational
crisis which institutions
like school should
fight. It is a common scenario
in every school
seeing students using their
mobile phones during
their free time.
Instead of going
to the library
to read books
in order for
them to improve
their vocabulary skills, they spend most
of their time
holding their phones.
Even
at homes, parents
would tend to
complain and blame
their children’s low
performance in quizzes
and exams in
English because students
would spend their
time holding their
phone to text
rather than browsing
their books to
widen their vocabulary.
According to Cingel and Sundar (2007), adolescents often talk
to their friends
using their mobile
phones and while
texting they seem
to ignore correct
capitalization and punctuation. IM has become a
popular medium for
casual online interaction between teens in
countries where the
technological means for this exist (Schiano, et
al., 2002; Rodgers & Gauntlett, 2002).
Many articles in
the popular press
have targeted Instant
Messaging. They suggest that
it is leading
to a ” breakdown
in the English
language,” a ” the bastardization of
language” (O’Connor 2005),
and even ” the linguistic
ruin of the generation”
(Axtman 2002). In contrast ,
linguists argue that
it is not
the result of
students’ lax attitude
toward spelling and
grammar, but characteristic of a
general “linguistic whatever-ism” (Baron 2003a, 5). Indeed, some
have suggested that
discourse on the
Internet is a
“new species of
communication,” complete with its
own lexicon , graphology ,
grammar , and usage
conditions (Crystal 2001, 48).
In
general,
texting
has
provoked
a
very
strong
, negative response
from
teachers, parents and language experts. It has been described
as
the
“continuing assault of technology
on
formal
written
English
” (Lee, 2002).