The Influence of the Language of Social Media on the English Language
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To define the relationship between English proficiency and usage of social networking sites
- To investigate the relationship between self-perceived English proficiency and usage of social networking sites
- To ascertain the influence of the language of social media on the English language
- To ascertain the relationship between language of social media and academic performance
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Language and communication play a crucial role in information sharing, specifically on the use of information technology in education. Tools and platforms such as Facebook enhance communication and human interaction and can potentially be harnessed for language learning. Sources indicate that factors like motivation, imitation and environment for learning are crucial in language learning. The amount of SNS users has increased tremendously over the past five years, especially among teenagers and students (Aydin, 2012). Many users have created Internet slang to communicate and express their thoughts on SNSs and mobile networks. Various researches have shown that Facebook impacts all levels of academia and academic settings. In opening up new worlds of learning for both teachers and students, Facebook has been found to have the potential for use in educational applications. Roblyer et al. (2010) found that Facebook can also become a valuable resource to support students’ educational communication and collaboration with faculty, providing a different model of how online tools can be utilized in educational contexts. Meanwhile, Cummings (2011) describes how social media impacts higher education through five (5) interconnected ‘‘literacies’’–attention, participation, collaboration, network awareness and critical consumption. Grosseck (2008) and Muñoz (2009) have found that SNSs like Facebook and Twitter enable students to share information (e.g., when a Facebook ‘Group Page’ is created for a class or course subject), to learn about their classmates, to communicate with their classmates and professors, and to post and discuss relevant class information. In Twitter, a message is linked to a course or class blog that offers students opportunities to discuss various kinds of asynchronous online discourse. Besides, according to Thurairaj et al., (2012) Facebook and Twitter do lead to positive language learning. Thus, these SNSs like Facebook and Twitter should be incorporated as learning tools for language learning. Based on the interviews conducted, students stated that activities through social media are very interesting and it makes learning easier besides helping them improve their communication. The researcher found that, making Facebook and Twitter as learning tools is claimed to be fun and it is welcomed by the students. Besides, the researchers have also indicated that Facebook and Twitter are used widely to communicate in English. There are various activities preferred by the students and most importantly everything leads to positive language learning. Thus the students do improve tremendously in their language as well as their writing skills. Besides, the students also claimed that they do learn and improve their language from the preferred activities on Facebook and Twitter. It is indeed a learning process when they check messages, tweets or notifications while surfing the sites. Besides, the students also confirmed that they learn new sets of vocabulary when they check their friends’ activities or updates. In addition, it is revealed in this research that the students are very open to the usage of Facebook and other social networks to support classroom activities. With the features on Facebook and Twitter, they can enhance classroom discussion and make it more interesting.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought the influence of the language of social media on the English language
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source and Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the influence of the language of social media on the English language. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of the language of social media on the English language
Summary
This study was on the influence of the language of social media on the English language. Four objectives were raised which included: To define the relationship between English proficiency and usage of social networking sites, to investigate the relationship between self-perceived English proficiency and usage of social networking sites, to ascertain the influence of the language of social media on the English language, to ascertain the relationship between language of social media and academic performance. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected secondary schools in Uyo local government in Akwa Ibom state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made principals, vice principals administration, senior staff and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
This research has provided several important information on how SNSs influenced the academic sectors negatively and positively. Besides, various limitations had been experienced by this study and stated clearly, these information is extremely crucial for other researchers to conduct similar study in the future.
Recommendation
There are some recommendations following the findings of the study:
- Adopting technology in general and social media sites in particular as a teaching strategy in universities when teaching English skills for effectiveness and better academic achievement.
- For generalization, validity and applicability, similar studies should be conducted on other language aspects and skills.
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