TEXTING LANGUAGE IMPACT ON NIGERIAN STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY OF FINAL YEAR LINGUISTICS STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN CITY

Back to Page Authors: Jimoh Braimoh

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Keywords: texting language, short message service (SMS), impact, abbreviations, mobile phones.

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Abstract: This study examines the relationship between the use of mobile phone text messaging and the observed presence of abbreviation in student's written work at the University of Benin. I argue that the frequent use of SMS abbreviations contributes to the reported increase in the use of other abbreviations in the written work of students of the University of Benin. However, other factors such as the purpose of the writing and the students’ state of mind may be determiners of whether students use abbreviations or not. The investigation is based on the analysis of a questionnaire distributed to final year linguistics students of the University of Benin. Overall, 62 students participated in the in-class survey; and 72 notebooks, 126 assignment scripts, and 85 exam scripts of the same students were analyzed to validate their response to the questionnaire. There is evidently a link between the use of abbreviations observed in students' written work and their frequent use of texting language. Although some of the abbreviations may have been present before the advent of SMS, the analysis indicates that SMS abbreviations carry over into students’ written classwork.

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