CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
5.2 Discussion
Based on the analysis, there are a greater number of respondents use abbreviations very often while they are using asynchronous online communication. Additionally, a past study has regarded abbreviations as a common way to form words while speaking or writing in which they are often found in daily written chatting for instance, on social media (Wulandari, 2018).
This explains the phenomenon of respondents claiming themselves for using abbreviations while they are using asynchronous online social communication. This is because the use of abbreviations has become the modern way of writing words on asynchronous online social communication and thus they are the very popular and they are also the usual types of words that are familiar with online users.
In spite of the facts that students are using abbreviations in social media quite often, the analysis also shows that most of the respondents use even correct English when they are chatting online. This contradiction occurs mostly because they apply both formal English and abbreviations simultaneously online. The results of this research is distinct from past researches claiming that most students used informal English words in text messages.
To explain the reasons for using abbreviations, most respondents feel that using abbreviations help them save their precious time from typing a long and complete English words. It is supported by the claim in one of the study that online communication applied lots of abbreviations to reduce time and effort while communicating with each other (Nazaryan and Gridchin, as cited in Wulandari, 2018).
25
The other reason for using abbreviations is believed that the users feel easy and comfortable with them. These words are used because they enhance in quicker response during chatting. In the review from Salemah (2013, as cited in Khairul, 2017), students use abbreviations to have a quick as well as short message across. Compared with the findings from Khairul (2017), it could be agreed that respondents from the current research are using abbreviations in order to demand for a faster response among the users.
Another finding from this research reviews that the respondents are not using abbreviations due to peer pressure. They are not stress when they come across with massive usage of abbreviations by their friends while chatting online. These results show contrast with the findings from Shaari & Bataineh (2015) which claims that abbreviations are a trend that need to be followed by everyone and it leads to people using abbreviations online. The usage of abbreviations is seen as a tendency in online communication practices and it is required to be followed so that the users are not left behind (Shaari & Bataineh, 2015). Another research from Wulandari (2018) also states that the reason for teenagers to use abbreviations is to follow the modern trend in which most of the online users are using abbreviations on their status on social media. Furthermore, following the trend will make them feel cool about themselves so they follow and imitate the use of abbreviations (Wulandari, 2018). The difference of findings is probably due to the different opinion from different generations as past researches has been done in back a few years. Now, the use of abbreviations has already the trend and people are not forced to use them. The usage purely depends on the voluntarily of the users themselves and they do not have peer pressure if they are the special one who does not use abbreviations among their group of friends.
Moving on to the next finding, it states that most respondents from this research understand every abbreviation they come across very often while using asynchronous online social communication. This shows that abbreviations are newly-introduced and it is well-
26
known among online users. However, this result seems to be contradicted to one of the past research carried out by Wulandari (2018). In his research, he claims that obstacles are still present in spite the popularization of abbreviations in social life. Even many people are using abbreviations in social media, short messages as well as email, but it is believed that not all people understand the meaning of the abundance of abbreviations used online. Hence, this will cause misunderstanding in communication if the people are using abbreviations wrongly (Wulandari, 2018).
Moreover, the respondents claim that they face problems very often while they are required to write formal English in the form of essays, assignments and even during examinations. Additionally, the usage of abbreviations on social media has affected the formal writing among ESL learners very often according to the result interpreted from the questionnaire. The result is complemented with the result from Shaari & Bataineh (2015) which states that online communication activities such as using abbreviations influence their ability to write effectively mainly in the English language (Shaari & Bataineh, 2015). Sometimes, ESL learners including the respondents tend to used abbreviations in their formal writing mistakenly because they have developed a constant habit and become addicted on using them. It is closely associated with findings derived from Shaari and Bataineh (2015), a participant from that research acknowledged that she started to transfer some of the online communication practice into her day-to-day writing activities.
In advance, the excessive use of abbreviations affects formal English writing in making mistakes in vocabulary spelling. This is proved by the finding from the current research in which most respondents disclose that they face the problem with spelling very often.
Concurring with the findings from Shaari and Bataineh (2015), their participants spell English words based on their pronunciation on every occasion. Nevertheless, their pronunciation is
27
hugely affected by their first language, dialects or the simplification of pronunciation and hence it leads to mistake in spelling of words. (Shaari and Bataineh, 2015)
Furthermore, the ESL learners may require a long period of time to recall the correct spelling of English words. This is due to the overuse or habit of using abbreviations online and lead them to forgot about the correct spelling. In this research, the number of respondents that claims that they spend some time to recall the spelling of words very often. To make the situation worse, the respondents tend to depend on spell checkers, dictionaries or websites to confirm with the spelling when they are writing word documents in which it is proved by the majority acknowledgement from the respondents from this research. As a result, their marks for texts or assignments are sometimes deducted because they are not able to recognize or remember the correct spelling of English vocabularies.
Apart from the spelling issue, this research also shows that the use of abbreviations influences the use of punctuation as well as causing grammar mistakes in the written production.
A major part of the number of respondents declares these in the questionnaire. Similar to the previous study done by Dounia (2016), students perform various mistakes including the use of abbreviations, the misemploy of punctuation, incorrect spelling and capitalization issues. These mistakes are observable in most of the writing of students in their class work or during examination and these cause them to achieve only weak level on their academic writing. The commitment of such mistakes is mainly attributed from the excessive use of abbreviations (Dounia, 2016). Hence, it is visible and clear that the use of abbreviations affects the writing of ESL learners on the subject of causing misspelling, misuse of punctuation as well as the mistake on grammar.
28