Asynchronous Online Social Communication among ESL Learners' prepared and submitted by Chong Pei Lin in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Diploma of English Language (Hons) is accepted. While writing text messages on this platform, it is observed that people prefer to use abbreviations instead of the full spelling of English words. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the reasons behind the use of abbreviations in asynchronous online social communication and the effects of use on written production among ESL learners.
The data shows that saving time and feeling easy and comfortable are the reasons why ESL learners use abbreviations. The findings of this research suggest that attention and guidance should be given to avoid such a phenomenon so that ESL learners will be able to produce academic writing with better quality. How often do you use correct English when you chat online. e.g. grammar and sentence structure).
INTRODUCTION
- Introduction
- Background of Study
- Statement of Problem
- Research Objectives
- Research Questions
- Significance of Study
- Limitations of Study
- Definition of terms
- Chapter Summary
Users of asynchronous online social communication prefer to use symbols and abbreviations when writing text messages. Therefore, this research will investigate the effects of using abbreviations in asynchronous online social communication on English writing among ESL learners. To explore the effects of using abbreviations in asynchronous online social communication on ESL learners' written English production.
Thus, it becomes the rule that peer influence increases the use of asynchronous online social communication. Therefore, this research focuses on the effects of the use of abbreviations in asynchronous online social communication on English writing. The research conducted is limited to determining the reasons for the use of abbreviations in asynchronous online social communication and their effects on English writing among ESL learners.
LITERATURE REVIEW
English used in social media and its effect on students at HSC level was a study proposed by Md. The study examined how the use of social media affects English learners and to determine whether the effects were more positive or negative as well as how social media facilitated or inhibited the students' English writing skills. The study revealed that Whatsapp and Facebook were mainly used for making friendships and chatting.
However, some of them improved their reading skills and responded that they can share ideas and discuss their quiz and exam questions on social media. The study found that promoting social media for academic use, providing counseling to students who are addicted, and promoting correct use of spelling and grammar are some ways to reduce and eliminate the negative effects of social media use (Haque. M.I., 2017). A Study on the Use of Whatsapp Abbreviations and Acronyms in Formal English Writing among TESL Graduate Students' identified text features mainly on abbreviations and acronyms used in Whatsapp and their effects on formal writing.
In order to obtain data for research, the research analyzed the conversations and essays as well as the answers of the respondents. The research showed that the use of abbreviations and acronyms was likely to occur in formal writing. The results encouraged to do more research so that the issues can be highlighted and it can also help to investigate the psychological state of students to influence their use of Whatsapp (Khairul Firdaus, 2017).
Netspeak and a Breach of Formality: The Informalization and Fossilization of Writing Errors among ESL and EFL Learners” explored writing errors among ESL and EFL learners due to the Netspeak phenomenon. The research provided insights that the use of Netspeak caused students to ignore their linguistic stability in formal writing (Shaari & Bataineh, 2015).
METHODOLOGY
- Introduction
- Research Design
- Research Site
- Participants
- Data Collection Instruments
- Data Collection Procedure
- Data Analysis Procedure
- Research Ethics
- Summary
The data related to this field of study is collected using a set of questionnaires in Google Form. The questionnaire consists of three sections, which are the demographic information, the reasons why participants use abbreviations in asynchronous online social communication, and the effects of using abbreviations for English formal writing. The responses of the participants are captured online in the Google Form system once they have completed and submitted the form.
Participants are asked to answer all questions of the questionnaires so that there is no missing or insufficient data. After all 100 sets of data have been collected, the researcher scans the data to identify their significance and ensure that the data is applicable to study the purpose of this research. The researcher then sorts the data and categorizes them accordingly to calculate the frequency.
The questionnaire is designed according to the current situation, and the collected answers are intended for academic purposes only. The information is not shared with other persons, except with the institution and the researcher herself. Participants provide answers honestly to obtain the most accurate data, and the researcher carefully analyzes the data to avoid misinterpretation.
The researcher respects intellectual property by referencing and citing the works and publications of others with appropriate citation. The participants are selected by convenience sampling method, and the main instrument of this research is a questionnaire consisting of three parts. Responses are collected, analyzed, interpreted and aggregated to obtain accurate data for this survey.
The research is conducted according to research ethics such as objectivity, privacy, honesty, caution and respect.
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
- Introduction
- Do you use abbreviations while you are using asynchronous online communication? . 12
- Do you take care of the spelling of words used while chatting online?
- Do you feel lazy to type the whole English words when you are sending text messages?
- You think that it will save your time when you use abbreviations on text messages
- You feel more easy and comfortable to use abbreviations when text messaging
- You have to deal with peer pressure when your friends are chatting with you using
- You can understand the abbreviations you encountered in social media
- You encounter problems while writing in formal English in school
- Using abbreviations on text messaging affects your formal English writing
- You mistakenly use abbreviations while writing essays or assignments
- You face problems to spell words correctly
- You may take a long time to recall the spelling of words
- Your marks for tests or assignment are deducted because of misspelling of words
- You feel confused with the use of punctuation when you are writing
- You come across with a lot of grammar mistakes when you are writing in school
- Summary
It can be seen that there are 3 respondents who rarely use correct English while chatting online. Next, Table 3 illustrates the number of respondents who take care of spelling words while chatting online. There are 2 respondents as shown, never think that using abbreviations on text messages is a time saver.
According to table 6, it categorizes the frequency of respondents who feel easier and more comfortable to use shortcuts when sending text messages. There are 52 and 32 surveyed very often and they always understand respectively the abbreviations they come across on social networks. There are also 43 respondents who constitute the largest proposition who face problems in formal English writing, while the other 9 respondents state that they always face problems.
There are 19 respondents who rarely think that the use of abbreviations on text messages affects their formal English writing while 13 of them feel that it sometimes affects their formal writing. There are 10 respondents who never use abbreviations incorrectly while writing assignment essays at school. According to the statistics in Table 12 which tabulate the frequency of respondents who have problems spelling words correctly, there are 10 respondents who never have such problems, while another 20 respondents rarely have problems spelling words.
There are 10 respondents, as shown in the table above, who take a long time to remember the spelling of words. It clearly states that there are 15 respondents who never rely on a spell checker to confirm the spelling of words. There are 12 respondents who use spell checkers, dictionaries or websites to check spelling and 1 respondent always depends on this software for spelling.
45 respondents will sometimes get a deduction for spelling mistakes, while 4 respondents encounter it very often in their tests or assignments. Table 16 then shows the number of respondents who feel confused by the use of punctuation when they write. As many as 35 respondents never encountered many grammatical errors when writing at school, as shown in the table.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
- Introduction
- Discussion
- Summary
- Conclusion
They are not stressed when they come across mass use of abbreviations by their friends while chatting online. The use of abbreviations is seen as a trend in online communication practices and is required to be followed so that users are not left behind (Shaari & Bataineh, 2015). Moreover, following the trend will make them feel comfortable about themselves, so they follow and imitate the use of shortcuts (Wulandari, 2018).
Now using abbreviations is already in trend and people are not forced to use them. In his research, he claims that despite the popularization of abbreviations in social life, obstacles are still present. Even many people use abbreviations in social media, texting and email, but it is believed that not everyone understands the meaning of the abundance of abbreviations used online.
In addition, the use of social media abbreviations has very often influenced formal writing among ESL learners, depending on the result interpreted from the questionnaire. Beforehand, the overuse of abbreviations affects formal English writing through errors in vocabulary spelling. In addition to the spelling problem, this study also shows that the use of abbreviations affects the use of punctuation and causes grammatical errors in written production.
The liability for such errors is mainly due to excessive use of abbreviations (Dounia, 2016). Therefore, it is visible and clear that the use of abbreviations affects the writing of ESL students on the subject of causing spelling errors, incorrect use of punctuation, as well as errors in grammar. This research is conducted to study the reasons for the use of abbreviations in asynchronous online social communication and the effects of the use of abbreviations in the English written production of ESL learners.
Moreover, the overuse of abbreviations also causes ESL students to have punctuation and grammar errors in their English written production.
