Zine El Abidine DORBANE
Dr. Farida DJAILEB
Université d’Oran 2 Mohamed Ben Ahmed
Laboratoire Traduction et Méthodologie TRADTEC
Abstract
The use of cyberlanguage through different communication media (Cell Phones, Computers) has changed the way we write. This new writing does not respect the conventional codes spellings. The aim of this work is to complete studies interested in this new phenomenon and the repercussions on the written English language. The purpose of this study is to explore whether using social networking sites such as Facebook impacts the writing of EFL students or not, as well as to establish the students and teachers’ perception on how social networking sites such as Facebook help to improve or inhibit the students’ writing skills. As data collection tools, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used explore the impact of EFL university students’ use of the social networking sites. A classroom dictation checklist and two questionnaires were conducted in the Department of English, Faculty of Letters, Languages and Arts, University of Djillali Liabes, Sidi Bel Abbès. Piloted questionnaires were given to Fifty (50) first-year students, fifty (50) third-year students, and eight (8) teachers in the same department. After the data were coded and analyzed, the major findings revealed that cyberlanguage affected students writing skills in several ways.
Keywords: cyber language; conventional spelling; social networks; expertise.
1. Introduction
For several years, the issue of cyberlanguage and its impact on the English language, especially spelling, has been booming.
Today, social networks are becoming increasingly popular, especially among young people, thanks to social networks, the Internet has become an important means of communication and a way to maintain a social life.
In this research, we focus on the role of social networks in education in general, and especially in foreign language teaching. The use of social networks can bring new opportunities to language teaching, as the amount of authentic material available increases, information is easier to find and this technology can facilitate communication between students themselves as well as between teacher and students. In addition, new software designed for teaching, especially language teaching, appears regularly. From our perspective, it is useful for the teacher at least to consider this new technology and keep their eyes open. Not all new applications and programs necessarily contribute to teaching, but from time to time it is possible to find useful services, which facilitate the teacher’s work and can bring new activities to the courses. In that regard, several studies have been conducted in recent years, but few of them study the relationship between cyberlanguage and spelling.
2. Social Media
The term social media was first introduced in 1994-1995 when the first web-based Social Networking Site “Geocities” was founded. Later, in 1997, AOL instant messenger and Sixdegrees.com were launched; however, social networking sites really emerged when Friendster took-off in 2002, followed by LinkedIn and MySpace in 2003. Then, the most popular site “Facebook” was dropped in 2004, followed by “Twitter” in 2006. Facebook has become the most successful social media because of its unique platform and that made the word “Social Media” spread across the world. These personal profiles can include any type of information, including photos, video, audio files, and blogs.
Social networks include Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. They are unique web-based services that allow people to: “ construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and 3view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system” (Boyd & Ellison, 2008, p. 211).
Which permits users to communicate with people who already are part of their social network. Although the difference, for many, especially in popular discourse, the term “social media” is used interchangeably with Social Networking Sites.
Among a number of social networking sites, Facebook is the most widely used social networking site used by various ages from children to adults. When it was created in 2004, it was used to facilitate social interaction among students of Harvard University. According to the Harvard Institute of Politics (2011), more than 90% of students reported that they were Facebook users. Davies (2012) stated that Facebook has become the most popular site and source for news updates and online communication, with more active users than any other social networking sites.
3. Cyberlanguage
The main characteristics of a so-called „network“ communication are the saving of gestures and the saving of time. The different media used for this mode of communication (SMS, chat, instant messaging…) require a certain adaptability to writing. Moreover, the new constraints of these communications (according to a limited number of characters, such as the speed of communication) require short and fast sentences to write.
This gave rise to a new type of writing: cyberlanguage. The latter presents very special characteristics explained in the article by Bouillaud, Chanquoy and Gombert (2007), namely, the absence of capital letters at the beginning of the sentence, a very reduced punctuation despite its essentially expressive function, the use of logograms, the absence of syntax and the recoding of words according to phonological criteria only.
Boyd, D., & Ellison (2007) found that with the use of cyberlanguage, there was an arrival on the word in its visual entity even if it existed at the time of telegrams. The process being the same, we can then ask ourselves the essential question of our study, namely, can the fact of practicing with high intensity the „SMS“ language and of being strongly exposed to it generate new automatisms which influence the conventional writing of the subjects?
Moreover, we can see that cyberlanguage is spreading on a daily basis through other modes of communication, such as television and its advertising spots or newspapers, and even the courses of some university teachers. Therefore, we assume that an increasing number of individuals are in more or less direct and frequent contact with this new language.
In this research, we will try to understand which cognitive processes are modified and in which ways they are modified to generate a systematic and involuntary use of writing in cyberlanguage, without distinction between the latter and conventional writing, thus causing a phenomenon of dysorthographia in the subjects.
4. Problematic
In summary, studies by Liu, Y. (2010). and Kamnoetsin, Tharinee (2014) show that young students (18/28 years old) are the biggest users of cyberlanguage. In our study, we will observe at what age the frequency of use and exposure increases among pupils in the university. i.e. how the practice evolves between 1st and 3rd-year LMD students. Then, other researchers such as Davies, R (2014), Bouillaud, Chanquoy and Gombert (2007) and Coe and Oakhill (2011) looked at the effects that cyberlanguage could have on the spelling level of students in the written language acquisition phase. They found that cyberlanguage did not necessarily interfere with the learning of spelling by apprentice readers during the acquisition of written language, whereas many standard readers, having acquired written language. i.e. according to phonology without worrying about the orthographic standards learned in previous years. We would then like to study whether the level of exposure to cyberlanguage and the intensity of its practice are correlated with students‘ spelling results, first by explaining whether the intensity of exposure and practice increases with the age of the subjects.
In a way, in parallel with the various studies conducted by Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007), we want to figure out if the knowledge and mastery of the „SMS codes“ and that of the language standards specific to spelling explains the presence or, on the contrary, the absence of spelling errors on the part of the student, regardless of age, frequency of use and exposure to cyberlanguage. We would like to understand if mastery and knowledge of the codes specific to each language (here, English language and cyberlanguage) influences the relationship of students to the latter, i.e. does mastery of the codes allow the user, whatever his age, level and practices, to distinguish which language to adapt according to the medium, the situation and the expected purpose. Finally, we will try to understand which cognitive processes are modified and in which ways they are modified to generate a systematic and involuntary use of writing in cyberlanguage, without distinction between the latter and conventional writing, thus causing a phenomenon of dysorthographia in the subjects.
5. Hypotheses
The following hypotheses spring out from these pre-mentioned problematic:
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The level of exposure and control of the cyberlanguage, i.e. the students’s expertise influences the proportion of errors in „SMS“ and „traditional“ dictation: the higher the level of expertise, the higher the number of phenomena in both dictations will be.
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The age of the students influences the proportion of mistakes in „SMS“ and „traditional“ dictation: the younger the student, the higher the number of errors in traditional dictation and lower in „SMS“ dictation. Conversely, the older the student, the higher the number of phenomena in the two dictations, because it is assumed that the higher the level of expertise, the higher the level of expertise, the more phenomena are reported in the „traditional“ dictation (a mixture of standards of orthographic usage and media).
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The proportion of phenomena produced will be higher in „SMS“ dictation than in „traditional“ dictation.
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The age of the students influences the level of expertise of the latter: the younger a student is, the less exposed he will be to the cyberlange and the level of mastery will be low, conversely, the older the student will be, the more exposed he will be and will master the cyberlanguage.
6. The Target Population’s Profile
The research participants were 1st-year and 3rd-year University students in the Department of English, Faculty of Letters, Languages and Arts, University of Djillali Liabes, Sidi Bel Abbès, the students in this study have their willingness to participate in the current study by accepting to respond to the questionnaires and undertake dictation tests. This study is also concerned with eight (8) English teachers (males and females) in the Department of English who were chosen at random as they have different teaching experiences, among these participants, there are full-time, part-time and associate teachers.
The choice was made regardless of their age, gender and length of experience in their professional career. Thus, the reason for including them in the current study was to gain more relevant and deeper data since they are direct observers of their students and are aware of the challenges they may face while writing.
7. Main Findings and Discussion
The objective of this research was, on the one hand, to analyze whether or not students are exposed to cyberlanguage as of now and, on the other hand, to report on the evolution of „standard“ spelling knowledge in parallel with the exposure and use of cyberlanguage. The first hypothesis predicted that 3rd-year university students would have to commit just as many mistakes than those of 1st year in classical dictation. This one is completely invalidated. Indeed, according to Nunan, D. (1989) developmental model, 1st-year university students make more errors than 3rd-year students, that is, according to our study, the former produce more errors. This result can be explained by a better mastery of conventional orthographic standards over the years, as well as a better adaptation of the writing produced to the medium. Younger university students have, therefore, less assimilated conventional orthographic norms than their elders. Also, older university students have assimilated „SMS codes“ more, because they use this mode of writing more than younger students.
The second hypothesis assumed that the level of exposure and control of cyberlanguage influences the proportion of errors produced in „SMS“ and „traditional“ dictation, the more a student is exposed and therefore expert in cyberlanguage, the higher the number of errors in both dictations will be, and this hypothesis is partially verified. Indeed, expert students produce fewer mistakes (all media combined) than non-expert students in the 1st year university. However, they produce more than the non-expert students at the 3rd year. Furthermore, we observed that the higher the students’ level, the higher the results on the conventional spelling test.
The third hypothesis was that students’ age affects the level of exposure and control of cyberlanguage. Indeed, we assumed that a young student would be less exposed to cyberlanguage than one of these seniors. This hypothesis has been tested: in 1st year, only 40% of students are capable of writing most of the words in their conventional form, while in the 3rd year, 68.7% of students are able to do that. This can be explained by the length of the practice. Indeed, few most of the students still use mobile phones and computers, and their numbers are increasing each year with the rise of new computer technologies Liu, Y. (2010). They have, therefore, less practice than the 3rd year students who spend a little more time there.
The fourth hypothesis, according to which the percentage of errors produced is correlated to students’ level, is validated only for classical dictation. When the students’ educational level increases, the percentage of errors produced decreases. 3rd-year students who master the language better work more easily with the graphemes and phonemes that compose it, Boyd, D., & Ellison, N. (2007). Furthermore, we observe that when the educational level increases, the percentage of success in the dictation tests increases. Thus, conventional spelling rules are acquired more at the 3rdyear than at 1st year, but there is no difference according to expertise. The expertise of a subject would therefore not have a direct impact on conventional writing.
Following this study, we can conclude that the students’ expertise does not influence the conventional spelling level of students who have acquired conventional spelling standards. 3rd-year university students, whether they are experts or not, present better results and seem to know how to adapt the writing mode to the proposed support, they do not reproduce the spelling mistakes used in „SMS“ in classical dictation. They acquired the different norms, relative to each register and know how to use them wisely.
The general objective of this research was to study the links between classical spelling and cyberlanguage. Because of its exploratory nature, the results obtained have yet to be confirmed. More research in this area would better reflect on the evolution of spelling knowledge among experts. Moreover, this would also allow a better appreciation of the interactions between cyberlanguage and classical English spelling, so that the effects of these relationships can be clearly understood, particularly through studies on phonology or the implicit and explicit acquisition of spelling knowledge. Indeed, other studies could study the acquisition of conventional spelling standards and „SMS codes“ in students. It would be beneficial to look at how a student can integrate any norms in order to understand whether, and how, interactions between several norms are possible. This would make it possible to know if the acquisition of conventional orthographic standards and „SMS“ codes have any influence on students’ writing.
Also, research on the use of new computer technologies in schools would make it possible to account for use with positive or negative repercussions on young students. Indeed, teaching students to use new computer technologies can allow them to use them for purposes other than learning and lead to the partial or distorted acquisition of conventional spelling.
In addition, it would be useful to conduct a more in-depth study of the time spent per day reading or writing cyberlanguage in order to see the proportion that this represents according to the students’ school level. One may wonder if a 1st year university student, then 2nd and 3rd year, spends more time a day dealing with an unconventional writing (cyberlanguage) than a conventional writing, in order to observe its evolution and repercussions.
8. Suggestions and Recommendations
In order to facilitate the process of helping the students improve their writing skill, and encourage them to practice their standard academic English skills. We encourage students to take advantage of social networking sites and platforms to practice their written and spoken English while using formal English whenever possible, and in doing so attempt to communicate with foreign native English speakers if available.
It is also recommended for students to make educational facebook groups with their classmates to practice their formal English in a less formal context than the classroom.
9. Conclusion
We began this work by studying social networks as a general phenomenon and then as a tool in teaching and learning conventional English. In the theoretical part, we wanted to highlight the practical side by trying to understand how social networks can actually be used in language teaching and what language skills they can lead to and how. Finally, it seemed important to ask ourselves whether the evolution of conventional English did not integrate, over time, the most widespread words in this other mode of writing that is cyberlanguage, and therefore, if in the long term, the two types of writing will not form only one?
10. References
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[04] Davies, R. (2012, October 4). Facebook (FB) hits 1 billion user mark. ABC News.
[05] Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143-1168.
[06] Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools – A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.
[07] Harmer, J. (2007b). How to teach writing. (5th ed.). Pearson Education Limited.
[08] Kamnoetsin, Tharinee, „Social Media Use: A Critical Analysis of Facebook’s Impact on Collegiate EFL Students‘ English Writing in Thailand“ (2014). Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). Paper 2059.
[09] Liu, Y. (2010). Social media tools as a learning resource. Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange, 3(1), 101-114.
[01] Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[10] Nunan, D. (2000).Language teaching methodology: Textbook for teachers. Malaysia: Longman.