Abstract:
This study aims at assessing the effects of social media language (net language) on the
formal writing of Mount Mary College of Education students. A total of 150 students
made up of 60 males and 90 females who study English language and French were
used for this research. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the
respondents. The Initialism Theory which was modified by David Crystal was used as
a framework for this study. Respondents‟ whatsapp screen shots, marked quiz papers
and group assignments were analysed. The study concluded that social media do
affect respondents‟ formal writing when they write individually. However, it does not
affect students when they work in groups. Another conclusion that was drawn from
the study was that respondents use all kinds of social media language such as
clipping, abbreviation, alphanumeric homophony, vowel deletion, and graphone
among others. The study revealed that most of the respondents use social media or
internet language when typing on social media to facilitate their communication
process.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Foreign Languages
Education and Communication, submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, in
partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Teaching English as a Second Language – TESL)
in the University of Education, Winneba
SEPTEMBER, 2019’