Effects of the language of social media on English language users: A case study of Caritas University

Abstract

This study aims at reconfirming whether the problems some writers had associated with the language of social media and their effects on regular standard English really exist, as well as their causes. The population for the study is 100 level students of Caritas University numbering 509 and lecturers numbering 153. Random sampling method is used to draw a sample of 100 students and 20 lecturers from the four existing faculties in the University. The administrations of a test in the form of essay writing, questionnaires and a list of acronyms for interpretation are used for data collection. Tables are used as raw scores and percentages in the presentation and analysis of data. Findings from the analysis indicate that although the majority of students (youths) and lecturers (elderly people) use social media language when writing in WhatsApp, Twitter and SMS, the language does not usually reflect in their formal writings. The findings confirmed the already existence of the problems in interpreting the language of social media, as well as the cause of the problems. The study therefore, concluded that since the social media language is popular with the majority of the population for the study but does not reflect much in their formal writing: it then means that two types of English now exist side by side-social media English and the regular standard English. Consequently, the researcher recommends as follows: that there should be a compilation of standardized dictionary of social media Englishcontaining acronyms and their meanings which all users of social media must adhere to just as the Oxford or Webster dictionary of English language. This new dictionary should be used in schools together with the regular dictionaries of English. Any deviation from these standardized acronyms and meanings should be considered an error in social media language and this will subject writers to standardized convention.