THE EFFECTS OF TEXT MESSAGING TO THE SPELLING ABILITY OF THE BSBA-HRDM 1-2N STUDENTS OF THE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THEPHILIPPINES, STA. MESA, MANILA, SCHOOL YEAR 2013-2014
A Research Paper Submitted in Partial of the Requirements in ENGL1023 (Writing in the Discipline)
By: Abela, Michael Jay Acosta, Ansherina Deocareza, Jasmine Mae Gacusana, Ayana Mae Salvador, Rhenpaul BSBA-HRDM 1-2N
To: Prof. Sylvia Basilio
Polytechnic University of the Philippines March 2014
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We are so blessed to have everyone who has been part of this very successful research. A lot of thanks for all of your participation p articipation and cooperation! First, to the students of BSBA-HRDM 1-2N; despite our hectic schedules and lots of activities, you guys still manage to give few minutes to answer our surveys. We deeply appreciate it! To the members of our group; thank you guys for giving our deepest endeavor on accomplishing this research and doing our own parts! Next, to the families of our group members; we‟re so thankful f or your continuous support and guidance to us! Then, to our dear professor, Prof. Sylvia Basilio; we‟re so blessed for having you as our mentor and for giving us enough knowledge regarding this research! And finally, to the Creator; who keeps on blessing us and keeps us motivated to do our everyday tasks! Thank you and God bless!
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Problem and its Background Statement of the Problem……………………………………………………1 Problem……………………………………………………1 Scope and Limitation……………… Limitation…………………………………………… ………………………………………..2 …………..2 Definition of Terms………………………………………………………….2
Chapter II: Review of Related Literature Foreign Literature………………… Literature…………………………………………… …………………………………………3 ………………3 Local Studies…………………………… Studies……………………………………………………… …………………………………...6 ………...6
Chapter III: Methodologies Methodologies Research Design…………………………… Design……………………………………………………… ………………………………10 ……10 Respondents……………………………….……………………………….10 Data Gathering…………………………… Gathering………………………………….……………………… …….………………………….10 ….10 Statistical Treatment………………… Treatment…………………………………….………… ………………….………………….11 ……….11
Chapter IV: Presentation of Data Gathered Tables………………………………………………………………………12
Chapter V: Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations Recommendations Findings……………………………………………………………………24 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………25 Recommendations…………………………………………………………26 Recommendations………………………………………………………… 26 Bibliography……………………………………………………………….26
CHAPTER I: THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
The generation of today has been totally engaged to texting. Be it for emergency, study needs, or simply just for fun. Texting practically helps us in our everyday life but it can somehow affect us most specifically with our writing - enough for us to conduct a research which focuses on the study of the effects of text messaging in our spelling ability. We all use our mobile phones for texting and it has been a huge part of our everyday routine. This study aims to inform us on how text messaging affects us in our study, the community and the whole country as well. For in this changing world of texting era, most people aren‟t really aware of what it can bring us. Statement of the Problem
This research was undertaken to know the effects of text messaging to the spelling ability of BSBA-HRDM 1-2N students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa Manila. Specifically, the researchers sought to answer the following questions: 1. How much time do BSBA-HRDM 1-2N students spend in texting? 2. How do BSBA-HRDM 1-2N students text? 3. How many text messages do BSBA-HRDM 1-2N students send a day? 4. How does texting affect BSBA-HRDM 1-2N 1-2N students‟ spelling ability? 5. In what way does texting make BSBA-HRDM 1-2N 1-2N students‟ bad spellers? 1
Scope and Limitation
This study looked into how text messaging affects the spelling ability of the students which depends on how often do they text and on how they do texting. Only 50 students from the BSBA-HRDM 1-2N of the PUP Sta. Mesa, school year 2013-2014 were involved. Definition of Terms Text Messaging -
Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and
sending a brief, electronic message between two or more mobile phones, or fixed or portable devices over a phone network. The term originally referred to messages sent using the Short Message Service (SMS). It has grown to include messages containing image, video, and sound content (known as MMS messages). The sender of a text message is known as a “texter ”, while the service itself has different colloquialisms depending on the region. It may simply be referred to as a text in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, an SMS in most of mainland Europe, and a TMS or SMS in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Spelling-
Spelling is writing or stating the letters and diacritics of a word.
Words generally have accepted standard spellings which can vary regionally or nationally. In the sense of a standard, spelling is one of the elements of orthography and a prescriptive element of alphabetic languages. Mobile Phones -
An electronic telecommunications device, often referred to
as a cellular phone or cellphone. Mobile phones connect to a wireless communications network through radio wave or satellite transmissions. Most mobile phones provide voice 2
communications, Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service (MMS), and newer phones may also provide Internet services such as Web browsing and e-mail.
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
The review of related literature of this study focuses on the negative impact of text messaging to the students‟ academic success. While the other review focuses on how text messaging ruins the use of students to the languag es as they apply them in writing.
Foreign Literature Does Text Messaging Negatively Impact Student Academic Success?
Jacqui Murray | August 30, 2012 at 10:18 am PST Cisco Blogs Across the education landscape, student text messaging is a bone of contention among teachers. It‟s not an issue in the lower grades because most K -5 -5 schools successfully ban successfully ban cell phones during school schoo l hours. Where it‟s a problem is within grades 6-12, 6-12, when teachers realize it‟s a losing battle to separate students from their phones for eight hours.
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The overarching discussion among educators is texting‟s utility in providing providing authentic experiences to students, the type that transfer learning from the classroom to real life. Today, I‟ll focus on a piece of that: Does text messaging contributes to shortening student attention span or destroying their nascent writing ability. Let‟s start with attention span. TV, music, busy daily schedules, and frenetic family life are likely causes of a student‟s short attention span. To fault text messaging is like blaming the weather for sinking the Titanic. Texting has less to do with their inability to spit out a full sentence than their 1) need for quickness of communication, 2) love for secrecy, and 3) joy of knowing a language adults don‟t. What about writing? In the thirty years I‟ve been teaching everyone from kindergarteners to college. I can tell you that children are flexible, masters at adjusting actions to circumstances (like the clothes they wear for varying events and the conversations they have with varying groups of people). There is no evidence to support that these elastic, malleable creatures are suddenly rigid in their writing style, unable to toggle between casual texting shorthand with friends and a professional writing structure in class. In general, I‟m a fan of anything that gets students writing, and there are real benefits to giving students the gift of textual brevity rather than the stomach-churning fear of a five- paragraph paragraph structured essay. I‟ve done don e quite a few articles on the benefits of Twitter‟s 140140-character approach to writing and my teacher‟s gut says the same applies same applies to text messaging. Truth, studies on this topic are inconclusive. 4
Some suggest that because young students do not yet have a full grasp of basic writing skills, they have difficulty shifting between texting‟s abbreviated spellingspelling doesn‟t-matter doesn‟t-matter language and Standard English. But a British study suggested students classify „texting‟ as „word play‟, separate from the serious writing done for class and results in no deterioration in writing skills. Yet another study found that perception of danger from texting is greater than the reality: 70% of the professionals at one college believed texting had harmful effects on student writing skills. However, when analyzed, the opposite was true: Texting was actually beneficial. It‟s interesting to note that texting tex ting can be a boon to children who struggle with face-to-face face-to-face situations. These „special needs‟ students flourish in an environment where they can write rather than speak, think through an answer before communicating it, and provide pithy conversational gambits in lieu of extended intercourse. In the texting world, socially-challenged children are like every other child, hidden by the anonymity of a faceless piece of metal and circuits. Here‟s a heart-warming heart -warming story by parents of an autistic child who found their first true communication with their fourteen-year-old boy via text messaging. To blame texting for student academic failures is a cop-out by the parents and teachers entrusted with a child‟s education. Treated as an authentic scaffold to academic goals, teachers will quickly incorporate it into their best-practices pedagogy of essential tools for learning.
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Local Studies Text Messaging Bastardizing Language?
Manila, June 10, 2002 (STAR) Bastardizing language. This is what teachers have to say about text messaging. With the Philippines being tagged as the "texting capital of the world," many wonder how the proliferation of mobile phones has affected the Filipinos‟ facility for languages. Reading students‟ essays with words like "4u or 2gthr yrs 18r" and an d looking at the signpost that reads "Ped Xing" (meaning pedestrian crossing), one can tell that cellular text messaging or Short Messaging Service (SMS) has revolutionized the way Filipinos talk, write and read. But doesn‟t text messaging further thwart or o r impede the facility for languages? Assistant professor Mildred Rojo-Laurilla, of De La Salle University-Manila‟s University-Manila‟s Department of English and Applied Linguistics (DEAL), attempts to provide answers in her research titled A Preliminary Investigation on the Linguistic Aspects of Text Messaging.
Using the Dell Hymes theory of "Ethnography of Speaking" that studies how culture, language and society interact, Laurilla is able to capture the existing and even underlying relationships between and among variables examined.
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Laurilla administered a questionnaire to 433 first-year English students from the De La Salle University (297) and from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños in Laguna (136). Laurilla‟s study establishes several facts. In the Philippines, the t he cellular phone industry widely caters to the younger market. The study shows that most of the respondents aged 16 to 21, majority of them 17- to 18-year-olds, have cellular phones (95 percent, DLSU; 71 percent, UPLB). Most of them are prepaid phone users, with an average spending profile of P400 to P500. Texting is part of the youth‟s cellular phone use, but students are generally low frequency texters (54 percent, DLSU; 71 percent, UPLB). Early to late evenings is the most preferred time for texting, owing perhaps to the fact that they are already out of school and use their time on leisurely activities, including texting. Students admit to abbreviating (89 percent, DLSU; 100 percent, UPLB), citing convenience as the number one reason for doing so. Other reasons given: it is the "in" thing or fad, or that they do not know the spelling of the words. In terms of language use, the 150 respondents who participated in the "actual texting," prefer to use "texted English" or the abbreviated form of English if they send messages or reply to messages that take the form of "pure" or straight English and the texted or abbreviated English. Fifty percent of the respondents did not respond to text sent to them via "pure" Filipino and Filipino/English pure or texted code-switched forms. The rest of the respondents had mixed preferences for the language to be used whether in pure Filipino, 7
pure English or pure Filipino/English code-switched forms or their texted forms when responding to text sent to them via pure Filipino and English/Filipino pure or abbreviated code-switched forms. There seems to be ambivalence on the effects of texting on their language competencies. Both DLSU and UPLB students believe that texting has no negative effects at all on their language competencies, such as grammar and spelling. Majority of both DLSU and UPLB respondents have a positive attitude toward texting (82 percent, DLSU; 79 percent, UPLB). Statistical tests show that there are no significant differences in the grammar and spelling scores of both cellular phone owners and non-owners. It can be implied that the students‟ performance in terms of their language skills or competencies is independent or not related at all to the fact that they own cellular phones. Among cellular phone owners, their frequency of texting has no effect on their grammar and spelling scores. Similarly, it can also be implied that language skills or competencies are independent of the extent they use the technology. Despite the respondents‟ overexposure to the cellular cellular phone technology, it does not, in any way, cause them to do poorly in class, especially in grammar and spelling. Laurilla suggested that "real" or more recognizable effects of texting on students‟ grammar and spelling competencies may be seen if the respondents were the more vulnerable ones like high school or elementary students who are just beginning to develop language and communication skills.
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Laurilla partly dispelled the popular observation that cellular phones may bring more harm than good to students. Results of her study indicate that college students are able to discern the formal language – language – the the kind that is used in the classroom – from from the non-conventional texted English. Indirectly, the technology serves as an "image maker" for the youth, who are impressionable and are finding their own identities. The college students are mature enough to know their personal academic capabilities and what the technology means to them. (Laurilla finished M.A. Communication Studies at the University of North Iowa in the United States. Aside from language and technology, she also specializes on gender studies, popular culture, mass communications, mediated discourse and sociolinguistics. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at DLSU-Manila. The paper will be presented at the 52nd Annual International Communication Association (ICA) Conference on July 15-19 in Seoul, Korea.) Source: Breakthrough, DLSU
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGIES METHODOLOGIES
Research Design
This thesis used the descriptive method to describe data and characteristics used to describe the population. The purpose is to acquire accurate, factual, systematic data. It is used to achieve the objectives of this study. This seeks to describe a present existing condition, which in this study were the effects of text messaging to the spelling ability of the students in PUP. Respondents
The respondents of this thesis are the students of BSBA HRDM 1-2N, PUP Sta. Mesa. The students are consisted of 13 male and 37 female. Data Gathering
The data were drawn from 50 students of the College of Business, Major in Human Resource Development Management of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa who were interviewed by us, the researchers. The researchers used the survey method to get their answers. an swers.
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Statistical Treatment
Individual responses were tallied before they are put into tables ready for statistical treatment. Percentage was utilized to quantify the data gathered for the problems. The formula for percentage is:
) ( Where: p = percentage n = number of respondents 50 = total number of respondents
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CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA GATHERED
Introduction
This chapter presents the findings, analysis and interpretation of data gathered whose main objective is to find out ou t the effects of text messaging to the spelling sp elling ability of the students in BSBA HRDM 1-2N. The class consists of 13 boys and 37 girls at ages ranging from 16-18 years old. Table 1: Do you have a cellphone?
Answers
Total
Percentage
Yes
50
100%
No
0
0%
Analysis: Table 1 shows the frequency of the respondents having cellphone. 50 respondents or 100% answered yes meaning all of the respondents have cellphones.
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Table 2: How much time do you spend in texting?
Answers
Total
Percentage
1-3 Hours
32
64%
4-6 Hours
7
14%
7-9 Hours
8
16%
Others
3
6%
Analysis: Table 2 shows the frequency of respondent‟s time spent in texting. 32 or 64% of the respondent answered 1-3 hours consumed in their time for texting. 7 or 14% of the respondent answered 4-6 hours, 8 or 16% answered 7-9 hours in spent in texting and lastly 3 or 6% of the respondents answered others; thus they spend more than 9 hours in texting every day.
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Table 3: Do you shorten your words when texting?
Answers
Total
Percentage
Yes
10
20%
No
28
56%
Sometimes
12
24%
Analysis: Table 3 shows the frequency of respondents who shorten words when texting. 10 or 20% of the respondents answered yes, 28 or 56% of the respondents answered no meaning they complete the words when texting and 12 or 24% of the respondents answered sometimes with the reason that they are in a hurry.
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Table 4.1: Do you write compositions or other literary works?
Answers
Total
Percentage
Yes
34
68%
No
16
32%
Analysis: Table 4.1 shows the frequency of the respondents who writes compositions or other literary works. 34 or 68% of the respondents answered yes and 16 or 32% of the respondents answered no.
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Table 4.2: What kind of compositions do you write?
Answers
Total
Percentage
Songs
7
16%
Poems
11
25%
Journals
14
32%
Others
11
25%
Analysis: Table 4.2 shows the frequency of the respondents who answered yes in Table 4.1.This table shows what kind of literary pieces our respondents write. 7 or 16% of the respondents write songs, 11 or 25% of the respondents write poems, 14 or 32% of the respondents write journals and 11 or 25% of the respondents answered others such as novels, short stories or quotes. In this table does not result to 50 or 100% because of the multiple answers by some of the respondents. 16
Table 5: Does texting affects your writing?
Answers
Total
Percentage
Yes
4
8%
No
37
74%
Sometimes
9
18%
Analysis: Table 5 shows the frequency of the respondents that texting affects their writing. 4 or 8% of the respondents answered yes, 37 or 74% of the respondents answered no and 9 or 18% of the respondents answered sometimes. This table shows how texting isn‟t an obstacle for some of the respondents in writing literary pieces.
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Table 6: Does text messaging harm students‟ writing skills? Why?
Answers
Total
Percentage
Yes
19
38%
No
20
40%
Maybe
8
16%
Sometimes
3
6%
Analysis: Table 6 shows the frequency if text messaging can harm the writing skills. 19 or 38% of the respondents answered yes, 20 or 40% of the respondents answered no, 8 or 16% of the respondents answered maybe and 3 or 6% of the respondents answered sometimes. For the ones who answered yes, said that students always write the wrong spelling or they abbreviate words. No because and texting and writing are two different things and it may help improve the students writing skills. 18
Maybe because students are used to shortening words which they may apply in writing. Lastly the respondents answered sometimes because some can still write in a correct format then eventually writing in a texting format.
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Table 7: Do you sometimes abbreviate when you intend to write in Standard
English?
Answers
Total
Percentage
Yes
23
46%
No
24
48%
Sometimes
3
6%
Analysis: Table 7 shows the frequency of respondents who abbreviate when answered writing in Standard English. 23 or 46% of the respondents answered yes, 24 or 48% of the respondents answered no and 3 or 6% of the respondents answered sometimes.
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Table 8: How many text messages do you send per day?
Answers
Total
Percentage
1-9
8
16%
10-50
10
20%
60-100
9
18%
101-200
15
30%
Others
8
16%
Analysis: Table 8 shows the frequency of text messages the respondents send per day. 8 or 16%of the respondents answered 1-9 texts per day, 10 or 20% of the respondents 21
answered 10-50 texts per day, 9 or 18% of the respondents answered 60-100 texts per day, 15 or 30% of the respondents answered 101-200 texts per day and 8 or 16% of the respondents answered others meaning they send text messages higher than 200 per day. Table 9: Do you abbreviate when you write text messages?
Answers
Total
Percentage
Yes
16
32%
No
18
36%
Sometimes
16
32%
Analysis: Table 9 shows the frequency of respondents that abbreviate when composing text messages. 16 or 32% of the respondents answered yes, 18 or 36% answered no and 16 or 32% of the respondents answered sometimes.
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Table 10: Is texting make us bad spellers? If yes, in what way?
Answers
Total
Percentage
Yes
16
32%
No
26
52%
Sometimes
4
8%
It depends
4
8%
Analysis: Table 10 shows the frequency of the respondents‟ opinion about texting making us bad spellers. 16 or 32% of the respondents answered yes, 26 or 52% of the respondents answered no, 4 or 8% of the respondents answered sometimes, as well as it depends with the same number of total and percentage. To summarize the answer for those who picked yes, texting make us forget the right spelling of words, making it shorter.
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CHAPTER V: SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter presents the summary of the findings, conclusions drawn and recommendations outgrown from this study. This study is about the effects of text messaging to the spelling ability of the students in BSBA HRDM 1-2N.
Findings
1. 50(100%) of the respondents have cellphone. 2. 32(64%) of the respondents said that they spend 1 -3 hours in texting, 7(14%) spend 4-6 hours, while 8(16%) of the respondents consume 7-9 hours texting and 3(6%) respondents spend 10 hours in texting.
3. 10(20%) of the respondents said that they shorten their words when texting, 28(56%) said that they do not shorten their words when texting and 12(24%) sometimes shorten their words when texting.
4. 39(68%) of the respondents write compositions or literary works while 16(32%) of the respondents do not write compositions or literary works. 5. 7(16%) respondents compose songs, 11(25%) write songs, 14(32%) write journals and 11(25%) of the respondents write other forms of literary works.
6. 4(8%) of the respondents said that texting affects their writing, 37(74%) said that texting do not affect their writing, 9(18%) of them said that tex ting sometimes affect their writings. 7. 19(38%) of the respondents answers that texting harm their writing skills, 20(40%) said that texting do not harm their writing skills, 8(16) said that tex ting can maybe harm their writing skills and 3(6%) of the respondents said that texting can sometimes affect writing skills.
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8. 23(26%) of the respondents sometimes abbreviate when the y intend to write in standard English, 24(48%) respondents do not abbreviate when they intend to write in standard English and 3(6%) sometimes abbreviate when the y intend to write in standard English. 9. 8(16%) respondents send 1-9 text messages per day, 10(20%) send 10-20 messages a day, 9(18%) send 60-100 text messages a day, 15(30%) send 101-200 text message per day and 8(16%) send 200 and above text messages per day.
10. 16(32%) of the respondents said that they abbreviate when texting, 18(36%) respondents do not abbreviate when writing text messages, and 16(32%) respondents sometimes abbreviate when texting. 11. 16(32%) respondents agreed that texting makes us bad spellers, 26(52%) respondents do not agree that texting tex ting makes us bad spellers and 4(8%) of the th e respondents answered It depends.
Conclusion
The researchers believe that text messaging has a positive and quite negative effect on the writing ability of the students. Based on the findings of the study, we can conclude that with greater exposure to text tex t messaging, a lesser possibility of damage is caused on the writing ability of students. In the surveys cond ucted at Polytechnic University of the Philippines Sta. Mesa Manila, the majority of students thought that tex t messaging would have a positive positive impact on students‟ writing and literacy. If taken as a whole, these studies seem to indicate the opposite o f the concern that text messaging is bad for literacy. At this point in time, it is not possible possible to determine specifically the effects of instant messaging on formal writing. However, in the nex t generation, one clear conclusion is that instant messaging is becoming an impo rtant literacy in kids' lives, and consequently one that needs to be recognized by teachers. In the end, these studies don‟t support the concerns that texting is harmful to literacy.
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Recommendations
1. Students should not abbreviate when writing text m essages. 2. Students should read dictionaries or other books to enhance their writing skills. 3. Students should not shorten their words because the y might apply it when writing compositions. 4. Students should discipline themselves of how to avoid spelling errors. 5. The researchers only surveyed a tiny part of o f the students nowadays. It is highly recommended to have a thorough research about the subject.
Bibliography
http://www.philstar.com/telecoms/164111/text-messaging-bastardizing-language
http://blogs.cisco.com/cle/does-text-messaging-negatively-impact-studentacademic-success/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/mobile_phone.html
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