Effects of Social Media on Writing Comprehension 2
Effects of Social Media on Writing Comprehension
Topic
An investigation into the impact of digital social media on the writing and speaking skills of
tertiary level students in one institution in Lesotho
This journal article focuses on the impact of social media on writing and speaking skills
of students located in Lesotho, Africa. The study focuses on five lecturers and sixty students
from one anonymous school (Nkhi, 2023, p. 83). The objective of this article was to examine if
students who mostly communicate on social media had negative or enhanced consequences on
their academic performance in regards to their reading, writing and comprehension skills. The
secondary objective of this study was to see what effects social media had on students’ oral
presentation skills (Nkhi, 2023, p. 88) The data for this study was conducted by face-to-face
interviews with the educators and small focus groups with the students. The types of social
media examined were WhatsApp (2009), Facebook (2004), Instagram (2010), and Snapchat
(2011). These objectives are clearly outlined and the article followed a flow that made it easy to
comprehend.
The effect of social media on English second language essay writing with special reference to
WhatsApp
This article focuses on three different anonymous schools in the same district on the cape
of Southern Africa. In this study, the indigenous language is iXhosa and English is largely
treated as a secondary language taught in schools. However, understanding and speaking English
Effects of Social Media on Writing Comprehension 3
is extremely important for students who are up and coming job seekers as English is a globally
accepted language (Songxaba & Sincuba, 2019, p. 2). Due to the popularity of social media, this
article focuses on one hundred and eighty students spanning three different schools. The study
was trying to find if there was a positive or negative correlation between students who were
secondary English language students with a special attention to the ways students communicated
on Whatsapp (2009). The data was collected via students choosing a prompt from five pre-
approved prompts given and writing an essay. The essays were scoured by three categories:
Whatsapp language error, Whatsapp language error use of numbers, and use of words with letters
omitted (Songxaba & Sincuba, 2019, p. 4). The article and objective were clearly defined and
easy to follow along with.
Main Ideas
An investigation into the impact of digital social media on the writing and speaking skills of
tertiary level students in one institution in Lesotho
Based upon the students’ interviews, it was concluded that students are being negatively
affected by the way they communicate on social media. When students are speaking to peers via
social media, findings showed that they do not use punctuation, appropriate grammar or they
speak in shorthand (substituting letters for numbers) (Nkhi, 2023, p. 88). Being exposed to so
many forms of social media is translating into students’ academic behaviors and is hindering
them academically at a dangerous rate. This is the first study done on students who reside in
Lesotho, but the data collected from the five lecturers expressed major concerns about students’
lack of grammatical knowledge and appropriate punctuation or capitalization (Nkhi, 2023, p. 88).
One lecturer was quoted that students are “using informal grammar at a dangerous rate and it
could wind them up in dangerous waters in the future” as students prepare to go to college
Effects of Social Media on Writing Comprehension 4
(Nkhi, 2023, p. 89). However, students and lecturers both agreed that there is an advantage to the
ample amount of social media that students are exposed to. The positive finding is that social
media is helping students develop their oral communication skills (Nkhi, 2023, p. 89). For
example, one student used YouTube (2005) in their own time to develop their speaking skills for
a presentation (Nkhi, 2023, p. 89). Overall, students and lecturers agreed that social media is
affecting students negatively because they are using informal language so much more often than
formal or even academic language; however, the positive outcome is students' over exposure to
social media is helping students acquire better oral communication skills.
The effect of social media on English second language essay writing with special reference to
WhatsApp
The findings of this article was similar to Nkhi’s in the way that social media is
negatively affecting students’ ability to write academic essays. The results are astounding -
seventy-five percent of students used numbers instead of words, fifty-seven percent used poor
sentence structure and ninety percent of students completely omitted words (Songxaba &
Sincuba, 2019, p. 5). Additionally, students used “Whatsapp language” in their essays (Songxaba
& Sincuba, 2019, p. 6). Whatsapp language is the informal written dialect that shorthands words-
substituting letters for numbers, using emoticons or spelling words inappropriately (da instead of
the for example). Due to this, some essays were hard to score on the basis of not making sense in
sentence structure or grammatically.
Effects of Social Media on Writing Comprehension 5
Conclusion
An investigation into the impact of digital social media on the writing and speaking skills of
tertiary level students in one institution in Lesotho
This analysis suggests a nuanced relationship between social media exposure and student
communication skills. While evidence suggests a negative impact on students’ formal academic
writing and language due to an extreme use in online informal conventions, an interesting trend
emerged in regards to students’ enhanced fluency in oral and presentation skills (Nkhi, 2023, p.
89). While the findings in this article are eye-opening, long term studies need to be completed to
see how this could affect future generations as well. Since this study was the first of its kind in
regards to students located in Lesotho, more studies and data should be collected to give a crisp
and clear picture on what social media is doing to the youth and how the damage can be
combated.
The effect of social media on English second language essay writing with special reference to
WhatsApp
This analysis also suggests a correlation between poor writing comprehension skills and
student’s time spent on social media. There is a direct result that the more time students spend
reading or writing in informal language, the more of a chance that students will also use informal
language in academic settings (Songxaba & Sincuba, 2019, p. 6). This is proving to be
exceptionally troubling because it made it harder on the scorer to score due to them needing to
spend extra time trying to decipher what the student was trying to get across. Overall, the use of
informal language has a negative impact on students in general and this is something that should
be monitored and further research needs to be completed.
Effects of Social Media on Writing Comprehension 6
Reflection
An investigation into the impact of digital social media on the writing and speaking skills of
tertiary level students in one institution in Lesotho
Overall, this was extremely fascinating to me. Chromebooks were given to students in
my district for the first time my senior year of high school (2015). I first got social media in
seventh grade and can remember using slang or abbreviated words myself (I’m looking at you -
<3 heart!) I believe that the data is supported by the conclusions made by the author and this is a
thought provoking and - quite frankly - troubling situation. According to this study, students are
losing the ability to read, write and comprehend formal academic language at an alarming rate,
so this is something I believe needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. I think it is
extremely interesting that while there are negative impacts, students actually reported a positive
change in their confidence in oral presentations skills. I think the biggest things to be done to
improve the research would be to do it more frequently, change the way it is conducted and also
have a larger sample group. I think that focus groups are a great tool, but tertiary level students
are easily influenced, so they may have not been completely honest about the way they speak or
write to friends outside of a school setting; if a popular kid answered one way, other students
may have answered the same way. I liked the idea of having a list of prompts and allowing
students to give an essay sample based upon that. As previously stated, this is the first research
of its kind, so it is important to continue to conduct research and also expand to see how it is also
affecting elementary or secondary students. Lastly, I believe that narrowing down to one form of
social media would be helpful and show additional information instead of a broad spectrum of
“social media.” The most important thing I learned from this article is that every small decision
Effects of Social Media on Writing Comprehension 7
we make as humans has some form of consequence. The amount of time I or I allow my kids to
spend on social media can directly affect the way we think or read or comprehend.
The effect of social media on English second language essay writing with special reference to
WhatsApp
This article was extremely thought provoking. The data speaks for itself - using shorthand
informal language does indeed affect students’ ability to communicate and write in an academic
setting. I enjoyed that instead of focus groups, the researchers gave pre-chosen prompts and used
essays as their method of data collection. This makes it difficult for students to be influenced by
their friends’ answers. I believe that this can be improved by sampling the same amount of kids
from every school. For school one they sampled seventy students, school two sixty students were
sampled and school three had fifty students sampled. The ratings of these schools were not
disclosed in the article, so I am unaware if the socioeconomic statuses of the participants are the
same or if the students are all at similar mastery levels across the three schools. I feel like if
school one had students who are living in worse conditions compared to school three, that can
certainly throw off the study and give outliers that would otherwise not be there. Additionally,
there is now an extra facet to this complicated situation and that is English language learners are
also having a problem with reading and writing skills due to social media. I learned from
reading this article that this is almost like an epidemic, it is affecting so many students in a
negative manner; it does not matter if students are native English speakers or not. Students’ poor
communication skills need to be addressed.
Effects of Social Media on Writing Comprehension 8
References
Nkhi, S. E. (2023, February). An investigation into the impact of digital social media on
the writing and speaking skills of tertiary level students in one institution in Lesotho.
Journal of English for Academic, 10(1), 83-93.
Songxaba, S. L., & Sincuba, L. (2019). The effect of social media on English second
language essay writing with special reference to WhatsApp. Reading & Writing - Journal
of the Reading Association of South Africa, 10(1), 1-7.
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