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European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 3 │Issue 11 │2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1148814 EFFECT OF THE USE OF INSTANT MESSAGING APPLICATIONS ON WRITING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION Emmanuel Arthur-Nyarkoi Department of Educational Communication and Technology, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya Abstract: The use of Instant Messaging (IM) applications on the mobile phones of the youth has become inextricably attached to their everyday lives. Students on university campuses cannot leave their mobile phones behind for a minute because of the importance they attach to the use of IM applications. This paper investigated how the use of abbreviations in IM affects the writing of Standard English language of learners of English as a second language. A sample of 150 students in their 3rd and 4th years at Kenyatta University was used. The study also interviewed a lecturer on the problem. While students indicated that the IM usage does not do any harm to their formal English writing, a faculty member disagreed. It was recommended that awareness should be created through seminars and lectures to bring the issue to the fore for students. This would help students to be cautious of the use of IM. Keywords: Instant messaging, textisms, textees, computer-mediated communication, students, Kenyatta University 1. Introduction The use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) has enjoyed much popularity in recent times. Instant messaging (IM) is a form of CMC that is widespread on university campuses. This has attracted the attention of researchers to their uses and effects on students learning (Quan-Haase, 2008). Its use is hugely noticed among university students and these applications are found on almost every student’s mobile phone. IM Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 861 Emmanuel Arthur-Nyarko EFFECT OF THE USE OF INSTANT MESSAGING APPLICATIONS ON WRITING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION applications allow students as well as users to send real-time text messages to individuals or group of friends at a little cost through the Internet. Recent developments indicate that more than 700 million users are actively using WhatsApp IM application with India alone having a user base of more than 70 million (Kim, 2015). Additionally, over 30 billion messages are generated and sent every day through the system. Another development that is of great interest in the use of this application is the growth rate. Radicati Group Inc. (2013) projects that IM accounts are expected to increase from over 3.4 billion in 2013 to over 4.4 billion by year-end 2017 worldwide. This represents an average growth rate of about 7% and this should be a matter of concern to educators and other policy makers. The use of IM in the workplace hit the limelight a few decades ago. This attracted the attention of researchers to the use of IM among employees in an organization. Recent research on the appropriateness of IM in work context remains skeptical about its relevance to the workplace (Swartz, as cited in Lin, Chan & Jin, 2004). While Rennecker and Godwin (2003) believe that IM could decrease the productivity of workers and pose security threat to the organization, de Vos et al. (2003) on the other hand argue that it helps with corporate communication. The youth’s use of IM has reached astronomical proportions. De ”akker, Sloep and Jochems intimate that the medium is used on a much more serious level than many adults might think p. . “ survey in the United States showed that more than 70% of today’s youth use IM, with ages between –17 year olds and 6–29 year olds in The Netherlands (PEW Internet, 2005; Qrius, 2005). Some researchers (e.g. PEW Internet, 2005; Qrius, 2005) believe that IM has become the major means of communication especially among the youth and comes with its own language and culture. There is no doubt that the youth constitute about 80 to 90 percent of the undergraduate student population on our university campuses today. It, therefore, makes a lot of sense to say that students on campuses make significant use of IM for various purposes. With IM having its own language and culture well understood by the youth, its effects, at all cost, would be witnessed in every facet of their lives. Culture encompasses the way of life of group people. The culture and language of IM use among students have triggered much interest among researchers. Though there exist quite a number of literature on IM on campuses, the concentration has been on North America and other western countries. For example, out of 138 American university students studied by Hu, Wood, Smith, and Westbrook (2004), it was reported that 89% use IM. Again, in Quan-Haase’s study of Canadian university students in 2007, it was revealed that 97% of students are users of IM. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 11│ 2017 862 Emmanuel Arthur-Nyarko EFFECT OF THE USE OF INSTANT MESSAGING APPLICATIONS ON WRITING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION However, Africa seems to be lagging behind in terms of research on IM and apparently, among university students on campuses. So far, there has been no empirical data on the effect of IM use on students’ English writing skills in Kenyatta University. A study into the effects of IM applications on students English writing skills is of great importance and essence, in the first place, to add to the body of knowledge on the use of IM among students. Secondly, the study provides reliable data on the effect of these applications on learning English as a second language. To this end, the objectives of this paper were in four folds. First, it explored the kinds of IM applications used by students. Second, it identified the kinds of writings used by students on IM applications. Thirdly, it determined how often student use IM applications. Finally, it established the effect of writing style in IM on students English writing skills. For viewing / downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/1379 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 11│ 2017 863