University of Nigeria Virtual Library

Serial No ISSN: 1596-8510 Author 1 AKABOGU Josephine Uzo Author 2 Author 3

Title

The Mobile Phone SMS Communication Craze: Implications for Teaching and Learning English Language in Nigeria

Secondary Schools Keywords Description International Journal of Arts and

Technology Education

Category Education

Publisher Donze Press

Publication Date 2006

Signature

VOL. 5, No. -1

ISSN 1536

EDITORIAL NOTE

a " - ' ~ 5 y . a \ P . ~ p T m ~ b

-:,r.. - - . . . .

LIST OFCONTRIBUTORS , ,. . - t i n

IGBOKWE, UCHENNALEBECHI, Department ofArts ~dm%ioii Universityof Nigeria, Nsukka

AFANGIDEH, M-4RIAE. (PhD) fa cult^ of' Educatioiz U~zzversity of .Uyo. Uyo, Alnva Iborn Stcrte.

UZOEGWU, PATRICIANKECHI (PhD) Department ofArts Ed'ucation, U~ziversity ofhigeria, Nslrkka

TSWANYA, KOLO SAM. (PhD) Federai University ofTechnology, Minna, Niger State

YIADC'ABL'CHI, CHINYERE. H. Depni-rrr~ei~t qf'Ai.rs C I I ~ Social Science Education, E ~ O I I . L . ~

State Crr7iver.sit!; ., . x .

ONIGBO, S. %I. (Ph. D) aiufOKUIGB0, L. N. I L~~i11::~1-:;1~y o/:Viger;a, !Vs~ikIiu

OZIDI BARIKI. Department of French. L'r1ivcrsity of IIorin

ASOGW.4. UCHE DONATUS (Ph.D) Department of Arts Education, Universiv of'lvigeric: !Vstililia

v r t r . .

TRE MOBILE PHOXE SMS COi\/llMUSTCATION CRAZE: ;MPLICATIOYS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH LASGC.AGE IN NIGERIA SECOSDARY

SCHOOLS.

AKABOGC JOSEPHINE UZO (P1l.D) Deparment of Arts Education U~;!\*ers~t:; of Xigerm. Nsukka.

IXTRODL'CTIOS . .

The English Language is an invaluable !egacy ofcclcnialisin iv!l!cn !m increa.siilg!y assumed a srent importance ail over the worid. M31y c o ~ ! ~ t i e s ~'s~ecial!>r :he former British cclonies, realizing the i i -qormm oPEnglish as a Imguage of international communication. voluntari!y adopted It far official and solnetimes inter:thriic co!nmunicztion pwposss. Consequently: there have m e r g e d diEere:lt vnrieries of Eng!isil as 9 result ~f the nativiza~ion of non-

come into contact. [hey are i.oi::ld io ii~f!uciicc one another in :his casi--, [he English Language, which is externai to the Nigerian society. has been xdicaily transformed to adapt and integrate h!!y to tlic cultural and linguistic milleu of the society. The Nigeria!? English has been ~.srensively researched into and many books and arriclcts have been published on the Nicrerian English and its characteristics. l3a11jo 19- 1 . Jibril i98G. Jowitt 199 1 , Bamiro 1994. Bamgbose ! 995 are wl~o ie books and articles devoted to this and there are a hosr of

-P

others.

One mijor 5u:coine of the expansioii of rhe do~nains of English to electronic cummunication is the incsease i i l the number of Engiish L I S Z ~ S oftilt's? nledia. I I I O S ~ special ly. the younz ones. In addition rhc ?!ec:ronic ::?eiia pro~.idz iiel- contest for the writins psocess.

. . Kupzmn i3G01) sta::.s that the elecaonic media encourages tlic younger ones to participate in writins activity because i t provides n non-tiirzatenin~ atmosuherz ii? svhicli writers kc1 less inhibited a b o u ~ >-r 7

-7- -.~,+ressin,u dx:xsei~ .ss . 1 his paper ~lddresses thc: t'ollowing reseal-ch q u e s i i ~ n s ;

! . W ~ T challsnges do students" frequent exposure to

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THE MOBILE PHONE SMS CO.ii.IJfL:YIC.4TIO:I' CPJZE 84

electronic ,writing as in the case of the mobile phone SMS pose to the teaching and learning of English in our secondary scl~ools? What are the in~plications of electronic communication for the teaching and learning of English as a second language in Nigeria?

Computermediated colnrnunication can simply be defined as using computer technology to communicate. CXC is a process to shape media for a variety of purposes. (December, 1997). Compute:. mediated co~nlnunication includes e-mail text messaging online chats, bulletin boards, web pages, audio and video conferencing etc, The languaue of e-mail, online chats, web-based discussions and text

? messaging 1s marked by a host of text-bzsed icons and acronyms and changes in spelling norms for managin: social interaction. Abdullali (2003) also noted that CMC has not only revolutionized communication, it has also encouraged shy and timid students to

write because of its non-threatening atmosphere.

TliiS paper focuses on just one l;id of Computer Mediated Coin~nunication (CMC) the SMS messages: because of their wide. acceptance and use in Nigeria by both the ybung and the old as contemporary media of communication. SMS othe~wise knomvn as text messaging is the abbrel~iation for short messaging services. This is one of the modern ways to communicate through cell phones. Several people all over the world, particularly the younger ones, use their cell phones to send and receive texts, rather than solely for voice communication. Since text ixessaging are !imited to 160 characters. users have devised means of maximizing the space by the frequent use of incomplete sptences, condensed expressions, 1etter:'number homophones and non-conventional spellings. Thurlow (2003) observes that young people are the d&ng force behind a growing text messaging culture. Reidand Reid (2004) states that tex: messaging helps the users to develop, establish and maintain soclai contacts. This also helps them to fulfill a social relational or Phatic

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I

function of language. Thurlon. (2003) notnd that the socia! ecolog!! of' i j text messaging shows that close knit groups ~ t : 'tcsrmates' arc

I emerging from 'text circles'. ~ ~ ~ i t h i n \iyhich thry reylnriy exci~angs messages. The circles of rext users can constitute then~selves i n w a

: strong force or pressure group to fiyht a cam?. Fo: in:;;:1:1:=.. ti~~-ough . . -

' one test message \ X ' W T round the tesr circles in 1\':-rla 1;: LOO?. . .

i subscribers were able to k r c c thf ixo'bile ~ ~ I O I I C sc:-.ice prc:.lcle:.s j to reduce their t a rEra ies and. start cbz:-gi~?,n call: r7.s pel- sxonc-i : billing.

Text message is also heiping thc deaf and hzid of1iea:-,::c - C O ~ : : I U ; ; ~ ~ ? to overcome the geographic rind lingu~stic ha~-.-:-;-s :k) c f t w encounter in the heai-ing ~ ~ ~ i - l c i . Sciii i~d!~; (300- ideilrif~s, on? benefit of text messagin,n to the hearing ~mpaired 1): ~ p l e i~ p:-:\.id-:. them with apoteiitiall>. lif'e-sa\-in2 tool to report c:-i;?,:s.

An important fallout from the Sh4S is the nen ::nyis:ic l o r i ~ ~ i -7' emerging from its use. The broad categories as icien::fied i~-: i l ; ~ l i - I ~ \ ! -

(2003) are six viz: b

( 2 ) Shortening (b) Acronyms and Initiaiis11-. ( c j Letter~numbei- hornop!x;~-s id) Misspellings ( e ) Non-Con.ventiona1 speliinp a~id (F) Accent stylizaiion. B e i o ~ , are examples o:' yollx c:-y:ic

conversations written i~: what is generail!. refel-red tc ns

i SMS lingo: ! Message 1: Howz d p z 1st nyt (how uJas t11: Part!, las? 11ight.i : Message 2: Got 2 go c u ltr (got tv gi7 ;:e yoc i:,i~!*) i 1 Message 3: Ms U pdn: (Miss you good nightl 1

METHODOLOGY It is not always easy lo access data whi~11 are nimost o1uril!~s privatc and personal in this kind of research, 'ills data, u*hich cotlsists of' fifty SMS texts and fifty scripts each from WAEC n:ld NECO S C ~ I O I '

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School C~rt1fic3te Ei~glisil Paper I essay scnpts for the May~June 7 0 < , JO- ~~:iai11!1l~tlo11. SMS texts was coilected from Senior Secondary Chss 3 and 3 students of Fedtral Govei-mnent College, Enugu 2nd Univers~ty of N~gerla Szco~ldary school Enugu Campus.

RESULTS i t ivas gmerally obszrved thar the content of the SMS messages is determined by ihe :wrs . IHo\\!ever. the tone was generally thar of hiniliarity. Ti:? mcssnges \verz typically writteil in the Nigeria; Znz!ish. - s-aricry j ~ i l l ~ t i l l l e ~ codz-inixiu~ 3f the local l angua~e ~ o m m o n to [he ~nt~i-iocxtors. The actual iinguisric for1-11~ of ShIS . .> . , : - .L.\,>. ?x l ike the e-mall are coi:st:.ainecl by space. S>lS tests messazes 2s: iii;liied ro ! 60 ci~arncm-s. so 1wrs a g a w - in the use of 11011- stmciard ortho~rapiiy and/or typo,vraphic Torins.

The findins of this srudy i5 in lint \vith this carzgorizarion as presented in table !.below: Table1 : Cnrz!,rci.ies of L:nyis:ic Fnri11~ in 3US Messages

; ~ x e g x i s s 1 E;tamplzs 1 ! Si~orteni:i(,r I ~i iou nionday I

/ M O V ~ niovern:nt . I

i I ;.. i o ~ t j / Consonanr Ciusrcs i iks !imks.fim iiom I r I !st-res ~ b t about I

i ! ! rb rw back

1 I g d good

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kol cool I

I wen when ?

In spite of the generalizations and assunlptions made in this paper on : the linguistic forms used intext messages, it is Importani to say that j

? these forms are not always universal. Some f o r m can be highly subjective, thereby exclusive to the users. Such fornlc are not treated

1 in the above data. The research findings aiso revealed the fcllowing ; syntactic peculiarities: (a, Proper-nouns are not always capitalized ;

Mi now at enugu (I am now in enugu) i M2 dad dozt no ( Dad does not know) i (b) Words are not always spaced M3. Tkx 4 d txt bless u (thanks for the text. God bless : Y 0 4 M3. Bin trying u conlesee me morrow ( i have been trying 1

your phone. Can you come and see me tomorro~.?)

The age of technology takes users to computer from physical xansactions to electronic transactions sucI1 concepts as bankmg, eiectronic library and electronic publishing. A regular user of the :ntenet and mobile phone) needs tc learn the neur tccabulaq rah ing grounds in these domains of lansuage use and the old ones - e;,, u l a L t are semat~cally extended to express new meanings, k f e ~ examples of these expressions that relates to rnoblie phone usage are shown in table 2 below.

Tablc 2 : Old Words for New Linyuistic Expression in the Inteinc: Expression

To shine sudenly and To cal! somebody 011 a

I Save I To keep tnannger To snvc a rnessagc

i something else so llio\ you recc~vcd by text 111 a 1

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTS AND TECHNOLOQY EDUCATION

.. Mcnu

Cotnpo~r

can use later I mobiie phcm. A list orkt t~ds ol' food h a t urc evnilehlc for o tiice1 espcridly 111 ti ~.caturanL. 7% wrttc a Iettm, speech,

A 11st o l ' t h ~ n p you C ~ N

ciionac livm or ask n ccli p l m c \o do 'to WIW n text ~ncasnyc~ 1

, . . . TIICIT arc also iinpi,;:;c ~ s ~ ~ ~ ~ c . ~ . ; i ~ , ~ i s , \\.!?I:I.I ii:o~;gi; r1i.c c.li:i;-<;; ;,-.:.. i l l 1 ~ 1 1 1 ~ ~ 1 2 1 ~ ~ . b ~ i i ill.: I ; ( ) ' $ \ K i i i ~ ~ l 3 ~ - L!Y:C~>~~; : ILC iiil](,,i-;; iiic L;?..::: , I ,

the 1angu:tge. T 1 q are presenteti in Tai~ic >) >:Ic:;~.

INTERNATIONAL J O b f i h A I OF ARTS A t I C TESHNOLOGY EDUCATlOid

DISCUSS103 O I ~ F 1 3 ' D l ~ G S COSCLUSIOS .-Ih'D I i E C 0 3 l.\IESD.-ITTOTS : . . . C ~ > I ~ I ~ ) L I [ ~ Y bf i~2d 111~iil;i :lave ;>Inisd l l~ \ i i _iz:lin:lds (In ir\ilguagc.

~.~.:!licii I:!-o~iiot~' \,xci:::i~~i lil its use. lnli~:.e \\.it11 rile nuo1.e :ssc~-tion. i-inllidfiy (ld$)(j:S3) sbs:rvi.s :ha: "\vhc;l de~:in!:ds are mnc!c of

. . ! . I I I ~ L I : I ~ C , . ,\vhe:i ~i~.i.':ir: I I I ~ K I I I ~ ia!;gl:a~~: ,,vcrk <L:,-.~:? i n :I \\.:I!- i r i m j

;;ever done f i ~ r us Ixforc. ii .i\.ili ; x c o m e a difkri?~;r i:iilguagc in orc!cr L O :L;!,c.- 0::; - . - , , I , ; L , J o I . c!l : i i icn~c rhe I~itzl-nci 2 n d !iiobilz

. . ~ ~ ~ ~ i ~ l ~ ~ l ~ ~ l l l ~ ~ l [ ~ ~ l l 211 211 ill !]IC ! 2 l > g L l ~ ~ ~ illOi-2 2:;S:lC illl~! I C S S I-LIIC

~ r < ~ \ . ~ ~ . i i . ~ i ' - r l C.1. E l l i p ~ i ~ ; lbi>rc\ , i :~!i~~i :IIIC! ~ ~ l l ~ ~ : ; i ; i ~ i ~ i ~ ~ :\IT LUI?~III.Q;; . . .L::t:~:.:j i ? f S \ 15 ~ 2 : : : il;ejjngcs. >;;~c;i.:~ts :\.ha fri-eq~!e!;riy il:re:.ac:;vith

. . , . , :i::,r .;.,~!::L!s : I : I V L I ~ ~ i \ l i ~ !1:2dii;. :IS Ii21:C b:;!? ic~e!l t l~~cci :il , - . . - , . , . . . . n

. % $ < : I !i3.2il>g; ;l:i\,.:; 5r?,I.:c~! ~ l l ~ ! l ~ ~ l l ? ~ < f i I l ? C ~ x t ~ l r ~ ~ ~ ? . :::': !:l!lgl2gc ;.;s:

. % :',;I-:-.;,:! ;[::sj:.o~;l; . . \ J ~ - ~ : ~ ~ ; g . T1:<:._ :. :c:id~::~:. TC ~I I>CC~:SCIOL:S!Y , jL ;: .\.. > 3 , I , , - - 1 - \ ...,. 1. , . - , 1 1 , . - .; .L . \ I ( ' ' : : I L:!I:iZS:.:. 25 5iiill:: ,lr' 1jl2':ll did iil :!l?il.

,,,I,.-\ (- \; ;I :-- ;-.; .: :-, , ; - ,. , .. ,, .,,, ,? >,- ,. . -.; t - . .L , . - \ - -. . _ . . - : i s , . -....-... - - - ,.,,, L , . . I ! > , , , 1;: ~::!:::j ':;5.::: !CII-

. .. 3 L:i~!!. .

- ' , - i h e s ~ u d y esam~neci a I:c\\; 2en1-e of E~iglisii deltlupiilt! \.\ lLi> i i i i '

, . . - 5plT:leI OflllOhi~C p!l~llC C i ~ l l l ~ 3 L ~ i C l ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ l l l 0 ~ i ~ ~ ~ . ~ ::il<; i!S i ! ~ l p i i C i ~ ~ i ( . ~ l ~ ~ i.0:'

. . . -r., ,- t1le E ~ : I C I I ~ ~ I ~ i111cI l t;~r~)i!lg of E~iglisii ill > i ~ ~ ~ : ~ ~ ~ i , i IIC i ; l l d i l ~ < ~ i-c\, ~ : i i

. . [il;;~ cilc i1iobi.i~ ~ c ) ~ ~ l ~ ~ ~ ~ i ~ i i c ; ~ t i c ~ ~ i no\\: ~ 1 1 ~ 1 ; ~ ~ ~ai i ;~ i ; i~ ; L I X 111 IOI-IX;!:

7 . : C ~ X S J - O O ~ S \v-iti!i: by' Sige:.ian sc~O~ld:? ip 5:2i)c>ill .qtl!dc!lt~. 1 d ;::::;:< -I ~tlls . _ L I L V L ~ O ~ I ~ ~ L ' I ~ ~ . 4 ,..- t i : ~ \\.l.lic'~ S L I L I < S S ~ Z ( ! I!l:li tc':iCi:c':.~. O t ' k:lg!isi?

L L

silouici CL.e3tC i i i ill^ 1~ ;11-11~1 .~ t ! l ~ ;I\\'fl.Cl?C5S i 3 f C 'Ol l tCSi . I7Lll-i)OSi. . . :l~iciiei~ce a d sryle as rhe! tc:icli piipils ~ h c . I\ 1.i1i112 sli i I!.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF, ARTS AfiD T E S H N O L O G Y EDUCATION - - ', ,*. - - - .

uaumun, - . . n.c. ( i ra4) Aspects 01 r n e ayntax of 'Educaied" Nigerian : . . . ~ n ~ i h h ' Journal of t h e E~lgIislz Sr~rdic: .-issoriarior~

(JnESR) 9: 68- 78. Reid: D. and Reid, F. (2004j ''Iilsights In r!~c Socid alld

Psychologicsl Effects of SMS Tex: Messagvg" i-!:;~. www.160 charatel-s. 01-21 - R e t r i e ~ d Oetnber. 2. 2095.

Schindler. C . (20'34) "Text Messaging: Mo:-e Than Just a!? ?d:?-,?:: ;:,

C e l l P h o n e P l a n s " T ; .-, . -. b ,,, i

Tch11i~200?testmessa~.i11;n~. Htm Retrieved Gcic::>:i. 2 2004

Taiwcl, R. computes- Mediated communicatio!;: i;nplica:~oi:s fcr the Teacl~ing and Learning of Engijsh in 5ip-is. Pap=;- Presented at :he i 8'" A l~ i~ua l Coi:fe~-ence of Linpuist;~ Associatiou of Nigeria 28"' October; 2001.

Thuslow, C. "Generation Tst? Exposing the Sociolin~uisrics ' k h u i . ~ - People's Text Messaging" Htt:? w:uJk'. C ~ l l i . Ti'fi~hill~ti~~:. -- kdui Psorsa:~~iFacuItv/facuIt~~!th~~;-lo~~-. - Htm 1 Xetr-im-eC

. * . September 28.2001. 'i ,.