EXPLORING THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE (SMS) TEXTING ON ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS AT UNIVERSITY LEVEL

Abstract

The present research aims to explore the negative impact of Short Message Service (SMS) texting on academic writing Skills at the university level. To highlight this, the present research examined five types of Short Message Service texting comprising vowel deletion, alphanumeric homophony, graphemes, short forms and emoticons, and smileys in paragraphs and answer scripts of their semester examination written by eighty BS-level students of Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur. The research findings indicated that the formal writing of the scholars was adversely affected by these texting features of Short Message Service. The research findings also indicated that university scholars use these Short Message Service (SMS) texting features in their writings without considering the formal and informal contexts. Based on these findings researchers recommended that scholars must evade the informal technological language of mobiles and computers in educational settings. The scholars essentially become accustomed to Standard English and distinguish between technological and formal use of the English language.