What is it about?
The impact of the Internet on language use has raised conflicting viewpoints. This paper examines the extent to which the use of e-texting may affect the quality of students’ academic writing either positively or negatively. It also investigates the reaction of English language teachers toward this phenomenon.
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Why is it important?
Our research findings show that there is no danger in using e-texting features by teenagers or other age groups if they have the necessary awareness where they can draw the line to distinguish between formal and informal usage. This is not to suggest, however, that possible dangers of e-texting are totally ruled out. It is only with some caution that e-texting features may be safely used, and only when users are well aware of the context and writing styles.
Perspectives
I am inclined to believe that the findings of such pieces of research will be significant to teaching academic writing in the EFL curriculum. Not only does such research diagnose and identify academic writing problems, but it will also help devise and implement relevant remedial strategies to combat such learning difficulties based on their type and source, be it e-texting based or otherwise. The findings came to alleviate concerns over an imminent danger and threat to the formal language.
Saleh Al-Salman
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Effects of Text-messaging on the Academic Writing of Arab EFL Students, Research in Language, September 2017, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/rela-2017-0014.
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