Social Media Influence on Student-Users’ Writing Skills in English

Abstract

Although influence of social media on students’ academic achievements has been widely investigated, much seem not to have been done on its impact on their writing skills. Some student-users’ written English have been negatively influenced. In formal compositions, such students apply some writing patterns, characteristic of social media posts in formal writing situations. This study investigated influence of social media on students’ writing skills in few selected senior secondary schools, classes1&2, in Khana Local Government Area, Rivers State, to determine if the students were negatively influenced, how and why. Social Cultural and Social Cognitive theories of writing were employed. 416 copies of survey were filled out by eligible respondents. 41 of the respondents were randomly selected at the ratio of 1:10, to write a test. Kuder-Richardson Formular 21 was used, with reliability coefficient of 0.5. Their written scripts were compared to snippets from Facebook. A great resemblance between both write-ups was discovered. The students removed the pronoun “I” and replaced it with “am” as it was done in most social media write-ups. The study suggests that students be adequately guided to distinguish between both write-ups. They should acquire, maintain and adhere to English grammar rules in official writing situations. They should be encouraged to use social media for academic purposes. Teachers should always compose grammatically sound statements when writing.