Measuring The Negative Effects Of Social Media Languages On Students’ English Academic Writing Skills In Pakistan: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Social media has become an integral and fundamental part of the life of almost all the individuals having a smartphone. Whatsapp is one of the most popular and easiest mobile applications among all which is commonly used by almost all students. The present study attempts to study the negative effects of social media and WhatsApp chatting on formal writing of the students after the assessment of students’ narrative essays. This research is exploratory in nature that looks at the gender-based impact of WhatsApp and social media messaging on inter level students' English writing skills. A quantitative technique was applied, with a survey design. The sample size for this study was 160 students randomly selected from the population of ten higher secondary schools in south Punjab. The narrative writings of the students were used to collect data. SPSS-20 was used to analyze the research data, which has been shown via tables. The ultimate findings of the research shed some light and awareness on the relation between gender and WhatsApp's impact on higher secondary school students' English writing abilities. The use of abbreviations, misspell words, unnecessarily simplified phrases, including the use of numerals instead of the full word form were all found  more common among male students than female students.  As a result, it was discovered that the language students use in messaging when using WhatsApp and social media messenger frequently deviates from traditional spelling and grammatical rules. It was also discovered that the students' informal writing style, which developed as a result of their extensive use of WhatsApp, is emulated in their academic writing. The majority of the learners' writing aptitudes are badly affected by the linguistic terms they practice on social media and WhatsApp. The linguistic terms used over social media and WhatsApp by the majority of the students affect their writing skills adversely.