Project – THE INFLUENCE OF THE LANGUAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION 

1.1        Background of the study

1.2        Statement of problem

1.3        Objective of the study

1.4        Research Hypotheses

1.5        Significance of the study

1.6        Scope and limitation of the study

1.7       Definition of terms

1.8       Organization of the study

 

 

CHAPETR TWO

2.0   LITERATURE REVIEW

 

CHAPETR THREE

3.0        Research methodology

3.1    sources of data collection

3.3        Population of the study

3.4        Sampling and sampling distribution

3.5        Validation of research instrument

3.6        Method of data analysis

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1 Introductions

4.2 Data analysis

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Summary

5.3 Conclusion

Abstract

This study was on the influence of the language of social media on English Language learners among Secondary School students. The total population for the study is 200 students of selected schools in Ogun state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made sss 3 students, sss 2 students, sss 1 students and jss3 students were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies

Chapter one

Introduction

1.1Background of the study

People are living in a global world and every day they are adopting new technologies, information, lifestyle, language and so on. Nowadays, digital social media are very popular among young generations. Social media includes all technology that facilitates social interaction, make possible collaboration and enable deliberations across stakeholders: social media includes such tools as electronic blogs, audio/video tools(youtube), internet chat rooms, cellular and computer texting and social networking sites (Bryer and Zavattaro, 2011). Arroyo (2012) said, “Once social media was introduced, it enabled a new way for people, particularly the younger generation, to connect with one another, based on common interests, goals and even values”.

Over the years, social media has gained massive popularity and has become widely accepted. Research has shown that internet use and the use of social networking sites in particular have grown significantly since 2000 with some estimates of nearly 78% of American adults using the internet regularly; 46% of American adults 18 and older using social networking sites and 65% of teens ages 12 to 17 using online social networks (Rainieet al, 2011). In terms of membership and daily usage, more recent estimates show Facebook as having over 750 million users worldwide; Linkedln, over 100 million members; Twitter having over 177 million tweets per day; YouTube having over 3 billion views each day (Chen &Bryer, 2012). According to Rainie, Purcell and Smith (2011), the use of social networking sites has been repeatedly found to be the highest among those between the ages of 18-29.

In the recent years, information technologies and social media in particular have affected the educational community. It is due to their different forms which help people communicate in various ways we mentioned earlier. These social media platforms have massively boosted social interaction and information sharing within student and teacher communities alike. Social media applications allow users to cross the boundaries of their conutries, connect and express themselves on a global scale (Thorne, 2010). It follows that the responsibilities offered by social media nowadays could also be linguistically rewarding for users, be they students or educators as these media interactions are bound to take place either within the same linguistic communities or across different ones. Facebook as one of those media, has been globally ranked as one of the most used social platforms ever created. It has come to yield unprecedented opportunities for foreign language teachers and learners alike as it offers them the possibility to exchange limitless numbers of text messages, images and videos. Such options can give those users and language learners in particular the opportunity to practice with new texts and learn new vocabulary through interaction, especially if it extends over time. As regards educators, they can benefit from Facebook by using it as a platform to post different kinds of materials to be worked upon, edited, added to and shared among their students to attain intended objectives. Hence the teaching experience can be more accessible and centered around students as more room is given to learners to collaborate and an atmosphere of conviviality and creativity is enhanced among them (Selwyn, 2012).

However, nowadays there are influences of digital social media in language acquisition of young learner. Young people are now most of the time connected with the people through digital social media, so intentionally or unintentionally, they are following that trend of language acquisition. In the study conducted by Englander et al (2010), observed that students spend more time using social media for other purposes apart from educational use, thus affecting their academic outcomes. In another study, Nalwa and Anand (2003), shows that students like to use internet for their own responsibilities and this affects their academics. This study is further elaborated by Karpinski (2009) wherby they stated that Facebook users had lower grade rankings than students who never engage in social interactions. He also stated that social media has a negative association with students’ academic performance which is greater than the advantages derived through the use of social media platforms. People around the globe have been addicted to the internet which has given rise to more students using social media more often than before.  Aforo (2014) conducted a study to establish the impact of social media on academic reading. The study established that student’s institutions in Ghana often use their free time using social media which does not augur well for their academic performance. The use of social media among students has reached high levels and has affected their study time, grammar and spellings when socializing on social media as well as diverting their attention from their studies (Ndaku, 2013). Students spend much of their study time on social networks than in their academic undertakings and it has affected their performances. In a quantitative research carried out by Al-Jarrah et al (2019) in a secondary school, findings of this study revealed that social media plays an important role in writing performance development of English learners at school level.

1.1 Statement of the problem

The researcher found out that most of the students are not cautious of their use of grammar on social media since the language of social media is an informal one. They bring in these grammatical errors to their academics which affect them. Chatting has become part of their lives because it is a daily activity. These students give their teachers hard time while marking their scripts because the teacher will not understand their expressions or will not get the messages clearly. Even though the teacher gets it, the student will still be sanctioned because such expressions are not allowed in English language.

The main aim of the researcher is to study the negative impacts of the language of social media on the learning of English language among secondary school students.This research is needed so that it can create a sense of awareness in the students that are not mindful of their use of grammar in their essay writings and formal communications.

1.2 Aim and Objectives of the study

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of the language of socializing media on the secondary school learners of English language. The specific objectives are to:

1. Examine the level of social media usage on secondary school students in Nigeria?
2. Investigate the digital social media influencing writing and speaking of secondary school learners of English language?
3. Examine the effect of social media language on academic performance of secondary school students in English language examinations?
4. Determine the ways of improving the performance of secondary school students in English language examinations?

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the level of social media usage on secondary school students in Nigeria?
2. How are the digital social media influencing writing and speaking of secondary school learners of English language?
3. What is the effect of social media language on academic performance of secondary school students in English language examinations?
4. What are the ways of improving the performance of secondary school students in English language examinations?

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study concentrates on the effects of the language of social media on secondary school students in some selected secondary schools in Ago-iwoye, Ogun state.

1.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

There is limitation in the time available for this study because the researcher will combine the research with academic work. Due to time constraints, very few secondary schools will be visited in the course of the research. To embark on such a study and make a deep comprehensive learning, very huge sum of money will be needed. Because Ago-iwoye is a rural area of Ogun state, the study is limited to few secondary schools and attempt will be made to evaluate the extent of the effect of social media language on secondary school students.

1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Social media: is an interactive form of media that allow users to interact with and publish to each other, generally by means of the Internet.

Influence: is the power to affect, control or manipulate something or someone; the ability to change the development of fluctuating things such as conduct, thoughts or decisions.

Communication: is the concept or state of exchanging data or information between entities.

Technology: is the organization of knowledge for practical purposes.

Language: is a body of words, and set of methods of combining them (called a grammar), understood by a community and used as a form of communication

 

Project – THE INFLUENCE OF THE LANGUAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS