THE EFFECTS OF TEXT MESSAGING TO THE SPELLING

ABILITY OF THE BSBA-HRDM 1-2N STUDENTS OF THE

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THEPHILIPPINES, STA. MESA,

MANILA, SCHOOL YEAR 2013-2014

A Research Paper Submitted

in Partial of the Requirements in ENGL1023

(Writing in the Discipline)

By:

Abela, Michael Jay

Acosta, Ansherina

Deocareza, Jasmine Mae

Gacusana, Ayana Mae

Salvador, Rhenpaul

BSBA-HRDM 1-2N

To:

Prof. Sylvia Basilio

Polytechnic University of the PhilippinesMarch 2014

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are so blessed to have everyone who has been part of this very successful

research. A lot of thanks for all of your participation and cooperation!

First, to the students of BSBA-HRDM 1-2N; despite our hectic schedules and lots

of activities, you guys still manage to give few minutes to answer our surveys. We deeply

appreciate it!

To the members of our group; thank you guys for giving our deepest endeavor on

accomplishing this research and doing our own parts!

Next, to the families of our group members; we’re so thankful for your continuous

support and guidance to us!

Then, to our dear professor, Prof. Sylvia Basilio; we’re so blessed for having you

as our mentor and for giving us enough knowledge regarding this research!

And finally, to the Creator; who keeps on blessing us and keeps us motivated to

do our everyday tasks!

Thank you and God bless!

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Problem and its Background

Statement of the Problem……………………………………………………1

Scope and Limitation………………………………………………………..2

Definition of Terms………………………………………………………….2

Chapter II: Review of Related Literature

Foreign Literature……………………………………………………………3

Local Studies………………………………………………………………...6

Chapter III: Methodologies

Research Design……………………………………………………………10

Respondents……………………………….……………………………….10

Data Gathering………………………………….………………………….10

Statistical Treatment…………………………………….………………….11

Chapter IV: Presentation of Data Gathered

Tables………………………………………………………………………12

Chapter V: Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations

Findings……………………………………………………………………24

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………25

Recommendations…………………………………………………………26

Bibliography……………………………………………………………….26

CHAPTER I: THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

The generation of today has been totally engaged to texting. Be it for emergency,

study needs, or simply just for fun. Texting practically helps us in our everyday life but it

can somehow affect us most specifically with our writing - enough for us to conduct a

research which focuses on the study of the effects of text messaging in our spelling

ability.

We all use our mobile phones for texting and it has been a huge part of our

everyday routine. This study aims to inform us on how text messaging affects us in our

study, the community and the whole country as well. For in this changing world of

texting era, most people aren’t really aware of what it can bring us.

Statement of the Problem

This research was undertaken to know the effects of text messaging to the spelling

ability of BSBA-HRDM 1-2N students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines,

Sta. Mesa Manila. Specifically, the researchers sought to answer the following questions:

1. How much time do BSBA-HRDM 1-2N students spend in texting?

2. How do BSBA-HRDM 1-2N students text?

3. How many text messages do BSBA-HRDM 1-2N students send a day?

4. How does texting affect BSBA-HRDM 1-2N students’ spelling ability?

5. In what way does texting make BSBA-HRDM 1-2N students’ bad spellers?

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Scope and Limitation

This study looked into how text messaging affects the spelling ability of the students

which depends on how often do they text and on how they do texting. Only 50 students

from the BSBA-HRDM 1-2N of the PUP Sta. Mesa, school year 2013-2014 were

involved.

Definition of Terms

Text Messaging- Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and

sending a brief, electronic message between two or more mobile phones, or fixed or

portable devices over a phone network. The term originally referred to messages sent

using the Short Message Service (SMS). It has grown to include messages containing

image, video, and sound content (known as MMS messages). The sender of a text

message is known as a “texter”, while the service itself has different colloquialisms

depending on the region. It may simply be referred to as a text in North America, the

United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, an SMS in most of

mainland Europe, and a TMS or SMS in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Spelling- Spelling is writing or stating the letters and diacritics of a word.

Words generally have accepted standard spellings which can vary regionally or

nationally. In the sense of a standard, spelling is one of the elements of orthography and a

prescriptive element of alphabetic languages.

Mobile Phones- An electronic telecommunications device, often referred to

as a cellular phone or cellphone. Mobile phones connect to a wireless communications

network through radio wave or satellite transmissions. Most mobile phones provide voice

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communications, Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service (MMS),

and newer phones may also provide Internet services such as Web browsing and e-mail.

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Introduction

The review of related literature of this study focuses on the negative impact of

text messaging to the students’ academic success. While the other review focuses on how

text messaging ruins the use of students to the languages as they apply them in writing.

Foreign Literature

Does Text Messaging Negatively Impact Student Academic Success?

Jacqui Murray | August 30, 2012 at 10:18 am PST

Cisco Blogs

Across the education landscape, student text messaging is a bone of contention

among teachers. It’s not an issue in the lower grades because most K-5 schools

successfully ban cell phones during school hours. Where it’s a problem is within grades

6-12, when teachers realize it’s a losing battle to separate students from their phones for

eight hours.

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The overarching discussion among educators is texting’s utility in providing

authentic experiences to students, the type that transfer learning from the classroom to

real life. Today, I’ll focus on a piece of that: Does text messaging contributes to

shortening student attention span or destroying their nascent writing ability.

Let’s start with attention span. TV, music, busy daily schedules, and frenetic

family life are likely causes of a student’s short attention span. To fault text messaging is

like blaming the weather for sinking the Titanic.

Texting has less to do with their inability to spit out a full sentence than their 1)

need for quickness of communication, 2) love for secrecy, and 3) joy of knowing a

language adults don’t.

What about writing? In the thirty years I’ve been teaching everyone from

kindergarteners to college. I can tell you that children are flexible, masters at adjusting

actions to circumstances (like the clothes they wear for varying events and the

conversations they have with varying groups of people). There is no evidence to support

that these elastic, malleable creatures are suddenly rigid in their writing style, unable to

toggle between casual texting shorthand with friends and a professional writing structure

in class.

In general, I’m a fan of anything that gets students writing, and there are real

benefits to giving students the gift of textual brevity rather than the stomach-churning

fear of a five-paragraph structured essay. I’ve done quite a few articles on the benefits of

Twitter’s 140-character approach to writing and my teacher’s gut says the same applies to

text messaging. Truth, studies on this topic are inconclusive.

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Some suggest that because young students do not yet have a full grasp of basic

writing skills, they have difficulty shifting between texting’s abbreviated spelling-

doesn’t-matter language and Standard English. But a British study suggested students

classify ‘texting’ as ‘word play’, separate from the serious writing done for class and

results in no deterioration in writing skills.

Yet another study found that perception of danger from texting is greater than the

reality: 70% of the professionals at one college believed texting had harmful effects on

student writing skills. However, when analyzed, the opposite was true: Texting was

actually beneficial.

It’s interesting to note that texting can be a boon to children who struggle with

face-to-face situations. These ‘special needs’ students flourish in an environment where

they can write rather than speak, think through an answer before communicating it, and

provide pithy conversational gambits in lieu of extended intercourse. In the texting world,

socially-challenged children are like every other child, hidden by the anonymity of a

faceless piece of metal and circuits. Here’s a heart-warming story by parents of an

autistic child who found their first true communication with their fourteen-year-old boy

via text messaging.

To blame texting for student academic failures is a cop-out by the parents and

teachers entrusted with a child’s education. Treated as an authentic scaffold to academic

goals, teachers will quickly incorporate it into their best-practices pedagogy of essential

tools for learning.

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Local Studies

Text Messaging Bastardizing Language?

Manila, June 10, 2002 (STAR) Bastardizing language.

This is what teachers have to say about text messaging.

With the Philippines being tagged as the "texting capital of the world," many

wonder how the proliferation of mobile phones has affected the Filipinos’ facility for

languages.

Reading students’ essays with words like "4u or 2gthr yrs 18r" and looking at the

signpost that reads "Ped Xing" (meaning pedestrian crossing), one can tell that cellular

text messaging or Short Messaging Service (SMS) has revolutionized the way Filipinos

talk, write and read. But doesn’t text messaging further thwart or impede the facility for

languages?

Assistant professor Mildred Rojo-Laurilla, of De La Salle University-Manila’s

Department of English and Applied Linguistics (DEAL), attempts to provide answers in

her research titled A Preliminary Investigation on the Linguistic Aspects of Text

Messaging.

Using the Dell Hymes theory of "Ethnography of Speaking" that studies how

culture, language and society interact, Laurilla is able to capture the existing and even

underlying relationships between and among variables examined.

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Laurilla administered a questionnaire to 433 first-year English students from the

De La Salle University (297) and from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños in

Laguna (136).

Laurilla’s study establishes several facts. In the Philippines, the cellular phone

industry widely caters to the younger market. The study shows that most of the

respondents aged 16 to 21, majority of them 17- to 18-year-olds, have cellular phones (95

percent, DLSU; 71 percent, UPLB). Most of them are prepaid phone users, with an

average spending profile of P400 to P500.

Texting is part of the youth’s cellular phone use, but students are generally low

frequency texters (54 percent, DLSU; 71 percent, UPLB). Early to late evenings is the

most preferred time for texting, owing perhaps to the fact that they are already out of

school and use their time on leisurely activities, including texting.

Students admit to abbreviating (89 percent, DLSU; 100 percent, UPLB), citing

convenience as the number one reason for doing so. Other reasons given: it is the "in"

thing or fad, or that they do not know the spelling of the words.

In terms of language use, the 150 respondents who participated in the "actual

texting," prefer to use "texted English" or the abbreviated form of English if they send

messages or reply to messages that take the form of "pure" or straight English and the

texted or abbreviated English.

Fifty percent of the respondents did not respond to text sent to them via "pure"

Filipino and Filipino/English pure or texted code-switched forms. The rest of the

respondents had mixed preferences for the language to be used whether in pure Filipino,

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pure English or pure Filipino/English code-switched forms or their texted forms when

responding to text sent to them via pure Filipino and English/Filipino pure or abbreviated

code-switched forms.

There seems to be ambivalence on the effects of texting on their language

competencies. Both DLSU and UPLB students believe that texting has no negative

effects at all on their language competencies, such as grammar and spelling. Majority of

both DLSU and UPLB respondents have a positive attitude toward texting (82 percent,

DLSU; 79 percent, UPLB).

Statistical tests show that there are no significant differences in the grammar and

spelling scores of both cellular phone owners and non-owners. It can be implied that the

students’ performance in terms of their language skills or competencies is independent or

not related at all to the fact that they own cellular phones.

Among cellular phone owners, their frequency of texting has no effect on their

grammar and spelling scores. Similarly, it can also be implied that language skills or

competencies are independent of the extent they use the technology.

Despite the respondents’ overexposure to the cellular phone technology, it does

not, in any way, cause them to do poorly in class, especially in grammar and spelling.

Laurilla suggested that "real" or more recognizable effects of texting on students’

grammar and spelling competencies may be seen if the respondents were the more

vulnerable ones like high school or elementary students who are just beginning to

develop language and communication skills.

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Laurilla partly dispelled the popular observation that cellular phones may bring

more harm than good to students. Results of her study indicate that college students are

able to discern the formal language – the kind that is used in the classroom – from the

non-conventional texted English.

Indirectly, the technology serves as an "image maker" for the youth, who are

impressionable and are finding their own identities. The college students are mature

enough to know their personal academic capabilities and what the technology means to

them.

(Laurilla finished M.A. Communication Studies at the University of North Iowa in the

United States. Aside from language and technology, she also specializes on gender

studies, popular culture, mass communications, mediated discourse and sociolinguistics.

She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at DLSU-Manila.

The paper will be presented at the 52nd Annual International Communication

Association (ICA) Conference on July 15-19 in Seoul, Korea.)

Source: Breakthrough, DLSU

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGIES

Research Design

This thesis used the descriptive method to describe data and characteristics used

to describe the population. The purpose is to acquire accurate, factual, systematic data. It

is used to achieve the objectives of this study. This seeks to describe a present existing

condition, which in this study were the effects of text messaging to the spelling ability of

the students in PUP.

Respondents

The respondents of this thesis are the students of BSBA HRDM 1-2N, PUP Sta.

Mesa. The students are consisted of 13 male and 37 female.

Data Gathering

The data were drawn from 50 students of the College of Business, Major in

Human Resource Development Management of the Polytechnic University of the

Philippines, Sta. Mesa who were interviewed by us, the researchers. The researchers used

the survey method to get their answers.

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Statistical Treatment

Individual responses were tallied before they are put into tables ready for

statistical treatment. Percentage was utilized to quantify the data gathered for the

problems. The formula for percentage is:

p=( n50 )100

Where:

p = percentage

n = number of respondents

50 = total number of respondents

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CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA GATHERED

Introduction

This chapter presents the findings, analysis and interpretation of data gathered

whose main objective is to find out the effects of text messaging to the spelling ability

of the students in BSBA HRDM 1-2N. The class consists of 13 boys and 37 girls at

ages ranging from 16-18 years old.

Table 1: Do you have a cellphone?

Answers Total Percentage

Yes 50 100%

No 0 0%

Analysis: Table 1 shows the frequency of the respondents having cellphone. 50

respondents or 100% answered yes meaning all of the respondents have cellphones.

Table 2: How much time do you spend in texting?

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Answers Total Percentage

1-3 Hours 32 64%

4-6 Hours 7 14%

7-9 Hours 8 16%

Others 3 6%

Analysis: Table 2 shows the frequency of respondent’s time spent in texting. 32 or

64% of the respondent answered 1-3 hours consumed in their time for texting. 7 or 14%

of the respondent answered 4-6 hours, 8 or 16% answered 7-9 hours in spent in texting

and lastly 3 or 6% of the respondents answered others; thus they spend more than 9 hours

in texting every day.

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Table 3: Do you shorten your words when texting?

Answers Total Percentage

Yes 10 20%

No 28 56%

Sometimes 12 24%

Analysis: Table 3 shows the frequency of respondents who shorten words when

texting. 10 or 20% of the respondents answered yes, 28 or 56% of the respondents

answered no meaning they complete the words when texting and 12 or 24% of the

respondents answered sometimes with the reason that they are in a hurry.

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Table 4.1: Do you write compositions or other literary works?

Answers Total Percentage

Yes 34 68%

No 16 32%

Analysis: Table 4.1 shows the frequency of the respondents who writes

compositions or other literary works. 34 or 68% of the respondents answered yes and 16

or 32% of the respondents answered no.

Table 4.2: What kind of compositions do you write?

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Answers Total Percentage

Songs 7 16%

Poems 11 25%

Journals 14 32%

Others 11 25%

Analysis: Table 4.2 shows the frequency of the respondents who answered yes in

Table 4.1.This table shows what kind of literary pieces our respondents write. 7 or 16%

of the respondents write songs, 11 or 25% of the respondents write poems, 14 or 32% of

the respondents write journals and 11 or 25% of the respondents answered others such as

novels, short stories or quotes. In this table does not result to 50 or 100% because of the

multiple answers by some of the respondents.

Table 5: Does texting affects your writing?

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Answers Total Percentage

Yes 4 8%

No 37 74%

Sometimes 9 18%

Analysis: Table 5 shows the frequency of the respondents that texting affects their

writing. 4 or 8% of the respondents answered yes, 37 or 74% of the respondents

answered no and 9 or 18% of the respondents answered sometimes. This table shows how

texting isn’t an obstacle for some of the respondents in writing literary pieces.

Table 6: Does text messaging harm students’ writing skills? Why?

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Answers Total Percentage

Yes 19 38%

No 20 40%

Maybe 8 16%

Sometimes 3 6%

Analysis: Table 6 shows the frequency if text messaging can harm the writing

skills. 19 or 38% of the respondents answered yes, 20 or 40% of the respondents

answered no, 8 or 16% of the respondents answered maybe and 3 or 6% of the

respondents answered sometimes. For the ones who answered yes, said that students

always write the wrong spelling or they abbreviate words. No because and texting and

writing are two different things and it may help improve the students writing skills.

Maybe because students are used to shortening words which they may apply in writing.

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Lastly the respondents answered sometimes because some can still write in a correct

format then eventually writing in a texting format.

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Table 7: Do you sometimes abbreviate when you intend to write in Standard

English?

Answers Total Percentage

Yes 23 46%

No 24 48%

Sometimes 3 6%

Analysis: Table 7 shows the frequency of respondents who abbreviate when

answered writing in Standard English. 23 or 46% of the respondents answered yes, 24 or

48% of the respondents answered no and 3 or 6% of the respondents answered

sometimes.

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Table 8: How many text messages do you send per day?

Answers Total Percentage

1-9 8 16%

10-50 10 20%

60-100 9 18%

101-200 15 30%

Others 8 16%

Analysis: Table 8 shows the frequency of text messages the respondents send per day.

8 or 16%of the respondents answered 1-9 texts per day, 10 or 20% of the respondents

answered 10-50 texts per day, 9 or 18% of the respondents answered 60-100 texts per

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day, 15 or 30% of the respondents answered 101-200 texts per day and 8 or 16% of the

respondents answered others meaning they send text messages higher than 200 per day.

Table 9: Do you abbreviate when you write text messages?

Answers Total Percentage

Yes 16 32%

No 18 36%

Sometimes 16 32%

Analysis: Table 9 shows the frequency of respondents that abbreviate when

composing text messages. 16 or 32% of the respondents answered yes, 18 or 36%

answered no and 16 or 32% of the respondents answered sometimes.

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Table 10: Is texting make us bad spellers? If yes, in what way?

Answers Total Percentage

Yes 16 32%

No 26 52%

Sometimes 4 8%

It depends 4 8%

Analysis: Table 10 shows the frequency of the respondents’ opinion about texting

making us bad spellers. 16 or 32% of the respondents answered yes, 26 or 52% of the

respondents answered no, 4 or 8% of the respondents answered sometimes, as well as it

depends with the same number of total and percentage. To summarize the answer for

those who picked yes, texting make us forget the right spelling of words, making it

shorter.

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CHAPTER V: SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents the summary of the findings, conclusions drawn and recommendations outgrown from this study. This study is about the effects of text messaging to the spelling ability of the students in BSBA HRDM 1-2N.

Findings

1. 50(100%) of the respondents have cellphone.

2. 32(64%) of the respondents said that they spend 1-3 hours in texting, 7(14%) spend 4-6 hours, while 8(16%) of the respondents consume 7-9 hours texting and 3(6%) respondents spend 10 hours in texting.

3. 10(20%) of the respondents said that they shorten their words when texting, 28(56%) said that they do not shorten their words when texting and 12(24%) sometimes shorten their words when texting.

4. 39(68%) of the respondents write compositions or literary works while 16(32%) of the respondents do not write compositions or literary works.

5. 7(16%) respondents compose songs, 11(25%) write songs, 14(32%) write journals and 11(25%) of the respondents write other forms of literary works.

6. 4(8%) of the respondents said that texting affects their writing, 37(74%) said that texting do not affect their writing, 9(18%) of them said that texting sometimes affect their writings.

7. 19(38%) of the respondents answers that texting harm their writing skills, 20(40%) said that texting do not harm their writing skills, 8(16) said that texting can maybe harm their writing skills and 3(6%) of the respondents said that texting can sometimes affect writing skills.

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8. 23(26%) of the respondents sometimes abbreviate when they intend to write in standard English, 24(48%) respondents do not abbreviate when they intend to write in standard English and 3(6%) sometimes abbreviate when they intend to write in standard English.

9. 8(16%) respondents send 1-9 text messages per day, 10(20%) send 10-20 messages a day, 9(18%) send 60-100 text messages a day, 15(30%) send 101-200 text message per day and 8(16%) send 200 and above text messages per day.

10. 16(32%) of the respondents said that they abbreviate when texting, 18(36%) respondents do not abbreviate when writing text messages, and 16(32%) respondents sometimes abbreviate when texting.

11. 16(32%) respondents agreed that texting makes us bad spellers, 26(52%) respondents do not agree that texting makes us bad spellers and 4(8%) of the respondents answered It depends.

Conclusion

The researchers believe that text messaging has a positive and quite negative

effect on the writing ability of the students. Based on the findings of the study, we can

conclude that with greater exposure to text messaging, a lesser possibility of damage is

caused on the writing ability of students. In the surveys conducted at Polytechnic

University of the Philippines Sta. Mesa Manila, the majority of students thought that text

messaging would have a positive impact on students’ writing and literacy. If taken as a

whole, these studies seem to indicate the opposite of the concern that text messaging is

bad for literacy. At this point in time, it is not possible to determine specifically the

effects of instant messaging on formal writing. However, in the next generation, one clear

conclusion is that instant messaging is becoming an important literacy in kids' lives, and

consequently one that needs to be recognized by teachers. In the end, these studies don’t

support the concerns that texting is harmful to literacy.

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Recommendations

1. Students should not abbreviate when writing text messages.

2. Students should read dictionaries or other books to enhance their writing skills.

3. Students should not shorten their words because they might apply it when writing

compositions.

4. Students should discipline themselves of how to avoid spelling errors.

5. The researchers only surveyed a tiny part of the students nowadays. It is highly

recommended to have a thorough research about the subject.

Bibliography

http://www.philstar.com/telecoms/164111/text-messaging-bastardizing-language

http://blogs.cisco.com/cle/does-text-messaging-negatively-impact-student-

academic-success/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/mobile_phone.html

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