THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND EDUCATION

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
ST. AUGUSTINE

POSTGRADUATE UNIT
POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA IN EDUCATION
PROGRAMME
(In-Service)
YEAR: 2014/2015

Dissertation Paper
TOPIC:

The Effect of Student Usage of Electronic Messaging on

Literacy Levels in the Classroom

SUBMITTED BY: Hassan Basarally (806007430)

(Name & ID#)

TUTOR: Mrs. Denisa Oblington

This Paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Postgraduate
Diploma in Education Programme, School of Education, The University of the West Indies,
St. Augustine, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

DATE: Monday 11th January, 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTIONS

PAGE

Abstract...........................................................................................................................3
Introduction.....................................................................................................................4
Spelling Ability and Phonological Awareness................................................................7
Writing..........................................................................................................................10
Reading and Vocabulary................................................................................................14
Conclusions and Recommendations.............................................................................16
References ....................................................................................................................18

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Running Head: ELECTRONIC MESSAGING AND LITERACY LEVELS

The Effect of Student Usage of Electronic Messaging on Literacy Levels in the Classroom
Hassan Basarally
University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

Abstract
This paper reviews some empirical studies over the last two decades on the effects of
electronic messaging on literacy levels, specifically spelling and phonological awareness,
writing, and reading and vocabulary. The studies revealed that there is a positive correlation
between students use and comprehension of electronic messaging orthography and structural
conventions and literacy. In fact, studies showed that the literacy skill that benefits most from the

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usage of electronic messaging is spelling and phonological awareness. The author also
acknowledges the presence of studies that indicate a negative correlation between electronic
messaging and literacy, however the majority of literature on the subject proves otherwise. This
shows the great need for further research, particularly longitudinal studies and studies done with
speakers of different varieties of English.

Introduction
The advent of social media has provided people with a new medium of written
communication. However, it has not adhered to traditional grammatical, orthographic or
lexographical conventions, prompting concerns about its effects on literacy levels. This new
medium has developed into a new register which has been called different names. Literature on
the subject use two main terms, in many cases interchangeably, Instant Messaging (IM) / Short
Message Service (SMS) and texting. IM, and by extension SMS, is defined as a one-to-one

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synchronous form of computer mediated communication (Baron, 2004, p.13). Texting is

written language that contains features of spoken language, comprised of abbreviations,
acronyms and slang (Durkin et al., 2011). Plester et al. also lists features such as shortenings,
contractions, G-clippings, omitted apostrophes, acronyms, intialisms, symbols and letter/number
homophones (2009). For the purpose of this paper, the term electronic messaging will be used.
Despite much of the literature using the terms IM, SMS or texting, electronic messaging is a
more inclusive term as it covers emails, online posts and comments which have arisen with the
popularity of social media, is asynchronous and can be directed to any amount of persons. The
following definition was created in order for the term electronic messaging to encompass
completely the mode and intent of communication used by students: it is any written form of
computer mediated communication, either synchronous or asynchronous, that is directed to an
individual or group. It is informal in nature and is marked mainly by the use of abbreviations,
acronyms and other phonetic expressions.
It is necessary to re-examine the definition of literacy when conducting an investigation
on the effect of electronic messaging on it. Current technology and its use require the definition
to be revisited, from the traditional notion of a set of tangible skills in the cognitive areas of
reading, writing and oracy, as it no longer encompasses the skills required to be functionally
literate in present society (UNESCO, 2006). As much reading and writing now involves
electronic messaging, Plester et al.s definition of literacy being the ability to decode, make
meaning from and encode information from various orthographic formats is more relevant and
applicable (2009).
The effects of electronic messaging on student literacy have been the subject of much
discussion within and outside the field of education, resulting in polar viewpoints. Many

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teachers, including this author, have noticed some orthographic features of electronic messaging
being present in student writing. This has prompted many to claim that electronic messaging will
soon replace Standard English conventions in academic and formal writing. Another interesting
observation is that in addition to curriculum related writing done in the classroom, students are
now doing much writing, though generally of a shorter length, online in blogs and social media
sites. On the surface there appears to be a conundrum between not wanting to dissuade students
from writing outside of the classroom and maintaining the Standard English requirements of the
curriculum. It is necessary to analyse the studies on this topic to correctly inform the local
discussion on this issue. Educators are now required to make an informed decision whether to
incorporate and utilise electronic messaging as a teaching tool in the language classroom or
dissuade students from it. Hence, it is important to understand the effects of this new register that
the vast majority of learners use today. The learners of today have been termed millennials, who
are characterised by daily use of electronic communication and easy access to information,
particularly on the internet (Price, 2009). McGlynn (2008) mentions proficiency in technology
and an affinity to group work as two strengths of millennials, hence online communication is a
hallmark of this group.
The millennial population of Trinidad and Tobago is in no way behind other countries in
access to electronic communication. There exists the governments initiative to provide a laptop
to each national entering Form One; however a laptop has limited use without internet access. To
this regard, access to the internet has consistently improved as evidenced by mobile internet
subscriptions increasing by 20% in June 2014 compared to the same period in 2013 and more
than half of households in the country having a fixed internet subscription (TATT, 2014). It is
assumed that educators and the general public seek to constantly promote literacy and encourage

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factors that improve its levels, while limiting any aspect that will mitigate it. As electronic
messaging is a matter of daily life for students today the interaction between electronic message
literacy and Standard English literacy needs to be investigated. In addition, due to the spread of
social media use amongst adolescents, the role of electronic messaging as a tool to interact with
and engage students both inside and out of the classroom must be determined.
Far from adversely affecting the literacy levels of students, electronic messaging can
assist in building literacy skills in the areas of spelling ability and phonological awareness,
writing, and reading and vocabulary. This paper will discuss international studies on the impact
of electronic messaging on the literacy measures of reading and vocabulary, spelling ability and
phonological awareness, and writing. It will then narrow the focus by examining the limited
research in the regional and local contexts. Finally, some recommendations will be proposed as
to better treat with and incorporate student experiences with electronic messaging to improve
literacy levels in the classroom.
Spelling Ability and Phonological Awareness
The most obvious difference between electronic messaging and Standard English is in the
spelling conventions used. The varying orthographic representations of words can be explained
by electronic messaging being phonetically plausible versions of Standard English pronunciation
and contractions that omit vowels (Powell & Dixon, 2011). Powell and Dixons research was
conducted in Britain with undergraduates who were exposed to thirty test words that were
correctly written, misspelled and written in a non-standard (electronic message) form. A testretest design was used for pre and post exposure to the words written in the non-standard form.
The results showed that students exposed to electronic messaging showed higher overall spelling

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scores those exposed to misspellings. The mean of those exposed to the non-standard
orthography (electronic messaging) moved from 12.50 to 13.10 in the retest, while the mean of
those exposed to misspellings dropped to 11.22 from 11.61 (Powell & Dixon, 2011). This is of
interest because if electronic messages are equivalent to misspellings, what accounts for the
difference in scores? The results showed that the stored orthographic representations or spelling
is not fixed but susceptible to incoming information such as the exposure to misspellings and
electronic messaging. The susceptibility of orthography to external factors is something noticed
in the local classroom setting as well regarding the use of British or American spelling. The
author has noticed that when students are exposed to texts using either the British or American
convention, the writing elicited from comprehension exercise or personal responses reflect the
convention used in the text. This is most evident in words that end with zation/-sation and
our/-or. As the exposure to the electronic messaging spelling had the same effect of exposing the
group to correct spelling in Standard English, it shows that electronic messaging reinforces the
stored orthographic representations learnt previously (Powell & Dixon, 2011). Electronic
messaging provides partial information of words orthography, which effectively primes that
word for subsequent spelling (Powell & Dixon, p. 64, 2011). As younger learners have a less
established orthographic lexical representation, exposure to the spelling conventions of
electronic messaging will also prime spelling through phonological awareness.
Plester et al. argue that the ability to produce and read abbreviations used in electronic
messaging requires a high level of phonological awareness in the child and the unconventional
orthography used shows an awareness of alternative legitimate spellings within English (2009).
Plester et als (2009) conclusions came after studying the relationship between the use of
electronic messaging and literacy attainment amongst British children in the areas of reading

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ability, non-word reading, spelling ability, vocabulary knowledge and phonological awareness.
The sample consisted of teenagers, 78% of which owned a personal mobile phone; the mean
score in spelling ability was 106.93 out of a maximum possible score of 141 set by the British
Ability Scale II (Plester et. al., 2009).
In another study conducted among British pre-teens, the same conclusions regarding the
link between exposure to electronic messaging and spelling ability and phonological awareness
was drawn. Woo et al. (2011) explain the link between electronic messaging and spelling scores
as the phonological and alphabetical awareness needed for constructing and decoding electronic
messages underpin reading development. Locally, a study was conducted involving secondary
school students which mirrored results of larger studies from other countries. Though this study
is unpublished, it is the only one conducted to date on the effect of SMS language on the spelling
ability of children in the Anglophone Caribbean. This is an obvious reason that despite studies
being conducted elsewhere, investigation into the issue is far from complete or even adequate.
Motilal and Wilson (2012) collected academic writing from students who understood and utilised
electronic messaging and found no evidence of intrusion of electronic messaging conventions in
the students writing and spelling proficiency. The observation is also true for the researchers
classroom experience as the instructions of the electronic messaging conventions are haphazard
and not consistent enough to show a describable orthographic change. In fact many errors are
due to confusing homophones and hypercorrection when trying to attempt difficult words.

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Writing
The use of electronic messaging provides school-age children with opportunity to engage
with reading and writing. As electronic messaging is not rigid in its adherence to the
orthographic and grammatical conventions of Standard English, it provides young learners with
the opportunity to engage in language play. Language play occurs when the learner at some level
of consciousness senses what is normal in the language and how far one can differ from the
norms of the standard. The ability of the language learner to be able to experiment or play with
structures in the target is an important stepping stone in language Metalinguistic awareness is
developed through language play and is defined as the ability to think about how language works
while using it (Crystal, 1998). If we are good at stepping back argues Crystal, at thinking in a
more abstract way about what we hear and whet we say, then we are more likely to be good at
acquiring those skills which depend on just such a stepping back in order to be successful- and

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this means chiefly, reading and writing ( p. 181, 1998). Crystal (2008) later supports this
conclusion and refutes the claim that electronic messaging is detrimental to Standard English by
suggesting that since it requires both reading and writing it would be unappealing and difficult
for those with deficient literacy skills. Crystals assertion is given credence in the local language
setting when the author incorporates Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in
classroom assignments. When an activity involves ICT in its presentation, the students who
normally have lower writing and reading scores and performance are hesitant to complete the
task and the task usually receives a lower score when assessed. This reality also proves Plester et
al.s (2009) definition of literacy being the ability to decode, make meaning from and encode
information from various orthographic formats, as those with weaker literacy skills will have
difficulty manipulating electronic text.
Speakers in a bilingual or bidialectal situation often change between languages or
registers for a myriad of reasons, a phenomenon known as codeswitching. As electronic
messaging can be considered a new register it is not uncommon to see users codeswitch
depending on the situation and for sociolinguistic considerations such as identity. This was
observed in Jamaican Creole speakers who codeswitched during electronic messaging, this was
done only when deemed necessary, such as to demonstrate identity, and not subconsciously due
to an inability to express oneself in Standard English. Hinrichs (2006) analysis of a corpus of
email communication found that there was a move from Standard English to Creole when
Jamaicans were writing to other Jamaicans abroad. The obvious reason for this is that the
speakers use Creole to affirm Jamaican identity. The use of Creole in this context in no way
indicates a deficiency in the ability to use Standard English, it is a choice. By extension, the same
occurs in users of electronic communication, it is a register that is particular to millennials, and

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hence it is used to demonstrate belonging to that group and era. This is reinforced by Lewis and
Fabos (2005) qualitative study on electronic messaging and social identities amongst American
teenagers. Through a detailed observation of the participants electronic messaging habits and
motivations, it was found that writing during electronic messaging was aimed at meaningful,
deep interactions that create complex personal narrative that feed writing (Lewis & Fabos, 2005).
The use of electronic messaging and its orthographic and structural conventions were done by
conscious choice to make the online interaction authentic for the participants.
The use of electronic messaging also raises childrens awareness of appropriateness of
different registers in a way explicit instruction cannot. This is shown in Drouins (2011) study of
undergraduate students who self-regulated the use of electronic messaging conventions when
communicating with teachers. Using a Likert scale with 1 equivalent to never 6 to very
frequently, the frequency of electronic messaging conventions found in emails to a friend was
3.26, while the frequency in emails to professors was 1.47 (Drouin, 2011). Another study by
Shafie et al. (2010) amongst Malaysian undergraduates also found students who were exposed to
much electronic messaging still maintained the use of Standard English in academic writing in
assignments and examinations. It also concluded that electronic messaging only negatively
impacted those students with a weak proficiency of English. As students are able to be free from
the conventional constraints and the need for brevity in electronic messaging, this provides an
opportunity to become aware of the differences in the register required for formal learning and
communication with friends. The fact that users of electronic messaging are aware of
appropriateness of registers has also been seen by the writer in the classroom. Often when some
electronic messaging conventions appear in student writing in the classroom, e.g. no

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capitalisation of the first person pronoun I, is brought to the attention of students the response
is Sorry Sir, I forgot that Im not on Facebook.
Plester et al. (2008) also investigated the relationship between students who use mobile
phones to text regularly and performance in writing tasks. Students were asked to translate text in
the convention of electronic messaging to Standard English and vice versa. When translating
electronic messages to Standard English, the responses were coded for accuracy of content and
amount of spelling errors. The results showed that students at a higher writing level according
the KS2 Writing Levels made less spelling and interpretation errors when writing Standard
English. This shows a positive correlation between the use of electronic messaging and the
ability to understand and translate it in to Standard English amongst stronger writers and
phonological awareness was listed as the main factor in the ability to convert between registers
(Plester et. al., 2008).

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Reading and Vocabulary

As it is evident that use of electronic messaging positively affects the spelling and
phonological awareness of students, it is not difficult to expect the same result to occur in
reading levels. Plester et al. (2009) investigated the effect of using electronic messaging on the
reading and spelling measures amongst pre-teens in the United Kingdom. The study looked at the
link between reading ability and the quality of text messages amongst the subjects. The density
of electronic messaging conventions was determined by having the students compose a specific
message electronically. In addition to improvement in phonological awareness, this study
showed that students with longer exposure to texting with mobile telephones had greater word
reading ability as shown with the participants scoring 106.93 out of a maximum of 141 in the
British Ability Scales II word reading ability score (Plester et al., 2009). In addition, the
participants scored 102.46 out of a possible 139 in the British Picture Vocabulary Scales II
vocabulary standard score (Plester et al., 2009). As sight vocabularies are built through
interaction with text, exposure to electronic messaging develops letter-sound correspondences
that are not bound by conventions allowing students to attempt difficult words.

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Similar research was conducted by Kemp and Bushnell amongst Australian pre-teens,
focussing on the literacy levels of multi-press and predictive texters. The results showed that
experience using and deciphering electronic messaging resulted in faster reading of messages in
both Standard English and the orthographic conventions of electronic messaging (Kemp &
Bushnell, 2011). This shows that the same skill set is needed to manipulate both the sounds and
features of spoken and written language, of which electronic messaging is an extension of. The
ability to diverge from orthographic constraints allows students to experiment and make mistakes
with language in a non-judgemental environment. This provides confidence to tackle difficult
words and leads to reading prowess. Bushnell et al. (2011) conducted further research with
Australian teenagers resulting in the same conclusion. Even though the study was limited to
spelling, Bushnell et al. argued that end result will be improved reading levels as using electronic
messaging provides engagement which leads to greater exposure to written word which is a
predictor of reading ability (2011).
Durkin et al. (2011) investigated the relationship between the usage of electronic
messaging and literacy levels among adolescents in Britain, with and without language
impairment. This study showed a bidirectional relationship in that those who frequently used
electronic messaging developed greater reading efficiency and those with lower literacy skills
used fewer aspects of electronic messaging when communicating online. This shows that far
from being a hindrance to writing, competence in using electronic messaging is a feature of
better writers. Durkin et als study also compared students who were developing normally and
those who had language impairment and found that those developing normally were more likely
to utilise the conventions of electronic messaging (2011). This demonstrates that electronic

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messaging requires significant cognitive effort and ability, something that is developing in
students with lower literacy scores.

Conclusions and Recommendations

As far as using electronic messaging in the English language is concerned, there is no
overwhelming or conducive evidence to show that electronic messaging is detrimental to literacy
skills. The body of literature has shown positive relationships between electronic messaging and
the literacy skills of reading, writing, vocabulary, spelling and phonological awareness. The
greatest positive relationship is seen in phonological awareness and can be accounted for
electronic messaging spelling conventions being phonological with the aim of reducing character
use.
However, research in this field is still new and more is needed, especially in the
Anglophone Caribbean context. These studies need to be more longitudinal as a longer period of
study will show the relationship between continued usage of electronic messaging and literacy
levels. In addition, factors such as gender and the length of use of electronic messaging must be
incorporated in further research. This will also address the findings of some research that point to
a negative impact of electronic messaging and literacy.
Finally, a fundamental shift is required in educators attitude to electronic messaging.
Language teachers should utilise social media in the classroom, as a way to instantly provide

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feedback to students. Both teachers and students today use electronic messaging with no
catastrophic loss of language skills. It is time that electronic messaging is used as an educational
tool, while not allowing it to create a distraction in the classroom. Teng (2012) encourages
teachers to consider online postings as brainstorms and take students authentic experiences and
hard-learned truths and give them the training and practice they need to flesh out their work into
convincing narratives and ironclad arguments (p. 37). Therefore, students have nothing to lose
with the use of electronic messaging; the only risk faced is the development of literacy skills
through a new register that is simply fun and natural for millennials.

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Crystal, D. (2008). Txting: The Gr8 Db8. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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