A silent killer of vocabulary : Social media language

Indeed, all students are in school to develop themselves, perform well and acquire certain qualifications and professions to be able to provide for themselves and their families in future.

That is why it is important that the social media slang which has developed over time and become a large part of the writing of youngsters needs to be looked at critically.

One school of thought has pointed out that the constant use of social media language often makes users feel lazy to spell  words in full whenever they are writing, that is why students tend to use those abbreviated words in their schoolwork.

Young people

Besides, since young people spend most part of their time texting, tweeting and on facebook, the use of abbreviated words has naturally become part of their writing, therefore, the social media vocabulary sometimes unconsciously creeps into their essays and other schoolwork. 

The use of these words affects students’ ability to spell and write correctly and their proficiency in English. In addition, the lack of punctuation and capital letters in social media affects their written work, resulting in their poor performance in English language examinations and other subjects.

In spite of the criticisms, other people think that language evolves so the new social media generation should not be forced to adhere strictly to the traditional Queen’s English.

They argue that with time, new words would be coined or formed to expand the English language, pointing out that already, words like ‘smh’ (shaking my head; found in the Oxford Dictionary) have their roots in the social media slang.

One student, Master Nana Owusu Koomson of the St. Augustine’s College in Cape Coast, said the use of abbreviated words did not affect his work since he knew when and on which platform to use them.

“It saves time and space and we cannot stop because there is no time to waste,” he pointed out.

However, Master Stephen Yeboah of the Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School, Legon in Accra, indicated that the constant use of abbreviated words was dangerous since it could have a bad effect on the work of students if care was not taken.

“If you overuse such words, they would affect you since they would become part of you. The only thing we have to do is to avoid using them,” he added.  

Master Yaw Amponsah Baah of the St. Thomas Aquinas SHS at Cantonments in Accra said the problem with those shortened words was their usage during examinations.

“Once in a while when I am writing an essay, such expressions creep in but I cancel them out fast and use the correct words,” he said.

Miss Adjoa Mensah of the Kaneshie Senior High Technical School in Accra noted that the use of abbreviated words did not affect her but rather made it easier for her to communicate with her friends.

Moreover, she added, the abbreviated words made students type very fast when they were on the social media platform.

Miss Maame Ama Serwaa of the Ghana National College in Cape Coast also said the use of abbreviated words had become fashionable.

“Everybody wants to be part of it to show that he/she is current. However, I think we should not overdo it,” she cautioned. 

Tutor

An English Language and Literature Tutor at Accra Academy, Mrs Grace Moncar, said the shortening of words and the use of Pidgin English had become part of the students work.

“They use the expressions almost everywhere and you know it is an informal language but they find themselves using it in the formal environment when they are writing essays and answering examination questions,” she said.

Mrs Moncar said occasionally she came across some of those words while marking the scripts of students, “and what I did was to take note of the words and caution the students about their usage in school.

“They can use it informally but not in the formal environment (sentences, essays, compositions and letters) so that once they are writing any schoolwork they do not use them,” she said.

Mrs Moncar suggested that SHS students should minimise the use of abbreviated words and Pidgin English because the more they used those words, the more their grammar suffered.

“Our focus is to help them streamline the use of Pidgin English and informal expressions in their conversations,” she added.

The Director of the Secondary Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Reverend Simon Asige, said the GES was really concerned about the problem of the use of abbreviated words by students.

“The GES is really concerned about this practice because you see students doing well in the other subjects but performing poorly in English Language because of the use of such words.

“For me, whenever I attend a speech day or I am given the opportunity to talk to students, I let them know the harmful effects of this practice,” he said, adding that it behoved all; parents, guardians, teachers and society in general, to help deal with the problem since the GES alone could not solve it.

Conclusion

From the analysis and concerns raised by language experts, it is clear that the use of abbreviated words is causing more harm than good to students. If this is not checked, in the long run there would be a generation of students with poor diction who also feel lazy to spell out words in full. 

A national and sustained crusade needs to be embarked upon to sensitise students to the problem and advise them against such practice before it gets out of hand.