Avoid use of abbreviations — Teachers advise students
Some teachers have expressed concern about the increasing use of abbreviations by junior high school (JHS) students.
Advertisement
They have, therefore, called on parents and guardians to monitor the use of social media by their children and wards in order to stop the practice.
According to the teachers, the use of abbreviations was negatively affecting the writing of students, adding that if the practice was not stopped, it could negatively affect the performance of students.
The teachers, who deplored the practice in separate interviews with the Junior Graphic, mentioned some of the abbreviations as ‘hw’ for how, ‘pls’ for please, ‘r’ for are and ‘u’ for you.
An English teacher, Ms Evelyn Quampah said the use of abbreviations by students was a problem and as teachers, “when we notice things like that, we caution them so that they do not repeat it”.
“We cannot control the use of social media because they say that is where they find friends and chat with. Since they use the phones at home, we implore parents to monitor them,” she said.
Ms Quampah said teachers usually underlined those mistakes in the exercises of the students, and ask them to rewrite those word so that they do not repeat the abbreviations.
Another teacher, Mr Kwabena Frimpong said he always advised students against the use of abbreviations so that they do not creep into their writing in school.
“I think all we can do is to keep reminding them because if we do not do that, they will keep on writing that way even in examinations,” he said.
He said the use of social media language in school was a big problem that needed to be solved by all; parents, teachers and guardians.
He said students must make it a point to write words in full always instead of the use of short cuts which most people use on social media platforms.
Miss Natasha Gyamera, a JHS Three student of Christ Royal International School, said the abbreviations often creeped into their class exercises because she mostly used the shortened words when writing down notes in class and when texting since it made things faster than writing the words in full.
She said having realised that it could affect her performance at school, she made sure that she did not use the abbreviations during examinations.
Another student, Miss Caroline Mensah, also said in order to be a good student, one needed to practice the correct way to use and write the English Language.