THE IMPACT OF SMS ON THE LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY OF

LEARNERS

1.0 ABSTRACT
Electronic communication places a new demands on language that leads to
variations in written language use. Text messaging in the form of short message
services (SMS) has become one of the most successful mobile services in Malaysia
and another country. The use of this services is now well integrated into the everyday
life of humans. The cellphones that are conveniently used for social communication
are invaluably helpful but can equally be extremely detrimental to the learning and
development process of learners of other languages especially foreign language
learning. The short message service (SMS) language that is used by cellphone users
has also been discovered to be abundantly used by the learners in their written work.
This discovery has prompted one to investigate the impact of this prevalent use, for it
is believed that the SMS language is influencing the language proficiency of learners
in a negative way.

The purpose of this paper is to explicate how the SMS language affects the
language proficiency of learners.

2.0 INTRODUCTION
Communication succeeded to play a great role to create a daily contact between
the member of the society. Technology is one of the most important elements that
make communication easy and quick. In the recent years it represented a new genre of
communication that is of SMS messages. People started using SMS messages in each
time and everywhere : when driving, eating and even walking at the point that
sometimes they change their directions without paying attention to that.

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 Notwithstanding the myriad benefits provided by the SMS in enhancing
communication and improving global business generally, the SMS has been found to
be of detrimental effect on the language proficiency of learners. Learners use it as if it
is an officially accepted and standard language. They mix it with the standard
language they learn at school, especially the English language and consequently
commit numerous errorsranging from incorrect spelling to ungrammatical sentence
constructions.

The aim of this paper is to show how the SMS influences the learners’ English
language proficiency.

3.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

According to Biesenbach-lucas and Wiesenforth (2001), language is always
changing due to developments in communication technology, its change has recently
accelerated and led to interesting variations in written language use. For example, the
evolution of an abbreviated language is due to the shortcomings and the technical
restrictions of SMS as a means of communication. The existence of a common
background between close friends and family members seems to be another reason for
a reasonable use of syntactic and lexical short forms to save energy, space and time.
Since only a tiny space is available to communicate, the texter has to condense
meaning into a short message. A special shared knowledge is required to understand
this language variety, which is an indicator of group affiliation.

Since the language of e-mail and SMS messages is associated with acronyms and
changes in spelling norms (Abdullah, 1998), it is an inherently informal
communication system. The electronic age has provided a new context for the writing
process. University students are frequently engaged in electronic writing.

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Investigating the various features of written language found in e-mails and text
messages will have implications for writing and writing instruction. As pointed out by
Grinter and Eldridge (2001), it is interesting to see how and whether users find ways
of adapting the media to make themselves understood.

SMS language is also affecting the language of advertising. In advertising, short

sentences are preferred as they tend to be most appealing and they save space and
money. According to Erasmus-Kritzinger et.al. (2000:103) define “advertising” as:
a controlled, non-personal outward communication regarding a
need-satisfying product, service or idea which an identifiable sponsor
addresses to a specific target audience or target market for the purpose of
informing and/or reminding it and/or persuading it to take the appropriate
action.”

Furthermore Theo and Cutter (1971:16) affirm the notion that the SMS language
is appealing and evocative to the reader in this manner:
Small words are gay. And they can catch large thoughts and hold them up to
see, like rare stone in rings of gold, or joy in the eyes of a child. Some make
you feel, as well as see: the cold deep dark of night, the hot salt sting of
tears.
Indeed, some authors use the SMS language to create book titles that would appeal to
and draw the attention of readers. One such title of a book about HIV/AIDS written
by Conlon et. al. (2004) reads:
How 2 b Aids Aware
It would be difficult for a person who is not conversant with the SMS language to
read the above title of the book. The SMS language is therefore not sympathetic to the
learning process of young and even adult learners of English as a second language
since it does not observe grammatical and syntactic rules of English language usage.
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According to the article by Rajesh Bhat (2007), the SMS culture has brought
about a revolution in India, particularly amongst the younger generation. Bidding
goodbye to the vowels and the age-old rigid rules of grammar, the youngsters across
the nation have coined a unique lingo that is almost posing a threat to the Queen’s
English, which is currently in use. With the whole lot of abbreviations like “C U
2nite” for “ See you tonight” or “C U l8er” for “See you later”, the new generation,
with a thumb on cellphones and ‘SMS language’ on the fingertips, has caused a furore
amongst the linguists, who see this culture having dangerous overtones. For the
linguists, the disease is spreading like ‘anthrax’ or ‘bird-flu’. Prof KB Razdan, former
Head of Department, English, Jammu University, the SMS is the corruption of
language and murder of alphabets, “SMS language is all artificial - a mockery with
the language. This SMS lingo is a challenge and should be stopped.” Razdan is,
however, a staunch believer that SMS language cannot in any way replace Queen’s
English. “As long as the language is used to communicate the thoughts, it is okay. But
the way it is reflected in the normal usage of language, it is a threat and needs to be
discouraged, since the ‘new language’ is full of aberrations and has artificiality,” adds
Prof Razdan.

The research by Sandra Barasa and Maarten Mous of Leiden University present
the findings of a study on graphones which is one of the creativity features of SMS
that could influence writing in English among learners. The data indicating the
graphones is derived from a data set of a more extensive research investigating the
manifestation of language in technologically mediated communication in Kenya. This
study defines the term graphone as a feature of SMS language in which words are
written the way they are pronounced (spoken like writing). This comes from the
words ‘graphic’ (written representation) and phone (speech sound). Graphone writing
in Kenya seems to be closely influenced by Swahili. Below are some examples of the
different types of graphones from the data set.
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Both the graphones in the original SMS and their translations are highlighted.
The message is followed by a translation into the conventional writing. Note that
some messages have used both Swahili and English words. The general English
‘translation’ is given below the examples.

(1) I kof @ ua thot, sniz @ ua smel n cry wen u smyl @ me coz u r 2 much 4 me
‘I cough at your thought, sneeze at your smell, and cry when you smile at me
because you are too much for me.’

In example (1), besides the pronounceable graphones, the writer has incorporated
the symbol <@> for ‘at’ and the use of single pronounceable letters, e.g. <n> for
‘and’, <u> for ‘you’ and <r> for ‘are’. Further, numbers have been used in place of
words that share their pronunciation, e.g. <2> for ‘to’ or ‘too’ and <4> for ‘for’.

(2) R u kamin 4 de recoln kesho? Op 2 c u

‘Are you coming for the recollection tomorrow? Hope to see you.’

In example (2), the word coming is spelled with a k. The final g is also deleted since
the writer considers them as not pronounced and hence omissible. Similarly, h and e
have been left out in hope.

4.0 OBJECTIVE AND RESEARCH QUESTION

The purpose of this study is to analyze whether shortening up the words in SMS
will corrupt our’s language.
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5.0 METHODOLOGY
The data collection in this study is by 30 sets of survey questionnaire distributed
for 2 groups of people. The first group contain the 15 working staff at Public Bank
Berhad and the second group are 15 of University Utara Malaysia students, where 2
out of 15 are working and studying person.

The background information of these 30 respondants is between age of 15 to 45

years old. The majority of these respondants is come from Chinese ethnic follow by
the Malay, Indian and Siamnese, in gender of male and female.

This study was an attempt to answer the following questions :

(i) SMS activities
(ii) How would respondants shorten up the words in SMS
(iii) Agree or disagree shortening words in SMS will corrupt our’s language

6.0 LIMITATION OF SCOPE

The limitation in this study is 19 of the respondants are not provided the reason
on the optional question at the section D of questionnaire. Besides, 1 out of 30
respondants are omit to answer the question whether shortening up words in SMS will
corrupt our’s language.
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7.0 FINDINGS
The data gathered by several questions from survey questioannaire by 30
respondants on SMS activities was show by the below table.
Questions (Q) Number
(N=30)
PBB UUM Others

1 Do you have mobile phone? 15 15 -

2 Do you SMS? 15 15 -

3 Shorten up the words, 12 13 5

abbreviate the words or chunk
the words when using SMS

Figure 1: SMS Activities

7.1 POSSESS OF MOBILE PHONE

Figure 2 : Percentages on Possess of Mobile Phone

The chart above refer. Data gathered from the 30 respondants from Public Bank
Berhad (PBB) and University Utara Malaysia (UUM) was present that 100 % all
of them are using the mobile phone. From the result, nowadays the mobile phone
become a very universal technology in human life.
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7.2 SMS USER

Figure 3 : Percentages of SMS User

From the data collected, all of the 30 respondants are 100% using the SMS to
communicate with other people. This phenomenon is popular because sending
SMS text messages costs less than voice calls; moreover, incoming SMS are free
of charge.

7.3 SHORTHEN UP, ABBREVIATE OR CHUNK THE WORDS IN SMS

Figure 4 : Percentages Of Abbreviate Words in SMS

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According to the pie chart above, there are 13 respondants from UUM students
with high percentage of 43% will shorthen up the word when using SMS text
messages compared to the 12 respondants at PBB only 40% will shorthen the
words in SMS text messages. Moreover, there are only 17% by 4 respondants
where they will not abbreviate words when using the SMS.

7.4 SMS ABBREVIATION WORDS

Single Words Frequency Percentages

Letters (%)
R Are 26 87%
U You 28 93%
Digits Words Frequency Percentages
(%)
2 To 20 67%
9 Night 7 23%
1 Want 4 13%
Acronyms & Words Frequency Percentages
Abbreviatio (%)
ns
I luv u I Love You 10 33%
Gd Good 15 50%
Wan Want 15 50%
Nite Night 6 20%
Figure 5 : The main text devices found in the analyzed SMS (N=30)
As delineated in the above table, since sending SMS messages can be
time-consuming due to the troublesome text entry on mobile phones, SMS
respondants employed text devices such as single letters, digits, abbreviation and
acronyms to replace words. A lot of words were shortened and combined with
numbers. Grammer, punctuation and capitalization were largely ignored. These
phenomena as a natural reaction to the 160-character limit of service on SMS text
messages.
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7.5 ABBREVIATION WORDS IN SMS CORRUPT THE LANGUAGE

Figure 6 : Percentages of Respondants to the Abbreviation Words in SMS

Corrupt The Language
Refer to the pie chart above, there are 67% (20 respondants) agree that
abbreviation words in SMS text messages will currupt to our’s language
especially affect our’s grammer and writing skills. Furthermore, there are only
30% (9 respondants) disagree with the statement, whereas only 3% (1 respondant)
have not given the respond to this question.

8.0 CONCLUSION
From the study, I strongly agree that abbreviation words in SMS will corrupt
our’s language. The revolution of mobile phone has brought new dimensions to
writing and its function society. This study has highlighted the impact of SMS on the
language proficiency of learners. The SMS language does not conform to grammatical
or syntactic rules of the English language, nor does it conform to spelling rules. It has
been indicated that the English language proficiency of the learners is negatively
affected by learners’ exposure to the SMS language both through the print and the
electronic media.
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A number of linguistic features used by the SMS writers such as abbreviation, spoken-
like spelling, less attention to punctuation and capitalization, as well as syntactical and
lexical reductions were well suited to the conditions of electric communication to
reduce space, time and effort. Therefore, the solutions to this problem, SMS needs to
be confined to its own communication context. It is then advisable to show its
differences from the standard language to the young people affected the most. This
can be done right in schools because students can made aware of the differences
between standard language and SMS language.

REFERENCES
1. Mohd.Sahandari Gani B. Hamzah, Mohd. Reza Ghorbani, Saifuddin Kumar
B.Abdullah (Nov.2009) The Impact of Electronic Communication Technology On
Written Language. Retrived from
http://www.teacher.org.cn/doc/ecedu200911/ucedu20091107.pdf
2. Mampa Lorna Mphahlele (2005).The Impact of SMS Language on Language
Proficiency of Learners and The SMS Dictionaries:A Challenge for Educators and
Lexicographers. Retrived from
http://www.iadis.net/dl/final_uploads/200506L022.pdf
3. Sandra Barasa & Maarten Mous (2009) The Oral And Written Interface in

SMS:Technologically Mediated Communication In Kenya.Retrived from

http://lotos.library.uu.nl/publish/articles/000313/bookpart.pdf
4. Mardziah Hayati Abdullah (Dec 1, 2003) The Impact of Electronic Communication
on Writing. Retrived from http://findarticles.com
5. Rajesh Bhat.(Oct 17, 2007) SMS lingo versus the Queen’s Language.Retrived from
http://www.merinews.com
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TABLE OF CONTENT

1.0 Abstract ………………………………………………………….....1

2.0 Introduction………………………………………………………….. .1-2
3.0 Literature Review………………………………………………….......2-5
4.0 Objective and Research Question……………………………...……...5
5.0 Methodology…………………………………………………………. 6
6.0 Limitation of Scope……………………………………………………6
7.0 Findings……………………………………………………………......7
7.1 Possess of Mobile Phone…………………………………………...7
7.2 SMS User…………………………………………………..…….....8
7.3 Shorthen Up, Abbreviate or Chunk The Words In SMS……...........8-9
7.4 SMS Abbreviation Words……………………………………….....9
7.5 Abbreviation words in SMS Corrupt The Language………..……..10
8.0 Conclusion………………………………………………………….….10-11