Gender difference in text messaging of one hundred level undergraduates of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger state.

Abstract

The study compared the impact of text messaging on the written English of male and female one hundred level undergraduates of Ibrahim BadamasiBabangida University, Lapai. Three hundred and twenty students from nine departments organized under three disciplines-Arts, Social Science, and Science- were sampled for the study. The sample consisted of one hundred and seventy five males (175) and one hundred and forty five (145) females. The instrument used for the study was students’ essays on the topic, Corruption in Nigeria and Measures to Curb it. The essays were content analyzed for occurrence or otherwise of SMS forms. Five classes of SMS forms found in the essays were classified under five classes such as non-conventional spelling, phonological approximation, shortenings, letter-number homophones, and grammatical peculiarities. The result shows a mean of 3.56 and standard deviation of 2.10 for males and mean of 3.45 and a standard deviation of 1.82 for females. The frequency of occurrence of SMS forms was 55.4% for males and 44.6% for females across disciplines. In the light of this, the study recommended that teachers at the various levels of education should discourage the use of short message service forms in formal writing, such as applications, assignment, test, lecture notes, etc. There is the need to teach learners what constitutes correct language. Also, language teachers, curriculum planners, governments at various levels, and parents should emphasize and encourage intensive and extensive reading in learners.