Sharyn
Freindlich
ENG
3029
Research
paper
5/9/13
Introduction:
Technology is a big aspect to modern day society. From what
I’ve observed, more people are using cellphones at an earlier age. Texting has
become second nature to most people. The
focus of my study is to determine if text-messaging acronyms have an ultimate
effect on proper and professional grammar and writing on current college
students. I plan to prove that a
negative affect occurs with the use of these abbreviated words.
I chose
this topic because communication mediums are constantly changing with upgraded
technology. It is interesting how people perceive words and symbols. Someone
can interpret a word differently than someone else and that is a conflict. With
all of the acronyms around in the modern day world, I feel that it is important
to examine how much people actually know what they mean.
Literature Review:
Text messaging is known to have a
specific perception by college students. In “A Comparison of Student use and
Understanding of Text Messaging Shorthand at Two Universities”, the authors
researched two universities and how their students perceive text messaging. In
their conclusions, it was understood how shorthand and acronyms were deemed
appropriate for peers and family. Though, certain inappropriateness was found
for texting professors, vendors, teachers, and professionals. Students felt the need to write out and spell
out the entire words when talking to these people.
When conducting research regarding
whether acronyms negatively impacts language skills, students responded with a
broad variety of opinions. This is
explained further in my methods section.
Methods:
In order to gather my data, I decided to conduct a 13
question survey developed on a web-based program called Qualtrics. These
questions were carefully thought out to challenge the knowledge of acronyms in
College students. Not only was it
designed to target the knowledge, but to also gather data that assesses
knowledge and perception of academic writing. Every response gets saved into
the system so the results can show as graphs that can be copied and pasted to
Microsoft word or Excel.
It was a challenge coming up with the correct questions to
ask that would get me good results for my analysis. In total, I received
responses from 20 people to take the survey. The questions that I came up with focused on
the familiarity of the meaning of acronyms and how they personally affect each
person life. To make the survey a little bit personal to each individuals
writing, I asked questions about the affects of their academic writing and how
they would be graded with little to no revision. In addition, I asked questions
regarding the age they began texting and questioned the knowledge of the abbreviated
word “ur.” This can be found in my data
analysis.
Data Analysis:
How often do you use Acronyms (abbreviated words) while
texting daily?
|
#
|
Answer
|
|
Response
|
%
|
||
|
1
|
Never
|
|
2
|
10%
|
||
|
2
|
Sometimes
|
|
13
|
65%
|
||
|
3
|
Always
|
|
5
|
25%
|
||
|
|
Total
|
|
20
|
100%
|
This data shows the different responses for the use of
acronyms today. As we can see from the diagram above, almost every person who
had taken the survey has used an acronym at least once in their lives. Only two
out of twenty admitted to never using acronyms. What I gather from this chart
is that most people use them but not all the time.
Do you think that abbreviating words will affect academic
writing?
|
#
|
Answer
|
|
Response
|
%
|
||
|
1
|
Yes
|
|
13
|
65%
|
||
|
2
|
No
|
|
7
|
35%
|
||
|
|
Total
|
|
20
|
100%
|
This chart shows how people view the changing of academic
writing. A little bit more than half the responses answered that it would,
while the rest answered otherwise. This
question proves that people see the affects that abbreviated words have on
professional writing.
What does the texting acronym "ur"
mean?
|
#
|
Answer
|
|
Response
|
%
|
||
|
1
|
You are
|
|
0
|
0%
|
||
|
2
|
Your
|
|
8
|
40%
|
||
|
3
|
You're
|
|
1
|
5%
|
||
|
4
|
All of
the Above
|
|
10
|
50%
|
||
|
5
|
I am not sure exactly...
|
|
1
|
5%
|
||
|
|
Total
|
|
20
|
100%
|
I found
this question very interesting. The answers are scattered around. The correct answer that I was looking for was
all of the above, which is what half of my survey takers answered. The word “ur” is abbreviated from all three
versions of your. Not seeing the differences between the tenses of the word has
a big affect on professional writing. When asked “Do you know the meaning of
your, you’re, and you are?” all of the responses were a yes. This makes the
argument about “ur” conflicting.
Since you selected,
"Yes" to feeling that your texting style has changed from when you
started to now, please briefly explain why your style changed? (12/ 20 responses)
·
I originally started with abbreviations and acronyms.
I never used to use capitalization and punctuation. Now I use proper grammar
·
I have started using acronyms more and have
created my own acronyms
·
I type with less acronyms. When I first received
a phone with the ability to text, the type of phone I had made it very
difficult to type. Acronyms were a must for that type of phone keys. Now that I’m
older and equipped with better technology.
·
I do not feel the need to use it as much. I
prefer to use the full word or phrase.
·
When I was younger I used to use a lot of
acronyms but as I got older I stopped altogether.
·
I have started to use a lot more acronyms than
before.
·
My style changed from abbreviations to full words
and sentences.
·
I have gotten a lot more proper when I text now.
I used to use faces like :D or =( and I used to use caps a lot, lots of
abbreviations. Now I write in full sentences and spell everything out.
·
I feel that I used to text with more
abbreviations, but now I use full sentences.
·
I write correctly and full sentences.
·
I became an adult.
·
Cell phones have changed drastically so of course
style is affected. It’s so much easier to write complete sentences on these
smart phones than the flip phones of 2004. When I was a child, texting was more
informal and quick. More abbreviations and such, I hardly ever use them now
·
I used to use abbreviated words a lot but now I
choose to write grammatically correct.
I
see within my data that people were more likely to abbreviate messages when
they had flip phones, rather than the smart phones of the new generation. Flip
phones made texting harder with a smaller key pad, so acronyms were used the
most when they were around. Technology
has improved itself throughout the years causing people to steer away from acronyms
and write grammatically correct messages, thanks to the bigger keyboards and
phones.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, after all the research
for my assumption of how text-messaging
lingo and acronyms have an ultimate effect on proper and professional grammar
and writing, I have come to the
conclusion that language is constantly changing. I feel like my survey data results
show me that yes, people do use acronyms, but are knowledgeable as to when it
is appropriate to use them.
The responses
I received told me that while writing professionally, people refrain from the
use of abbreviated words, and choose more carefully. My research question asked
if acronyms would have a negative effect on professional writing.
To wrap things up, what I have realized is that
although for some people acronyms will have an effect. Out of the twenty people
surveyed only seven said it has an effect on writing and the other thirteen
said otherwise. There will always be changing in the way we use language and it
is up to us to keep up a border between academic writing and texting. If they
clash, then there will be confusion with the way acronyms are perceived.
Work Cited:
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