University students vary their use of textese in digital messages to suit the recipient

Abstract

Background The casual, abbreviated writing style sometimes known as ‘textese’ (e.g., sorry im late ☹) has become widespread with the rise of digital communication. We explored Australian university students' views on, and use of, textese across three modalities (text message, Facebook post, email) and three recipient types (friends, peers, lecturers). Methods In Study 1, 51 undergraduates composed messages across the three modalities to the three recipient types. They also rated the appropriateness of messages written with high, medium and no textese, across modality and recipient types. In Study 2, 37 additional students provided examples of their own sent messages across modalities and recipients. Results Overall, participants rated textese use as more appropriate, and used significantly more textese, in messages to friends, than to peers, than to lecturers. Conclusions Undergraduates are sensitive to when and where it is appropriate to use textese and vary their use (and opinions) of written language as a function of the recipient.

Smile(y) – and your students will smile with you? the effects of emoticons on impressions, evaluations, and behaviour in staff-to-student communication

“…However, this contrasts with other studies in education contexts. Kemp and Clayton (2017) find that undergraduate students perceive abbreviations, that is 'textese', as inappropriate when used by staff.…”

Use of predictive text in text messaging over the course of a year and its relationship with spelling, orthographic processing and grammar

“…This suggests that the majority of the grammatical violations seen in the messages in the current study may well have been deliberate. Such an interpretation is borne out by the results of recent work conducted by Kemp and Clayton (), who found through experimental work that undergraduate students were sensitive when to use textspeak and could vary their style of written communication in line with who was likely to read it. However, there is still room for further research to look at the extent of deliberate versus accidental grammatical errors in texting.…”

That’s Good News ☹

“…This may not only change the level of emotional engagement with the task, but also reveal important differences with regard to how the relationship between message sender and receiver can modulate emoji processing. Indeed, several prior studies have shown that undergraduate students rate the use of textese as more appropriate in messages to friends compared to teachers (Drouin & Davis, 2009; Kemp & Clayton, 2016; Kemp & Grace, 2017). As a result, further investigations may be necessary to provide more thorough insights into the links between sender ratings and eye movements on messages with and without emojis.…”