خلاصة:
This study aimed at investigating the English textese of Iranian EFL learners by scrutinizing the linguistic features through a qualitative design. In doing so, 700 messages were collected from 43 MA Iranian EFL learners of both genders. The features were categorized and analyzed calculating the frequency and percentage. The findings of the study showed that Iranian EFL students used different types of linguistic features with different density in their textese. They had consistency in textism and their text messaging language was mostly standard. The findings of the study could be used to raise students’ awareness on the linguistic features in choosing the right kind of language when communicating with others.
ملخص الجهاز:
com Abstract This study aimed at investigating the English textese of Iranian EFL learners by scrutinizing the linguistic features through a qualitative design.
The findings of the study showed that Iranian EFL students used different types of linguistic features with different density in their textese.
Keywords: Iranian EFL Students, Linguistic Features, Text Messages, Textese 1.
While some scholars have focused on the sociolinguistics of text messages among users (Elvis, 2009; Thurlow & Brown, 2003), others have investigated the impact of texting on literacy of the younger generations (Plester, Wood & Joshi, 2009).
Different classification schemes have been proposed for codifying linguistic forms in the language of textese (Crystal, 2008; Lyddy, Farina, Hanney, Farrell & O'Neill, 2014; Plester, et al.
In Iran also some studies have focused on issues such as gender differences, or Romanized Persian SMS messages (Akbari, 2013; Heidari and Alibabaee (2013), but the number of the studies on linguistic features of textese is not sufficient.
This study also supports the idea that majority of text messaging language was standard showing that most of the students followed the conventions and norms of writing; this finding is in agreement with the findings of Crystal (2008) and Thurlow and Brown (2003), but further research with different corpus is needed to confirm or contrast the idea.
The analysis of the data showed that the students used different types of linguistic features with different density, they had consistent conventions, and most of their text messaging language was standard.