THE EFFECTS OF FACEBOOK AND WHATSAPP MESSENGER ON STUDENT'S ACADEMIC WRITING

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background of Study

The Advancement of technology has changed the social and academic lives. It provides a facility for people to communicate anywhere at any time diversely such as electronic mail, instant messages and social networks. A use of social network is common among the students’ and also builds a distraction for students. It is crucial for researchers to get an attention to investigate the role of social network (Facebook) in academic areas where its influences on students’ live with various activities and involves them in a different process of channels (Springer, 2021).

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and has the potential to be one of the prime drivers of development on the continent. Nevertheless, the country's development is constrained by the weak environment for broad-based economic growth. Achieving sustainable long-term change requires a significant strengthening of policy formulation and implementation processes. At its core, this involves the supply of, and demand for, improvements in the business environment. Social media entrepreneurship is a new phenomenon that has changed how the business environment operates. Businesses are able to gain access to resources and online exposure that were otherwise not available to them. It has also helped businesses to increase their worthiness, cultivate strategic partnerships and increase their contact with customers and suppliers. It has become important for business owners and marketers to register their presence on the social media which also work as a communication and marketing tool which significantly grow their businesses. The entrepreneurs on social media have the ability of sharing their business ideas and encounters. This assists in creativity, open communication and sharing of knowledge among users. Facebook, Skype and discussion forums are examples of social media tools where large numbers of entrepreneurs participate (Tapscott and Williams, 2008). The sky is the limit with social media. Owing to of the flexibility of social networking tools, businesses can realize different benefits.

These according to Simon (2012) are greater access to different audiences, increased patronage, improved customer service, improved products and services, job creation and adoption of favorable pricing practices. The 21st century has seen a shift in the way businesses operates. Smith and Taylor (2004) reveal that companies are presently experiencing several new unanticipated events and the development of the Internet as a communication channel is almost certainly one of the most influential factors. The internet has brought about several new elements − it has made consumers more accessible, it has emerged with a completely new set of communication tools that make the process of exchanging information much easier and faster, and it has compelled companies to rethink how they are communicating with their customers (Jaokar, Jacobs, Moore and Ahvenainen, 2009).Entrepreneurs, marketers and consumers are witness the appearance of virtual social media. As of January 2012, there were more than 800 million active Facebook users, with over 250 million of them logging in everyday. In addition, the average Facebook user has 130 friends and likes 80 pages but this figure is expected to expand with time. Additionally, over 3.5 billion pieces of contents such as blog posts, web links and news stories are shared on this social network (Digital Buzz, 2012). Social networking has led to the introduction of social media entrepreneurship and presented new ways of communicating to expanse audiences on various Internet platforms. Different kinds of organizations render various services through the social media all over the world e.g. health, news, sports, education etc (Kotler and Armstrong, 2011).

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Social Media Entrepreneurship as a Tool for National Development.

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1.2 Statement of Problems

The differential scholastic achievement of students in Nigeria has been and still a source of concern and research interest to educators, government and parents. This is so because of the great importance that education has on the national development of the country. All over the country, there is a consensus of opinion about the fallen standard of education in Nigeria (Adebule, 2004).

Parents and government are in total agreement that their huge investment on education is not yielding the desired dividend. Teachers also complain of student’s low performance at both internal and external examination as a result of excessive Facebook and WhatsApp messenger usage which impacts their writing of tenses. This problem are attributed to poor foundation from primary school due to poor teaching standards as well as other factors such poor funding of education by government as well as negligence by parents. It is against this constraint that the researcher sees the subject matter as an empirical problem worthy of investigation.

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1.3 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of Facebook and WhatsApp messenger on student's academic writing. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine the effect of Facebook and WhatsApp chat word abbreviation on students' academic writing
2. To determine the multitasking inversely affect health and academic performance while using Facebook and WhatsApp messenger with different activities i.e. sharing, posting, chatting and playing games with access of internet and use of different devices during class time and study time.
3. To investigate the role of social network (Facebook) in academic areas where their influence on students’ lives with various activities and involves them in a different process of channels.
4. To examine ways to reduce the loss of writing and spelling skills in the use of Facebook and WhatsApp messenger

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1.4 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Does the social networking messenger negatively impact students’ academic performance?
• Does social networking word abbreviation usage, affect student's academic writing?
• Does Facebook and WhatsApp messenger negatively impact student academic performance?
• What is the influence of Facebook and WhatsApp messenger on the loss of writing and spelling skills among students?

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1.5 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: Facebook and WhatsApp messenger negatively impact students' academic writing
• H1: Facebook and WhatsApp messenger positively impact students' academic writing

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no significant influence of Facebook and WhatsApp messenger on the loss of writing and spelling skills among students
• H1: There is significant influence of Facebook and WhatsApp messenger on the loss of writing and spelling skills among students

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1.6 Significance of Study

The significance of the study deals with the need for the study and its possible application and utilization. This study is significant to the subject in the following ways: It addresses the question that so many teachers, parents, and students have about the potential relationship(s) between Facebook and WhatsApp messenger on the loss of writing and spelling skills among students.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.7 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the effects of Facebook and WhatsApp messenger on student's academic writing.

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1.8 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).