The Symbols and Written Language of Users of Messenger

Abstract

This work presents the results of a postgraduate thesis on communication, particularly the use of language. Messenger is one of the most popular ways for communicating by signs and symbols. This study was carried out on junior high school students in state education. This research explores the possible impact on junior high school students’ written work due to their use of Messenger. To address this question, the referential communication model with the qualitative approach was used in order to carry out a comparative study. Data were gathered from 16 junior high school students between 15 and 17 years of age who were paired into two groups for each part of the investigation. The research showed that it was possible to categorize the students into three groups: those who constantly use Internet, those who do not constantly use Internet and the rest who do not use it. The end results reveal that there is little relationship between the use of signs and symbols on Messenger and the quality of written work presented by junior high school students..