Social Media Language and Academic Writing Skills Among Secondary School Students in Lusaka, Zambia

Abstract

The rapid expansion of social media has transformed the linguistic environment in which secondary school students communicate, learn and express themselves. This study investigated the influence of social media language on the academic writing skills of secondary school students in selected schools in Lusaka, Zambia. The study was guided by a pragmatic research paradigm and employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. The target population comprised 620 participants, consisting of 600 Grade 10–12 students and 20 English Language teachers from four selected secondary schools in Lusaka. A sample of 240 students was selected using stratified random sampling, while 12 English Language teachers were purposively selected. Data were collected through structured questionnaires, a controlled academic writing task assessed using seven writing components, and semi-structured teacher interviews. The findings showed that WhatsApp was the most frequently used platform (42%), followed by TikTok (26%), Facebook (18%) and Instagram (14%). Abbreviations were the most frequently reported social-media language feature (78%), followed by emojis (71%), non-standard spelling (58%), slang (55%), code-mixing (49%) and punctuation omission (44%). Analysis of 225 usable academic writing scripts showed that punctuation problems (41%) and abbreviations (34%) were the most common social-media-related features occurring in formal writing. Grammar problems associated with informal usage occurred in 28% of scripts, followed by informal spelling (21%), informal vocabulary (19%) and slang (15%). A moderate positive correlation was found between frequency of social-media language use and the occurrence of informal features in academic writing (r = .52, p < .01), while a moderate negative correlation existed between social-media language use and overall academic writing performance (r = -.38, p < .01). Qualitative findings indicated that students generally understood the distinction between informal and formal registers but sometimes transferred digital language habits into academic writing, particularly under time pressure. The study concludes that social-media language is associated with academic writing outcomes, but its influence is neither uniform nor deterministic. The study recommends explicit register instruction, contrastive writing activities, structured editing practice, timed writing exercises and continuous teacher feedback.