Abstract This study aimed at investigating some of the possible effects of the computer on adolescents’ language development. As a base for the study Sundqvist’s (2009) study on extramural English (EE) was used. The work of David Crystal provided a substantial background on the English language, which was complemented by the work of Halliday among others. In the study ten national writing tests were examined and analyzed, and a small survey of the ten students’ Internet habits was performed. The mistakes and errors made by the students in the tests were compared to their value of exposure to Internet English (EIE) in order to establish possible links between their Internet habits and their writing mistakes. The study found that the five boys that took part spent more time online and engaging in activities where English was used than the girls of the study. It was also found that the students who spend the most time online made substantially more errors and mistakes regarding the apostrophe, mainly in contractions. It was also found that the students who spent little time online and had a low value of EIE were more likely to make mistakes and errors regarding verbs and agreement. Although the study was too limited for any generalizations to be made, it hinted at some possible links between Internet habits of adolescents and their performance on the national test and their general language proficiency.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-20193 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Österljung, Patrik |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk och litteratur, SOL |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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