Nigerian Teachers Perception on the Use of ‘SMS Communication on Students’ Conventional Writings

The newly invented short message service (SMS) communication occasioned by the emergence of mobile telephones is a new phenomenon in communication. This form of communication oftentimes disregards the basic rules of English grammar especially among youths and this has raised a major worry for the society in recent times. This concern is that SMS communication is gradually taking over written communication and indirectly jeopardizing students’ usage of the Standard English language in their academic writings. Within this context therefore, this paper investigates Nigerian teachers’ perception of the pervasiveness of the SMS language among students and how this form of communication is jeopardizing students’ formal academic writings. A survey was carried out among the teachers in the six zonal headquarters of Post Primary School Service Commission (PPSSC) in Anambra State, Nigeria. A sample of 400 teachers was randomly selected. Two schools were randomly sampled from each zone making twelve schools, and about 33 teachers were sampled from each school. Findings show that teachers are aware students use SMS communication because they observe that it filters into their academic writings, particularly in written examinations. The study also identified that the form of SMS language commonly used among students is replacing words with alphabets such as ‘U’ in place of ‘You’. Based on the findings, the study concludes that SMS language in communication is very detrimental to the students’ academic writings and recommends that students who use the SMS language in their written examination should be strictly penalized. Keywords: Short Message Service; SMS communication; Teachers’ Perception; Text messaging; academic writings, Nigeria

In-School Adolescents’ Attention to Communication Interventions on Open Defecation

The practice of open defecation has been recognized as one of the leading threats to human health and one of the world’s leading causes of diseases such as acute diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis, typhoid, intestinal worms etc. This study examined whether in-school students in Anambra State, Nigeria, engage in the practice and how they internalize the communication interventions targeted at getting rid of the practice among them. This is  in view of the PEWASH Program (Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation & Hygiene, 2015), and the National road map of “Making Nigeria Open Defecation Free by 2025” developed by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources with support from UNICEF and other key players across Nigeria. The design for this study was survey. The study population comprised 129,289 In-school adolescents in Anambra State, covering only public Schools under the Anambra State Post Primary Schools Service Commission (PPSSC). A sample size of 402 was drawn based on Yamane and Meyer’s suggestions. The study found that the students were entirely aware of the interventions but only 5% of them were aware of the Federal government PEWASH campaign. While 57% of them received the interventions via word of mouth, others did so through Television (9%); radio (18%); posters (1%) and then writings on some walls (14%). This study also revealed that the interventions they were mostly exposed to were the warnings by the school management that they should not defecate in the open or litter the school premises. We strongly recommended sensitization campaigns on the issue of open defecation as one way of checking the practice; especially among In-school adolescents. Keywords: In-school adolescents, Interventions, Attention, Responses, open defecation DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/49-07 Publication date:June 30th 201