A discourse analysis of the English language used by Makerere University students on Facebook

Abstract

In this technology age, a new trend of using social media or Social Networking Sites (SNSs) has been recently adopted by most students in higher institutions of learning. Social media influences people’s lives in many aspects including education and English language usage. The purpose of this study is to examine the English language used by Makerere University (MAK) students on Facebook in their engagement on different issues, the factors that influence such kind of language and the code-switching patterns and functions exhibited in their discussion. Using qualitative methods, study examined the nature of English language used by MAK students on their Facebook page (MAK student’s guild) through covert observation of conversations. A sample of 245 post threads were analysed to unearth the unique features of the English language used by students, the motivation as well as the code-switching partners used by the students using social language and cultural models by Gee (2000) and theoretical code switching proposed by Bloom and Gumperz (1997) and formal code switching proposed by Hoffman (1991).

The results from the study indicated that students use both the formal and informal English language and the informality is mainly brought by vowel and consonant deletion, punctuation and spacing. These features appeared most in social and political posts. The factors that influence the English language used by MAK students were mainly identity, spontaneity, convenience and making up for the absence of paralinguistic features of spoken language. For code switching patterns and functions, all the three patterns of code-switching (intra-sentential, tag and inter-sentential) were found in the posts analysed. The most common being tag code-switching. The study makes significant revelations such as the extent to which English language is being influenced by social media and slangs in institutions of higher learning and Uganda in general.