THESIS TOPIC:

THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC WRITING: A STUDY

OF SELECTED SHS THREE STUDENTS IN THE AGONA-WEST MUNICIPALITY,

CENTRAL REGION, GHANA

By: Afi Enyo Nutakor

University of Education, Winneba

Department of English Education

Post Office Box 25

Winneba-Central Region

Ghana

Email: enyonut@gmail.com / henrieaenutakor@yahoo.com

 ABSTRACT

Social media is a fusion of sociology and technology, transferring monologue into dialogue. The

internet and its social platforms have been the most influential tools in staying connected with

families and friends since its inception. People, especially the youth, are purposely and covertly

connected with one another by sharing information among themselves about the latest trends,

events and happenings via the social websites. This study explores the effects of social media on

students’ academic writing in the Agona-West Municipality of the Central Region of Ghana. It is

a qualitative study underpinned by interpretive philosophical thought. The data for this study was

collected through the semi-structured interview and documents. Three (3) schools were selected

using purposive sampling techniques and the snowball sampling strategy was used to select

thirty (30) students for the study. The findings indicated that the new trends of writing on social

media sites affect students’ spellings in their school work. It was also found out that social media

sites distract students from reading their books and also doing their assignments thereby

negatively affecting their academic performances as a whole. This study will be of help to both

English language teachers/learners, language planners and curriculum developers by exposing

them to the sources of writing errors by students and provide useful suggestions to overcome

them. It will also contribute to the body of knowledge by drawing the attention of

educators/planners on the integration of technology, particularly the social media in the English

curriculum in order to facilitate the effective teaching/learning process.