Webology (ISSN: 1735-188X)

Volume 19, Number 2, 2022

Extent Of Use Of Social Media And Writing Skills In

Filipino: A Correlational Study Among Freshmen
College Students

Cheryl P. Barredo1 , Ednalyn D. Cadapan2

1
Orcid: 0000-0001-7465-4355

2
Western Mindanao State University Zamboanga City, Philippines Orcid: 0000-0003-
2420-8730

Abstract
Social Media has removed barriers inhibiting communication to take place across
time and geography. In fact, they have transformed the world into a ‘global village’
(Aljehani, 2019, p.216), with the youth as the most numbered subscribers. Against
this backdrop, it is important to determine the extent of Social Media (SM) use of
learners, and determine whether or not they (SM) influence learners writing skill,
specifically in the Filipino language noting that the main language of SM is English.
The empirical study performed data gathering to 136 tertiary students via the
employment of a research tool (with reliability score = Cronbach’s alpha = 0.812).
Interesting findings were disclosed in the study.

Keywords: Social Media, Writing Skills, Filipino language, Mass Communications,

Introduction

Background of the Study

Social media (SM) have undoubtedly altered how people interact and communicate
with each other in this modern time (Sriwilai & Charoensukmongkol, 2015; Wylie,
2014), and they have transitioned into becoming an integral part of people’s social life
(Lai & To, 2015, as cited in Eijansantos, 2018). It has made possible the type of
communication that is not constrained neither by space nor time. Consequently,
people nowadays across geographical spaces and time zones could communicate with
each other through the use of Social media which led to the transformation of the
world into a ‘global village’ (Aljehani, 2019, p.216). Thus, it is beyond doubt that
people have been enticed to subscribe and use social media applications for their
apparent benefits in terms of communication. Notably, approximately more than half

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(54%) of the world population are active SM users which , in figure, exceeds more
than four billion in the year 2021 (Kemp, 2021). This overwhelming number is a
testimony not only to the existing wide acceptance for SM , but also for people’s
positive attitude towards them , translated in terms of use and subscriptions.

Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that social media is presently

regarded as an important , if not the most important, online communication tool,
connecting people world-wide (Boyd, 2006). One reason explaining the wide
acceptance and use of social media is because they are affordable tools of
communication (Aljehani, 2019; Jue et al., 2010) facilitating the publication and
access of information among people; hence, it could be claimed that SM have
revolutionized the communication process (Andrade-Vargas et al., 2021).

Significantly, studies have consistently found the steady increase of social

media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube) use among students (Smith and Caruso,
2010). In fact, it could be said that SM have attracted a large segment of the
population across the world, mainly of which are youths (Aljehani, 2019). Notably,
this popularity and trend have attracted the attention of learning institution to utilize
SM teaching-and-learning support (Dabbagh & Kitsantas, 2012). In fact, it could be
noted that SM play an important role in the performance of students’ academic tasks
in the present set-up, especially during this time of the pandemic. Social media have
served as avenue for the creation of contents required in different courses.

Against this backdrop, studies have been conducted to investigate the

influence of SM on many regards – such as their influence on the learners’ value
system (Aljehani, 2019), SM usage to promote learning of English as foreign
language (Sharma, 2019), the use of SM to support blended learning in higher
learning institutions (Chan & Leung, 2016). However, limited studies have been
conducted to determine the association between the extent of SM use and Filipino
writing skills as most of the investigations relating to this variables have been , most
of the time, if not always, with English writing skill as the English language appears
to be the most investigated language across different conducted research (Rillo &
Alieto, 2019), and this is most likely on the account of its use which spans globally
(Eijansantos & Baguio, 2021).

Thus, this study probed the extent of social media use and extent of writing
skill in Filipino of students enrolled in Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication and
Bachelor of Arts in Developmental Communication. Furthermore, this study
investigated the relationship between the identified tertiary learners’ extent of SM use
and their extent of writing skill in Filipino.

Research Questions

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This empirical investigation on the extent of social media use and Filipino writing
skill of the respondents intended to determine the relationship between the identified
variables, and aimed to determine whether or not statistical differences could be
drawn across genders. The following specific questions guided the development and
direction of the study:

1. What is the extent of the use of social media of the Bachelor of Mass
Communication and Developmental Communication students?

2. What is the extent of the writing skill in Filipino of the Bachelor of Mass
Communication and Developmental Communication students?

3. Is there a significant relationship between the respondents’ extent social of media

use and the extent of Filipino writing skill?

Methodology

Research Design
The research design of the study has been identified to be descriptive-quantitative-
correlational. Quantitative studies are those that aim to measure variables (Kothari,
2004 in Alieto et al., 2020), and intend ‘to generalize results from a sample to a
population of interest’ (Alieto & Rillo, 2018, p. 96) as in the case of this study which
aimed to quantify the extent of SM use and extent of Filipino writing skill among the
chosen respondents of the study. Moreover, the research is noted to be quantitative as
it statistically inferred differences and relationships utilizing statistical tools in
treating data numerical in nature (Mat Roni et al., 2020 in Eijansantos et al., 2020).

On another hand, descriptive studies are conducted to characterize or describe

a variable or variables through the use of simple statistics (Abdon et al., 2019 in Lim-
Ramos et al., 2020 ; Pattern & Newhart, 2017 in Tanpoco et al, 2019), such as, but not
limited to, mean (M), standard and deviation (SD) (Berowa, 2012; Berowa &
Mendoza, 2017; Johnson, 2000 in Perez & Alieto, 2018; Singh, 2006 in De La Rama
et al., 2020; Torres & Alieto, 2019a) as in the case of this study which aimed to
describe the respondents’ extent of SM use and the extent of Filipino writing skill
through the use of descriptive statistics.

Additionally, the study is acknowledged to be correlational as it intended to

determine the relationship between and among variables (Kendra, 2020 in Jacinto &
Alieto, 2020) as in the case of this study which explored the association between the
variables extent of SM use and extent of Filipino writing skill of the respondents.

Moreover, the study is population-based (Buslon & Alieto, 2019) as it is

specifically directed towards identified respondents types, the first year Mass

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Communication and Developmental Communication students. Finally, in terms of the

time allotted for data gathering, the study is noted to be cross-sectional in design as
one-time data collection method was employed (Go Silk et al., 2020)

Respondents of the study

The study enlisted a total of 136 respondents drawn from two state-managed
universities offering the Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication and Developmental
Communication courses. Seventy six (54% of the sample size) are Mass
Communication students.

Research Instruments of the study

The study employed the use of a research questionnaire which is determined to be a
classic technique in data collection (Ubalde & Rosales, 2018 in Buslon et al., 2020).
Additionally, the choice of using a questionnaire is anchored on the claim of Dillman
et al. (2009 in Alieto, 2018) that the employment of a survey tool in a study with large
sample size is both cost and time efficient.
The questionnaire consisted of four parts. Part I solicited the personal data of
the respondents, such as, name (optional), school presently enrolled , active social
media account and gender. Part II is on the extent of the use of social media. Items in
this section are answerable with options described as follows: (4) always, (3)
frequently, (2) sometimes and (1) rarely. Part III is on the writing skills in Filipino,
and answerable with four options described as follows: 4 for very high, 3 for high, 2
for low and 1 for very low.
On another hand, the research tool was pilot tested which is realized to address
semantic issues, validity of the inventory, and internal consistency of the items in the
instruments (Johnson, 2010 in Alieto, 2019). It was administered to a total of 60
respondents who did not form part of the final sampling frame. The statistical analysis
disclosed that the internal consistency of the items are reliable (Cronbach’s alpha =
0.812).
Results

Respondents’ Extent of Social Media use

To determine the extent of SM use of the respondents, the responses drawn from the
research tool were coded first in a spreadsheet and transferred to SPSS for analysis.
Descriptive statistics (Mean [M] and Standard Deviation [SD]) were employed. Table
1 presents the analysis.

Table 1 Extent of use of Social Media

Social Media SD M Interpretation Rank
Facebook 2.57 0.708 High 2
Messenger 3.26 0.789 Very High 1
Youtube 1.77 0.624 Low 3

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Twitter 1.56 0.922 Low 4

Overall 2.63 0.633 High
N- 136; Scale: 1.0 to 1.74 (Very Low), 1.75 to 2.49 (Low), 2.50 to 3.24 (High), 3.25
to 4.0 (Very High)
From Table 1, it could be noted that, among the identified most popular social
media, the respondents reported to use that the top used SM, in general, is the
Messenger (M- 3.13, SD-0.708) , while the least utilized is the Twitter (M-1.56, SD-
0.922). Additionally, the overall extent of social media used is described as
‘frequently’ (M-2.63, SD-0.6333).

Respondents’ extent of writing skill in Filipino of the respondents

To identify the extent of writing skill in Filipino of the respondents, the responses in
the questionnaire were coded. Analysis for the mean score and standard deviation was
performed. Table 2 shows the result of the treatment.

Table 2 Extent of writing skill in Filipino of the respondents

Variable M SD Interpretation
Extent of writing
2.48 1.065 Low
skill in Filipino
N-136; Scale: 1.0 to 1.74 (Very Low), 1.75 to 2.49 (Low), 2.50 to 3.24 (High), 3.25 to
4.0 (Very High)

Table 2 gives the descriptive analysis of the respondents’ extent of writing skill in
Filipino. The data provide that the respondents’ reported, in general, that their writing
skill is ‘low’ (M-2.48, SD-1.065).

Correlation: Respondents’ extent of SM use and extent of writing skill in Filipin

To draw whether or not a significant association exists between the respondents’
extent of SM use and extent of writing skill in Filipino, the data was treated with an
inferential statistics of relationship, the parametric tool known as Pearson Product
Moment Coefficient. Table 3 presents the analysis.

Table 3 Relationship between respondents’ extent of SM use and extent of

writing skill in Filipino
Variables Sig. (2-tailed) r-value Interpretation
Extent of Social Extent of Writing
0.000 -0.285 Significant
Media Use skill in Filipino

From the above table, it could be identified that there is a significant

relationship between the respondents’ extent of SM use and extent of writing skill in
Filipino (p-value = 0.000 < Cronbach’s α = 005). Moreover, the relationship is
identified to be inversed as provided by the negative r-value. This means that
respondents with high extents of SM use are with low extents of writing skill in
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Filipino. Conversely, respondents with low extents of SM use are the ones with high
extents of writing skill in Filipino. Furthermore, the strength of the relationship
between the variables is noted to be weak (r-value = -0.285).

Discussion
The study revealed that the respondents’ extent of use of social media (e.g. Twitter, in
general, is high. This confirms early findings (e.g. Aljehani, 2019; Dabbagh &
Kitsantas, 2012; Kemp, 2021) that there is a wide acceptance and a trend on the use of
SM among, especially among the young. Additionally, it was found out that among
the top four most popular SM the most frequently used is the Messenger, the only
application reported by the respondents to be used always. Noticeably, the second
highly utilized is Facebook. Along this line, it is inferred that because the
applications, Facebook and Messenger, are linked with one another their use is most
likely simultaneous. Meaning, the respondents who use Facebook would likely be
using Messenger. It is supposed that the reason for the ‘very high’ utilization of
Messenger is that it offers a broad range of communication opportunities as opposed
to using cellular phones. Through messenger, it becomes possible to communicate to
people even in distant places inexpensively. Moreover, it could serve as an alternative
for sending messages via mobile phones.

As regards the respondents’ extent of writing skill in Filipino, it is clear that

there is a need for the respondents to continuously develop their writing in the
identified language. It is regrettable to note that the respondents’ extent of writing
skill in Filipino is ‘low’, suggesting they have not well developed their competence in
the use of the Filipino language in expressing ideas via written discourse. There are
reasons conceived to explain this. One is that the tertiary students have limited
subjects which could have enhanced their writing skill in Filipino. It is surmised that
the removal of the Filipino subjects in the tertiary level has negatively impacted the
ability of learners in writing in their National language which is something worthy to
take note. Another is that in the use of SM the language of preference among learners
is English, apart from the fact that the main language of the internet is also English.
Thus, the utilization of SM appears to expose and train learners in the use of English.
Hence, the language choice in using SM as educational support should be greatly
considered by Higher Academic Institutions.

On the account of the significant relationship between the respondents’ extent

of SM and extent of writing skill in Filipino, the study disclosed that there is a
significant relationship, but the relationship was identified to be negative. Therefore,
the high extent of SM exposure and use appears to be detrimental in the development
of writing proficiency in the Filipino language. It is supposed that because the main
language of SM is English students’ ability to express and communicate in another
language like Filipino appears to be less favored and even to an extent challenged. It
is believed that the communication performed in SM serves as language practice, and

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because these languages are different, for instance in structure (Eijansantos, 2017).
Therefore, ideally, these communication activities in SM would act as an opportunity
for language use which is understood to be a means for language development.
However, the study’s finding suggests that, although to an extent this contention is
true, it is limited to the language preferred and nominated by learners, which in the
case of SM use is mainly English.

Acknowledgement
This research is a part of a larger research project supported by the Western Mindanao
State University in Zamboanga City, Philippines.

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