CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

Introduction

This study seeks to examine the impact of emailing (electronic mails) on students’ writing skills. This chapter examines the background to the study, the statement of the problem, the research questions, the research objectives, research hypotheses, methodological approach to the study, the scope of the study, the definition of some terms, significance of the study and finally the structure of the study.

Background of the Study

Over the years, researchers have shown that using technological tools such as the internet, computers, and phones have contributed a great deal to students’ academic endeavours and more particularly their day to day writing of the English language.

Today, social media is one of the world’s most important means of communication. It has educative values which have been prioritized all over the world. It is ever progressing due to the fact that the number of its users increases by the day. Above all, social media is renowned for its global networking.

Social media have increasingly been exploited for academic use and have infiltrated the educational arena (Chen and Bryer, 2012). This is due to the fact that nowadays, ideas can be exchanged by students from different part of the world. Through the internet, many activities can be conducted online including; surfing, instant messaging (I.M), live chatting, gaming, blogging and email (cotton, 2008).

Emailing is the number one activity performed over the Internet, being widely used by people to communicate with their family, friends, acquaintances and co-workers (Phelps et al., 2004). Emailing as well as other forms of communication are realised using technological tools such as computers, phones etc.

Again, modem technology has designed these communicative tools in such a way that they can be used to send voice mails or text messaging, video calls and these impact students’ writings, especially when in educational settings.

The advent of technology however has some effects on students writing skills as most of them tend to use what is termed ‘shorthand’ and this greatly impacts their writing. This is common in countries where English is used either as the second language or foreign language. The evolution of technology has an influence on interaction. According to Gains (1982), one of the modes is electronic mails (e-mails).

Statement of the Problem

It has been observed by previous researchers that the use of the electronic mailing system has contributed to the poor writing skills of collegiate students both those who use English as their second language and those to whom it is a foreign language. Social media have contributed negatively to students writing.

Research Questions

From the statement of the problem, the study poses the following research questions:

1. What is the role of emailing in education?
2. What is the effect of emailing on collegian students writing skills?
3. How can email be utilized to improve learning outcomes in language education?

Research Objectives

The objective of this research is as follows:

1. To determine the role of emailing in education.
2. To assess the effect of emailing on students writing skills.
3. To find out the extent to which emailing has contributed to students writing skills in language education. 

Research Hypothesis

1. Emailing plays a significant role in education and social media.
2. Emailing has both positive and negative effects.
3. Emailing can have positive outcomes in language education when it is well exploited as a modem communication tool.