MARIA VANESSA GABUNADA (VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY)

NETSPEAK AND ITS INFLUENCES TO THE LANGUAGE SKILLS OF VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, BAYBAY CITY, PHILIPPINES : DIGITAL LITERACIES/LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY

The Internet has undoubtedly changed the way people communicate with one another. In this age of technological era, many people rely heavily on the Internet as one of the primary sources of information on various topics or issues coming from different parts of the world. As people continue to navigate the electronic environment, the way people communicate has also been transformed radically in both local and global settings. However, the Internet's effect, specifically on the English language, has led to the emergence of a new variety of languages known today as Netspeak. Using David Crystal's (2001) Netspeak Linguistic features, specifically in orthography, morphology, semantics, syntax, and discourse, this study looks into the confluence of the internet and language and how the internet language (Netspeak) operates and influences the writing skills of VSU students.

Dr. Maria Vanessa E. Gabunada is an Associate Professor at the Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences under the College of Arts and Sciences at Visayas State University, Visca, Baybay Leyte. She is one of the pioneering awardees of the NCCA Research Grant Award in 2017. She finished her degree in Doctor of Philosophy in English Language and Literature at the Ateneo De Manila University as a CHED FDP-II scholar in 2018. In 2019, part of her dissertation was published in Kritika Kultura, an ISI international literary journal of the Department of English of Ateneo De Manila University. She is invested in studying Translation and its relation to Second Language Acquisition, Computer-Mediated Communication, Language Policy Issues, and Linguistic Landscape. She is teaching graduate and undergraduate courses. Her field of specialization includes Postcolonial translation, Sociolinguistics, Regional literature, and Philippine literature.