IText and the State of EFL Academic Writing The Case of Third Year EFL Learners at Mila University Centre

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the digital writing (IText) practices that are commonly used by EFL students when texting. More importantly, the investigation further seeks to find out whether there is a resemblance between these practices and their academic writing. That is why some questions about the state of academic writing in comparison to the features of IText are raised to know how these practices are exported to students’ writing. The questions raised in this study are: (1) what are the digital writing practices that are commonly used by third year EFL students? (2) do these writing practices resemble the students’ academic writing? In response to these questions, a descriptive method is opted for in the present study. The data are collected through two main research tools; a questionnaire is administered to eighty third year students of English, and an interview is conducted with nine EFL teachers at the Department of Foreign Languages at Mila University Centre. The research findings reveal that third year EFL students use a wide range of digital writing practices. Indeed, the obtained results confirm that students’ academic writing resembles digital language (IText). At the end of the research work, a number of recommendations are provided for both teachers and students for a better enhancement of academic writing, and for the sake of maintaining its important features.