Esol

This study analyzed the influences of textism in students’ writing. Specifically, it determined the textism used by the respondents, the features of textism in students’ written outputs, the influences of textism in formal and informal writing, and the significant relationship between textism and written outputs.  This is a qualitative and quantitative study that made use of the comparative and correlational design. It was conducted at Cebu Normal University having 113 respondents who were enrolled in English 2 (Writing in the Discipline) course. Data were gathered from the text messages and Facebook group chats between the respondents and the researcher. Students’ written outputs like free writing, two- week journal entries, descriptive essays and definition essays were also gathered. Findings revealed that emoticons, onomatopoeic spelling, and omitted apostrophes were mostly used by the respondents in text messages, while acronyms and initialisms, omitted apostrophes and emoticons were mostly present in their written outputs. Moreover, textism in formal and informal writing was found to be not influential, and there was a significant difference of textism in students’ formal and informal written outputs. There was also a negative trend of relationship between textism and written outputs. Therefore, textism did not affect the writing performance of the students.

Keywords: textism, text messaging, formal writing, informal writing, language change

YouTube is a popular platform where brands can endorse their products primarily through YouTubers. This study investigates the influence of YouTube on young consumers' purchase behavior in terms of the level of influence of YouTubers' personalities in consumers' purchase behavior in terms of attractiveness, expertise, credibility, popularity, and entertainment factor, the level of influence of Youtubers' product endorsements in consumers' purchase behavior in terms of frequency of endorsements, product reviews, video quality, number of views, comments and likes and brand popularity, the significant relationship between the influence of YouTubers' personality and product endorsements and the experiences of the consumers after buying the products endorsed on YouTube. This study utilizes quantitative and qualitative, using correlational and descriptive design with 35 respondents. It uses an online survey questionnaire and interviews five respondents. The study results reveal that YouTube is very influential in young consumers' purchase behavior. The Youtubers' personalities: expertise and credibility are extremely influential; popularity and entertainment factor are very influential, and attractiveness is somewhat influential. In addition, the frequency of endorsements, product reviews, number of views, comments and likes, video quality, and brand popularity are all very influential, with product review ranking first. Moreover, a significant relationship exists between the YouTubers' personalities and product endorsements in young consumers' purchase behavior. Furthermore, almost all informants (80%) give positive feedback about their experience after buying the products endorsed on YouTube, while 20% have a negative experience. It is recommended that business practitioners and marketers should incorporate YouTube influencers more in promoting their products.

The study reveals the constructs of the selected COVID-19 poems as a premise for multi-critical analysis. It is anchored on New Criticism by John Crowe Ransom, Mimesis by Plato and Aristotle, Sociological Criticism by Edmund Wilson, Catharsis by Aristotle, and Discourse Analysis by James Paul Gee. The study delves into the persona-vision-addressee, imagery, figures of speech, sociocultural themes, students’ responses based on their feelings and experiences, and concept paper structuring and blogging. The study utilizes the qualitative method of discourse analysis. Findings reveal the following: First, the selected COVID-19 poems reveal various personas expressing their experiences and emotions related to the pandemic while the poems’ addressees are primarily those to whom the personalities feel comfortable pouring out their sentiments, and the poems’ visions mainly discuss remaining upbeat despite the pandemic threats. Second, the selected COVID-19 poems contain kinesthetic, visual, auditory, and organic imagery while anaphora, oxymoron, metonymy, metaphor, personification, simile, hyperbole, antithesis, and assonance are utilized as figures of speech. Third, the selected COVID-19 poems portray sociocultural themes about inadequacy during tough times, mental health and well-being, health and safety, and struggle and suffering. Fourth, the students’ responses based on their feelings reveal themes of COVID-19 and poetry with subthemes of positive and negative feelings, emotional support, comfort, and connection while changes and challenges are the themes that emerge from the participants’ comments regarding their experiences and they have subthemes of changes in routines and interest,
and challenges in education, finance, and health. Fifth, a concept paper is
published in a blog as an output of this study and it discusses the constructs of selected COVID-19 poems: sociocultural relevance and challenges, the dominance of metaphor and personification, and the utilization of free verse structure. In conclusion, it has been proven that the selected COVID-19 poems reveal constructs as a premise for multi-critical analysis. Consequently, the study recommends the following: Literary researchers may investigate an in-depth analysis of the poems’ personas; literary scholars may analyze the purpose of using the types of imagery and figures of speech in the poems; literary researchers may explore the in-depth political issues in the poems; literary scholars may investigate the poems’ therapeutic effects on the study participants; and literary researchers may produce another kind of output showcasing the constructs of the selected COVID-19 poems.

Keywords: COVID-19 poems, persona-vision-addressee, imagery, figures of
speech, sociocultural themes, students’ responses (feelings and
experiences), concept paper structuring and blogging