Abstract

Letter–Number Homophones which is the combination of letters and numbers to represent words is anascent and most commonly used form ofText messaging. This is characterised by the quests to economize energy, save cost, save time and take short cuts in communication.This however,has degenerated toAmbiguity as the reader is faced with the herculean task of decoding the message, leading to misinterpretation and total misunderstanding of the intended message.Themenace has eaten deep into the educational sector and has negatively affected the academic standard of the Nigerian Undergraduates. Using the purposive sampling and Analytical method of inquiry, 268 text messages from 350 students in 300 level English classes of Babcock University were collated and analysed. Findings showed that lack of uniformity, and the super-contraction and clippings defeats the motive of the encoder as the decoder finds it difficult or sometimes impossible to decode the message. The study however suggests among others that curriculum planners should design a regulatory template to serve as a code and guide in the use of text message language and thus establish a standard that will be generally acceptableLetter–Number Homophones which is the combination of letters and numbers to represent words is anascent and most commonly used form ofText messaging. This is characterised by the quests to economize energy, save cost, save time and take short cuts in communication.This however,has degenerated toAmbiguity as the reader is faced with the herculean task of decoding the message, leading to misinterpretation and total misunderstanding of the intended message.Themenace has eaten deep into the educational sector and has negatively affected the academic standard of the Nigerian Undergraduates. Using the purposive sampling and Analytical method of inquiry, 268 text messages from 350 students in 300 level English classes of Babcock University were collated and analysed. Findings showed that lack of uniformity, and the super-contraction and clippings defeats the motive of the encoder as the decoder finds it difficult or sometimes impossible to decode the message. The study however suggests among others that curriculum planners should design a regulatory template to serve as a code and guide in the use of text message language and thus establish a standard that will be generally acceptable.