Abstract

This study investigated the non-standard features of English that could be attributed to ESL pre-service teachers' frequent use of SMS and its implications on teacher education in Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design of the expost-facto type. Two research questions were answered and three hypotheses tested. A total of 81 ESL pre-service teachers and six lecturers participated in the study. Three instruments, teachers' questionnaire, SMS forwarded by the students' participants and a written composition test were used as the mode of data collection. The results indicated that non-standard English features are present in the written composition of the ESL pre-service teachers. The results also showed a significant relationship between ESL pre-service teachers' frequent use of SMS and the deviant form of English in their written composition. It was concluded that frequent usage of SMS language plays a great role in influencing ESL pre-service teachers written composition negatively. The implications for pre-service teacher education were discussed and recommendations were made.