Gazing at ‘The-You-Know-Who/What’ in Whatsapp: Deixis Used in Online Learning Amid Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

WhatsApp, as one of the most powerful and ubiquitous social media platforms, has become one of the promising tools utilized for English online learning during the current crisis, COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, interacting effectively via this platform might be challenging for messages communicated to this platform might have more than one meaning that is likely to result in misunderstanding among the users. Thus, understanding deixis, known as one of the interactional phenomena in which language and context can be figured out, is invaluable. Nevertheless, to the best of the writers’ knowledge, studies concerning the use of deixis with respect to WhatsApp for English online learning are still left under-researched. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the deixis employed during online learning via a WhatsApp group. The method utilized in this research was a descriptive study. Besides, the participants comprised 23 postgraduate students and an instructor from an English Education Study Program of one university in Bandung city. The data were taken from the artefact in the form of an online chat archive. Based on the data analyzed, the findings revealed that all the types of deixis encompassing personal, social, discourse, place, and time deixis were found in online learning through the WhatsApp application. In this regard, the person(al) deixis (46%) was the most frequently used deixis, followed by social (39%), discourse (8%), place (5%), and time deixis (2%), respectively. Moreover, the appropriate and effective use of deixis by the instructor was found to influence students’ engagement and critical thinking ability. Besides, the WhatsApp feature, emojis, was found to be utilized along with the deixis, as well as it assists in providing some emphasis, understanding of the messages conveyed, and showing respect or compliment among the participants.

Analyzing Deixis of English Speech by Kim Namjoon (BTS) at the United Nations

“…By using such temporal deixis, Kim Namjoon effectively guides his audience through his narrative, ensuring that they can follow and relate to his personal journey and experiences. It is worth noting that the relatively lower prevalence of temporal deixis in Kim Namjoon's speech aligns with the findings of previous research by Sugianto & Muslim (2022). Their research also pointed to a lower frequency of E-ISSN: 3026-569X; P-ISSN: 3026-734X Journal Homepage: http://journal.lontaradigitech.com/GLENS temporal deixis in comparison to other deixis types.…”

“…Upon scrutinizing the data, the researcher identified a total of 196 deixis instances, categorized as follows: 129 (65.8%) were personal deixis, 15 (7.7%) were spatial deixis, 10 (5.1%) were temporal deixis, 31 (15.8%) were discourse deixis, and 11 (5.6%) were social deixis. This observation aligns with the findings of Sugianto & Muslim (2022). The analysis of the text was conducted using the deixis theory proposed by Stephen C. Levinson, which encompasses five deixis types: person, time, place, social, and discourse deixis.…”

The Use of Person Deixis as Shifts in Authority in Academic Writing: The Case of Students’ Acknowledgements in the Department of English Language and Literature, University of Maroua

“…They also used different methods of data collection and analysis and also obtained varying results. For example, some erudite investigated indexical studies on social media such as WhatsApp (Sugianto & Muslim, 2022;Fuh, 2022) and platforms such as YouTube (Makarim, 2021) and Twitter (Squires, 2014). While the study of Sugianto and Muslim (2022) revealed that personal deixis was the most frequently used followed by social, discourse, place and time, Makarim's (2021) study showed that the deictic expressions of person, temporal, and spatial were applied in the advertisement of public transportation's YouTube video.…”

“…For example, some erudite investigated indexical studies on social media such as WhatsApp (Sugianto & Muslim, 2022;Fuh, 2022) and platforms such as YouTube (Makarim, 2021) and Twitter (Squires, 2014). While the study of Sugianto and Muslim (2022) revealed that personal deixis was the most frequently used followed by social, discourse, place and time, Makarim's (2021) study showed that the deictic expressions of person, temporal, and spatial were applied in the advertisement of public transportation's YouTube video. Fuh, (2022) posits that there were three types of indexical expressions used on social media during the Anglophone crisis namely person, time and place.…”

Exploring Students’ Written Discourse in Resumes: Unveiling Insights for Enhancing Social Intelligence

“…However, written discourse can lead to misunderstandings, although the actual messages are understood [1,2]. The language used and the style of writing can affect the intended meaning or reaction of the recipients [3]. This highlights the complexity of written discourses in disseminating intended meanings and connecting with the recipients.…”