Presence of New Forms of Intercultural Communication in Higher Education: Emojis and Social Interactions through WhatsApp among Graduate Students

Abstract

Communication processes are part of human life. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) and, especially, the use of smartphones have generated new forms of interaction and communication, both synchronous and asynchronous, in formal and informal spaces. One of the most used applications is WhatsApp, which allows the sending of text, documents, images, and emojis. It is important to study these new forms and languages of communication in higher education because any educational or training process is essentially communicative. This research was carried out using a mixed approach, with a nonexperimental, descriptive, and transversal design, using a technique of a survey made up of 30 items. It was applied to postgraduate university students to determine their use and value among people with a consolidated university academic career, which would allow us to determine the presence of these new languages in this context. The basic objectives were to identify the frequency of use of emojis through WhatsApp amongst Mexican graduate students and to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of their use. The results confirmed the increase of emojis in conversations conducted by WhatsApp among fellow students. As positive elements, it was determined that they favor the development of a pleasant environment, confidence, and empathy, in addition to expressing emotions, feelings, and reactions. However, emojis also have drawbacks and disadvantages. Among them is the risk that they are misunderstood since their meaning is not shared, that they divert attention from a central idea, and, in general, that they sometimes have an addictive character that implies a waste of time in a study context, such as at the university. In conclusion, it can be argued that ICTs are profoundly transforming the processes of written communication in today’s society, including the university world. New languages that present intercultural, dynamic, dialectic, and ecosystemic alternatives to speech or writing have appeared. Emojis, in the context of higher education, would be an example of this trend.