The use of emojis as complementary information to text messages on WhatsApp
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2025.e102736Keywords:
Writing, Teaching, WhatsApp, Emoji functionAbstract
Emojis are graphic representations used to convey an idea, emotion or feeling. These symbols are very popular in online communications such as social networks, SMS and instant communication applications such as WhatsApp. The present work reports the student experience in an interactive written activity carried out in a rural municipal school in Minas Gerais, simulating a conversation through WhatsApp. The objective of this paper is to investigate, in a class of 10 students of Elementary School II (9th year), the use of emojis according to their function, following Yus (2014). After the activity, data were compiled, and a qualitative analysis of emoji use was performed. The results indicate that most students are unaware of the function of emojis and use them arbitrarily, not adapting them to the text they produce through the association of writing and image.
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