Andrew Kakabadse, professor of international management development, Cranfield School of Management, found that almost 60 per cent of teenagers were submitting coursework downloaded from the web without reading, rewriting, or understanding it.

The survey also found that the students’ addiction to text messaging was also affecting the standard of English, reports Times Online.

Three in ten respondents used text-message abbreviations, such as l8 (late) or RU (are you) in their coursework, with more than half of the 260 pupils saying they were either quite or very addicted to their mobile phone.

Kakabadse said the study “showed that technology obsession hinders spelling skills, implicitly encourages plagiarism and disrupts classroom learning”.

He added: “Despite school policies restricting mobile phone usage, students use the phone frequently with the majority making calls from the toilets.”

Source: TOI