Use of self-selected nicknames by female Kuwaiti students and their perceptions of the impact of nicknames upon their learning in the classroom

Abstract

While numerous studies have been conducted on the impact of nicknames on students, these studies have focused on the effects of nicknames students have received in their lives. This study adopted a very unique and different design and asked female Kuwaiti university students to self-select a nickname of their own choice to be used in the classroom instead of their proper name. The students who volunteered to self-select nicknames and the students who did not were administered a structured questionnaire that was designed to gather data regarding the perceptions of the effects the self-selected nicknames had upon classroom performance. The analysis of the surveys revealed that the female students who selected nicknames reported that it improved their classroom performance. In addition, the females who did not select a nickname reported that it appeared to improve the classroom performance of those who choose a nickname.