The Edutopia Poll
by Sara Ring
"IYO txtng = NME or NBD?" Translation: "In your opinion, is text messaging the enemy, or no big deal?" As more and more students immerse themselves in Textspeak over their cell phones and computers, educators worry that their writing skills are suffering. After all, the short-message format routinely sacrifices grammar, syntax, and punctuation for the sake of slang and brevity. There is concern that students who frequently express themselves in abbreviations and smiley faces may lose the capacity for more nuanced, grammatically correct writing. But other educators see little evidence that the language of texting is having a negative impact on students' schoolwork. In fact, some are even glad that students are communicating so frequently through writing and are creating their own language, albeit one with a nontraditional vocabulary. Is the prevalence of text messaging something to worry about? WDYT?
Ultimately, students must be
Submitted by jkc (not verified) on October 24, 2008 - 05:53.
Ultimately, students must be prepared to function in the adult world after high school or college. If we do not insist upon proper use of English, students may not be adequately prepared to express themselves when they do common things such as write a letter of application for a job, communicate with customer service about product or service issues, or even get technical support online. As adults, these former students may become involved in community affairs such as the volunteer fire department, scouting, PTO, a church office or a club committee and must be able to communicate via web updates, email or paper. This is the life for which we in education are charged to prepare them. If students choose to use texting language for social communication, that is their option. However, employers will not accept this; nor should we, as educators.
we needz ta stp alla dis
Submitted by Cammile (not verified) on October 23, 2008 - 10:10.
we needz ta stp alla dis garbage bout textin n' it b n bad
Netiquette
Submitted by Jean M (not verified) on September 26, 2008 - 16:31.
I believe it is our job as educators to deal with the "real" writing of our students. Texting is part of our students' everyday lives. We need to educate our students in the difference between formal writing and texting. It is now a different venue in which people communicate.
Does text messaging harm students' writing skills?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 29, 2008 - 06:04.
As I am a librarian in an inner-city middle school, I am more concerned by the infiltration of street language (similar to what was called ebonics a few years back) into our students' writing. I see it all the time and find that the teachers must work extra hard to get students beyond this habit. Unfortunately, many of them come from homes where 'proper English' isn't the norm and consequently, the only exposure they have to it is in school - which sadly doesn't seem to be enough. Texting is only a problem insofar as students not having a solid base of 'proper English' to which they can revert for academic usage.
Text messaging
Submitted by Mark Branson (not verified) on May 16, 2008 - 10:03.
The language has survived many changes in its 1000+ year history and I don't think txt msging will end English or slow the skills development of our students.
If nothing else, txt msging would be a great tool for reinforcing with writing students the importance of the audience in their written communication.
And we must all remember that English is not really a phonetic language. The symbols we use for making vowel sounds shifted significantly between the time of Chaucer and the time of Shakespeare. This Great Vowel Shift, as linguists call it, moved English away from its European sister languages that are more phonetic.
The bottom-line issue for me as a 20+ year verteran of teaching freshman writing is not what the students bring to the table but what do we, as teachers, bring: Do we still want English teachers at any level to be the "gatekeepers" of the language? They really aren't and they have really never been, yet we seem to harbor the illusion that these teachers do have this sort of power!
Text Messaging
Submitted by Judy (not verified) on October 25, 2008 - 07:51.
The idea that language has survived many changes is precisely the point. Our language is a living and fluid mix of old and new.
Let us not lose sight that the purpose of language is to communicate. Are our students using texting to become more adept and concise communicators in a specific realm?
There is no doubt that some of that informal "speak" will spill over into the traditional realm and perhaps at some point, what is now accepted as correct structure will also change.
The question for me: is true communication taking place? If so, then we should not worry too much.
Change is inevitable.
Texting in schools
Submitted by Brandy (not verified) on May 8, 2008 - 08:43.
I have been doing a research paper for my high school and according to my research, crazes like texting and e-mails only affect students who don't know how to use the "switch" corretly. Studies have shown that some kids can differentiate between the playground, or texting speech and a more formal speech for school, or when speaking to adults. I feel that cell phones only affect the students who rush their work and don't use broader vocabulary.
Text messaging
Submitted by C. Lee (not verified) on May 4, 2008 - 21:02.
I believe our students are not able to spell correctly and use grammar correctly with the rise of text messaging.
I think it would help to make it clear what is the appropriate way to write when they are writing in school versus writing a text to their friends.
Common Abbreviations
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 28, 2008 - 10:05.
etc.
Dr.
M.D.
B.A / B.S.
RSVP
ASAP
mm/kg/yd./mi.
RPM
These are all common abbreviations used (even in academic, formal writing). We have no problem using these, but someone who writes "idk" or "b/c" is incorrect. It just doesn't make sense.
In a different direction, many of the above commentions mention how poorly middle school students write. No one has mentioned the role of standardized testing in the decimation of the American education system. Maybe those prior teachers had to spend too much time teaching the test in order to keep our wonderful government from pulling their funding that they didn't have time to teach grammar properly. Perhaps saying that text messaing is ruining the education system and student writing is an oversimplification much like textmessaging has been criticized for.
texting hurts grammar
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 24, 2008 - 06:49.
I am a college student who texts very often. It is basically the only way I communicate with friends anymore. I hate talking on the phone because texting is so much easier. However I have seen even in my own writing its messes up my grammar, especially things like apostrophes. Most students don't know the difference between lets and let's...or is there one? Texting is an awesome form of communication and it really speeds up my life, but teachers are going to be fighting correct grammar and usage for years to come because of it. Of course this is nothing new....several years ago the buzz topic was fighting ebonics. Teachers either rise to the task or quit. Rise to the task!
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