One of my dearest friends sent me an email today titled, "Check this out - proof at last of the evils of social media!" and the "proof" was a link to an article released by Canadian Press with the headline, "Students failing because of Twitter, texting and no grammar teaching".
Ahhhh!...this is one of my peeves. Great example of poor journalism. Reporting on a study in which students fail a written test, and then making a direct (faulty) causation to texting in the headline. This is why people distrust the media. It's lazy thinking to assume texting causes this, when students are writing more now than we ever did as teens (we were on the phone for hours!). Texting is a construct, a new language.
Check this out: http://spotlight.macfound.org/blog/entry/uk_study_links_technology_strong_writing_skills/
And closer to home: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Study_at_the_University_of_Toronto_says_text_messaging_helps_with_grammar
One of the most oft-quoted studies is out of the UK and claims:
"A 2006 study by two professors at Coventry University in Britain found that 11-year-olds who used the most textisms were actually better at spelling and writing. A command of texting seems to indicate a broader facility for language. And these students seem to switch easily between text messaging and standard English."
Another interesting study:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2347413/posts
Sorry for the rant...but texting is such an easy (lazy) scapegoat for adults who maybe should be more concerned about students not reading and all the other things they are NOT doing while viewing screens. Ahhhh!
Ttyl, (LOL)
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I love this discussion point to. Another point to add to the argument is that adults hate change. You know if evolution didn't occur or we didn't move with the times we would still be teaching students to shoe horses and make soap in school. So if that's out-dated, then why do we assume that communication in the future is going to be the same as it was in the 50's?
ReplyDeleteYou got it sistah! (How's that for grammar?) That's why I'm glad you are teaching our students. But hey...what's wrong with learning to make soap??? hahaha
ReplyDeleteThis was one of my favourite class dicussions last semester. On one hand, it's true that we're writing much more in texts and online, but our grammar and spelling still sucks. Millenials in our 20's learned how to read before the shift. Kids now are starting 2 tlk lke ths B4 learning how to write properly in school. Alas, the English language is ever changing!
ReplyDeleteNote my spelling of 'discussions'. See, ever changing!
ReplyDeleteWhy does it even matter, I wonder. There's a part of my brain that tells me that people who don't embrace this shifting trend of grammar and communication change are simply those who don't understand it.
ReplyDeleteMy brother, my mother, my father, and his 7 brothers (likely), would all have biased opinions on how this has changed the youth of our world. All of said family members would probably agree, based on their own opinions and the opinions of those within their network, that "txting" is, like you said, lazy. And unintelligent. They don't understand it. They don't understand the concept of it, the purpose of it, or the outcome of it. They "see" a generation of computer-dependent drones walking the earth compiling larger-than-life cell phone bills, all the while losing touch with civilization.
The truth is, or so a part of my brain believes, is that people who decide to deliver "txt" messages using a language like "2 tlk lke ths B4," do it because the person receiving the message understands it. And isn't that the whole point of communication.. understanding one another.
Maybe these opinionated parts of my brain need a lesson in communication and how it should be one way and not the other. Maybe not, though.
As always Adam, you make me think.
ReplyDeleteAnd Mich I agree, that was a great discussion last term. It made me do the research that formed this blog post.
My students keep me thinking!