Roxy Wilson
ENC1101
10/18/17
Professor McLawhorn
Text messaging or texting, as it’s commonly called—is the process of sending or receiving messages via a cellular device. It is a common means of communication among teenagers and even becoming popular in the business world because it allows quick messages to be sent without people having to talk through a telephone conversation. A person is able to say what is needed, in addition the other person will receive the information and respond when it's convenient for them.
“Does Texting affect writing”, This Essay was written By Michaela Cullington the main purpose in her essay is if texting really influences students writing skills. Cullington proposed that there are three points of view to
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this topic. The first argument Cullington suggested that texting has influenced youth writing skills plus their ability of spelling. On the other hand, the second point suggested that texting has actually helped student writing skills as they are using words to express their feelings and practiced more writing which made them more creative but this had very limited evidence. The third and last point suggested that there is no relation at all.
Although her study supports the hypothesis that texting plus writing have no relationship to one another, Cullington recognizes the importance of new technology and society’s evolving methods of communication. She writes, “The use of text messaging as a common means of communication is becoming increasingly popular; therefore, this issue should continue to be examined.” Cullington may not have anticipated the ways in which texting itself has changed. One of the differences between now and two years ago are the abbreviations plus the use of acronyms. However, what has made the device so distinctive is that texting has actually gotten “smarter.” People with smartphones have the assistance of spellcheck, reference “apps,” autocorrect, autocompletion and, voice-control capability. Also know as Siri the response voice of the iPhone’s voice-control system. In the past, text messages were ultimately just instant, electronic versions of a brief …show more content…
note. When instant messaging first emerged, there wasn’t a word or phrase in the English language that could not be shortened. In order to get your point across with less words, many people use abbreviations instead of words. The language created by these abbreviations is called textspeak. In my opinion, This essay discussing a very common and interesting topic. Cullington opens the door for students and researchers to navigate more efficiently through this topic. There is no doubt that new technology had a significant impact on society communication methods. Furthermore, this technology is still considered new in the longer run so I believe the answer to her question; “Does Texting affect writing” is still early to answer and be concluded.
I personally think that texting does indeed have tremendous effect on formal writing, Texting has its costs and benefits. So while we texting we could use the spellcheck feature to correct our spelling mistakes as guide or a teacher to help us spelling it correctly next time. On the other hand, we might have become dependent on such Features. Auto-correct doesn’t pick up all of the errors for example sometimes when you write a sentence with the word to, the device may not recognize that you are using the wrong word.
Autocorrect recognizes a misspelled word as well as replacing it with what is likely to be the correct word. In many ways, autocorrect and autocompletion are very useful in their efficiency; however, it is reasonable to assume that they have the opposite effect of learning. Instead of giving someone the help they need to correct his or her mistakes, autocorrection notifications are so brief that the person is barely aware of a mistake before it is erased from existence
altogether. Cullington propped the door open for future students to explore this topic, and it is important that they continue to do so. Texting has its cons and benefits now just as much as it did in 2011, but the expansiveness of those factors has greatly increased since then. Because of advancements in technology, what was once a method of efficiency is now no more convenient than writing words and phrases in their original forms.
This is where she uses ethos to provide the reader with an understanding that she is a credible writer. First she uses the National Center for Education Statistics information to provide a strong base of knowledge regarding the topic that is already available. The article from the National Center for Education Statistics includes a quote from a teacher stating “the use of acronyms and shorthand in text messages for students’ inability to spell and ultimately to write well” (pg. 2). She goes on to explain teacher’s viewpoints and their beliefs on the topic after seeing a decrease in writing abilities. There is a quote included by Naomi Baron, a professor at American University, in which states “so much of American society has become sloppy and laissez faire about the mechanics of writing” (pg.2). This quote provides evidence that everyone should be concerned about the effects because our society is facing the issues as well not only students. As she continues to provide a foundation for others ideas regarding the topic, she changes viewpoints to those who see the positives in texting. Cullington uses an author to elaborate on the positives that increased texting can have on individuals. David Crystal explains that students “sharpen their diplomatic skills . . . [because] it allows more time to formulate their thoughts and express them carefully” (pg.4). This is something that is important in today’s day and age where people want the short and sweet version, not something drawn out that can be hard to understand. In her background information regarding the positive aspects of texting, she uses emotions to connect with the reader when she discusses children who struggle with writing. Texting can help students “overcome their awkwardness and develop their social and communication skills” Crystal states (pg. 5). The use of emotion is key to capturing
In the article, “Does Texting Affect Writing?”, the author Michaela Cullington conveys her speculation that texting does not correlate to how students write formal essays. At the beginning of the article Cullington introduces the term texting and the convenience texting brings. Later expressing her concern that the texting language “Textspeak” is actually affecting students writing; then contradicts these views by using primary and secondary sources (news articles, books, her own surveys and research). In addition, she uses an anecdote to tell of her own experience with texting and writing. Together with other evidences and research put together, she uncovers the debate between textspeak and formal writing. On the basis of her research, she concludes that the state of texting does not interfere with writing or writing abilities.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, it is reported, "25% of high school seniors are proficient writers" (Cullington, 362). Jacquie Ream, a former teacher and author for K.I.S.S. expands on this statistic by stating, "we have a whole generation being raised without communication" (Cullington, 362). By this, Ream means that we as people are not physically socializing with each other, but yet using devices to replace the way we talk and express our feelings to one another instead. Ream then goes on to blame the use of acronyms and shorthand in text messages as the downfall of writing skills. Here, Ream means that because of lack of proper language we have become careless when writing. Naomi Baron, a professor at American University, states that America as a whole has become sloppy with the mechanics of writing due to texting. Both teachers in Michaela's article agree that the essence of texting is responsible for the oversight of punctuation, lack of emotion, and lastly a rise in grammatical errors in formal
To ensure that formal written language is preserved, a clear distinction must be made between formal writing and texting. Students -as well as adults- must also be given sufficient practice in both areas if they are to clearly communicate their thoughts to others through either means. As quoted from Nicole Wood and Becky Wang in their presentation “Is Texting Killing the English Language”, “the most common misuses by students are ... using only the letter ‘u’ … [and] using the letter ‘r’...” These errors in formal essays are often -and in most cases- caused by confusion of the distinction between texting and formal writing, leading to an overlap between the two. The value of formal written language is its ability to clearly and distinctly communicate one’s ideas to another -and because of its overall consistency regardless of time- even those in the future. Texting, in some cases however, loses this ability to clearly communicate thoughts and ideas, and exclusively texting at home could lead to a decline in one’s ability to clearly communicate with others through writing.
Text messaging is a technology that contributes to the great decline of the English language. The English language is often butchered through the use of text messaging. In Orwell’s essay, he states “An effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form” (446). Main stream society is too lazy to correct any grammar and punctuation in a text message, leading to the assumption that it is not important, after all it is only a text message. Thus, this shows the English language is in decline, when society is to lazy to take a few extra second to correct spelling and punctuation errors . One would not be able to write the same way in an academic essay as they would in a text message. If one would do so, that student would receive an F. No English teacher, or for that matter any teacher, would be thrilled nor impressed reading an essay filled with these common texting erors.
Text messaging has become a norm in our generation, as technology rapidly advances and gives way to more efficient forms of communication in a fast-paced world; and many are skeptical about the influence this new form of interaction is having on our society, especially with our younger generation. David Crystal, a professor at the University of Wales, writes “2b or Not 2b?” in support of text messaging. He insists, despite those who underestimate or negate the beneficial influence text messaging has on language proficiency, that “there is increasing evidence that [texting] helps rather than hinders literacy” and that the fairly recent form of communication has actually been around for a while and “is merely the latest manifestation of the human ability to be linguistically creative and to adopt language to suit the demands of diverse settings. In contrast, Jeffery Kluger argues in “We Never Talk Anymore: The Problem with Text Messaging” that text messaging is rapidly becoming a substitute for more genuine forms of communication and is resulting in difficulty among young peoples of our generation to hold a face-to-face conversation, engage in significant nonverbal expression, and ultimately build effective relationships with family, friends and co-workers. Both writers’ present valid arguments, however, my personal experience with text messaging has led me to agree more with Crystal’s view on the matter. Text messaging is indeed having a positive effect on society by making frequent texters primarily aware of the need to be understood, as well as offering betterment of spelling and writing through practice, and reinventing and expanding on a bygone dimension of our language through the use of rebuses and abbreviations.
Although one would argue that technology has advanced enormously and changed how people interact, Cullington notes that texting has little to no effect on formal writing. The students that Cullington sought opinion from were not aware that text abbreviations were appropriate for formal writing. She further adds that textspeak will remain harmless as long as language is applied in the correct place rather than in formal
Rosenberg, Tina. "Everyone Speaks Text Message." 2011. First-Year Writing: Writing in the Disciplines. 7th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 267-271. Print.
In his article, Crystal claimed that texting helps children to be better at their spelling and writing and they tend to score higher on test of reading and vocabulary because of the abbreviations used in their messages. Although Crystal provides ample evidence that texting is not linked to a drop in linguistic standard, Penn State News entitled ‘No LOL matter: Tween texting may lead to...
The use inventive spelling, abbreviations. As high school students start to use short texting, some of their grades dropped due to the spelling errors they make. So many teens get used to wing abbreviating that they just begin to write that that way. Some teenagers writing skills have turned into sentence fragments, because of the limited space they put into text sentence. In my research how does texting affect teen literacy the percentage was 64 percent of students who say they incorporated text language in their writing, 25 percent said they did so to convey have used text shortcuts a lot of students, vocabulary and grammar is also affecting their literacy. The outlook of the teachers is that. Text plus recently released results of its own survey of 1,214 teens that use their services. 43 percent of which have texted in class, they seem to pay more attention to their phone than what the teacher is teaching. They seem to have the phones that will spell the word for them so they have to worry about spelling. In the age of text message, where words are reduce to no stand abbreviating, symbols, But in my research I pointed out that technology has put new emphasis on reading and
The problem with autocorrect technology is that, spell check can misspell a word by automatically changing the intended word, leading to spelling a completely different word. This can cause miscommunication due to misspelled words and incorrect usage of grammar. For instance, if a person types “there” in place of “their,” spell check will not recognize it as a misspelled word, even though it could still be the incorrect word. It might also highlight a word as misspelled only because it does not identify it.
Step onto any college campus and take a look around. You will find clumps of students standing around in circles, phones in hand, typing away. What is it they are doing? Texting. Ever since the first text message was sent in 1993, the use of text messaging as a means of communication has spread like wild fire, especially amongst the adolescent generation. And with this new form of communication a new language has appeared; text-speak, the shortening of common words into abbreviations and acronyms (Drouin 49). While texting and the text-speak language seem to have been welcomed by many, what affect is this new technology having on the way we communicate? Is it possible that texting is negatively affecting our ability to use formal written communication, or is this idea just a myth perpetuated by negative media attention? And what changes has texting brought to the way we communicate person-to person? Are these changes positive, negative, or perhaps a mixture of both?
Everywhere you look, all you see are teenagers texting on their cell phones! This has been going on for decades, but each year the amount of text messages being sent has increased tremendously. Cell phones have become more of a necessity for teens. The first text message was sent by Edward Lantz in the 1980’s by a Motorola beeper. Lantz did this by writing the numbers upside down to read the message.
Text messaging became welcomed for a long time since cellular phone came out. With invention and innovation of technology, people are more likely to text each other instead of calling. Smartphone is one of the most successful invention in the past ten years, after the smartphone stepped into people’s daily lives, things were changes, people found that it was not only a phone which was able to build connections with somebody, but a tool to do numerous things that people had never expected before especially text messaging. I found that most of people looked at their phones with their earphones plugged when they were walking on the street, nearly everyone was texting messages. However, the debates of texting have never stopped and topics are varying.
In today’s society texting is indeed a valuable way of communicating. Communication has grown significantly. Texting is a transformation that has influenced the means of interacting throughout the past few years. Texting is a great way to keep in contact. You can collect faster information and have on the go conversations.