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Text messaging affects teen literacy
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Text messaging affects teen literacy
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In June of 2008 Americans sent about 75 billion text messages; that’s more than the amount sent in June 2005 by about 67.8 billion text messages (Meanley). Most people think texting is not bad for our language, but that it has simply broadened our language styles. If people were to actually to think about the teen education and look at the research that has been done, people would realize that texting is not helping the teens by abbreviating certain words to make typing easier, and using incorrect punctuation to show greater emotion. Teen texting is ruining the English language for teens and other generations. In order to better our language texting must be minimized. Teen texting is affecting our language usage and writing.
Text messaging
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Parents have recently discovered that their children have been talking differently at home, with friends, at grandparents' or family gatherings (Kennedy). These changes noticed, are not what they would like to see in particular, most parents do not like the "slang" words they are using, most parents have told their kids they would like to talk and act respectfully to their grandparents. Teachers are also saying that texting is negatively affecting their students' writing skills. There are ways to say certain things without always using an abbreviation. One easy way is just to continue writing out the words and saying before, by the way, or complete waste of time, instead of b4, btw, cwof (Vosloo). Texting language is showing up in students' papers and other writing assignments and needs to be addressed, some schools are becoming very strict on "texting slang" in the papers. Teachers are trying to explain to their students' that there are appropriate and inappropriate times to use texting language in our writing. Researches say banning texting language in writing is not a good choice, instead just limit the use of it do certain audiences and let the students know there is an appropriate audience and time to use this language (Vosloo). Teachers should educate the students on the appropriate audience for this language. Many ways of bettering our language are still being discovered, …show more content…
Teens are beginning to acquire very bad writing skills, little to no depth in writing, horrible grammar skill and using more abbreviations than ever. Even though students are writing more than before their skills are terrible. To the teen language, texting has been horrific to the students formal writing skills (Bivens-Tatum). The lack of character usage in text messages is continually making teens change their formal writing into styles to fit the character count of the messages (Bivens-Tatum). Teen texting often uses slang, which can translate over into other writing. This slang brings incomplete sentences, abbreviations, and incorrect spelling and usage of words ("Scholastic Action"). Studies have shown that teens do worse on grammar tests or assignments if they have just sent a text message. Studies have also shown that many teens have been using "texting language" in the classroom ("Scholastic Action"). Some teens have admitted to being addicted to texting, which in return have made them accustomed to using the text messaging language more often (Meanley). Texting has been becoming our main way of communication with others. The reason for texting language becoming so popular with teens and many adults is that it is very convenient for people to use. Texting is allowing people to shy away from using the correct English language. The amount of phone calls to
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.
It's taking over our lives. We can do it almost anywhere. What is it? It's texting! Texting is a reliable, easy and convenient form of communication that is most commonly used by, but not limited to millenials and those in the workforce. Many people use it as a way to express themselves as well. In Michaela Cullington’s article, “Does Texting Affect Writing?” she targets two different attitudes in relation to texting. Cullington explains that there is often an assumption that students who use abbreviations when they text, will bring those same abbreviations over to their formal writing pieces. Cullington then adds that the other attitude in relation to writing skills and texting insists that texting is harming student’s writing capabilities. Because of her research as well as experiments done by other colleagues of hers, it shows that
Although, some might say texting is changing the English language for the better in fact it is actually changing it for the worse because of how difficult it is to decipher the shortened meanings.
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.
The technology is also reducing the knowledge of grammar. Texting incites the use of improper behavior through the use of incorrect punctuation and incorrect capitalization. All in all, the use of technology has tarnished the minds of children and will affect the rest of their
As explained in The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner, “there is a core set of survival skills for today’s workplace, as well as for lifelong learning and active citizenship” (14). One of the seven skills Wagner listed can be tied directly to social media and how it hinders the development of strong communication skills. Instead of having a face to face conversation, teens are sending messages as a means of communication without the actual verbal part. Texting has made communication easier for young Americans by making unpleasant phone conversations a thing of the past and making a quick “Hello” much easier. This trend slowly builds a habit of poor communication skills. As previously mentioned, 75% of teenagers text regularly, and one in three sends more than 100 texts per day. We can see that texting is the preferred method of communication among young people. To make messages quick and maintain a steady flow of conversation, acronyms and dropping nonessential letters are used to shorten messages. Instead of typing out “laugh out loud” they’ll use acronyms like “LOL” to signify they find it amusing.. They’ll also use homophones like “gr8” for “great” and drop letters from words like “would” to make “wud”. It is obvious to see why texting and messaging through social networks negatively
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
“Our generation doesn't ring the doorbell. They text or call to say they're outside,” this line is from one of the well-known social networks, Tweeter, which shows how the way of communication has change in this modern life. According to 2013 statistics by Business Insider, in United States alone, smartphone owners aged 18 to 24 send 2,022 texts per month on average — 67 texts on a daily basis — and receive another 1,831 texts (Cocotas). Nowadays, technology such as text messaging has practically replaced traditional face to face communication among the society primarily in young generations because texting allows messages to be sent fast and effortless. In order to quickly type what they are trying to say in text messaging, people are frequently using textspeak; the language created by using abbreviation rather than complete words. Based on this phenomenon, David Crystal, an honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales has published an article entitled ‘2b or not 2b?’ in the Guardian on July 5, 2008 comes out with the research and studies that state texting can actually improve the literacy of children and create creativity of writing. However, by observing more critically, texting do decrease a person’s ability to switch between textspeak and the normal rules of grammar and adversely affect formal writing and conversational skills.
Although writing and speech are commonly both considered as language, both are categorized very differently. In today’s society, writing is much more formal compared to speech. Texting is a mixture of both using informal speech in writing. Texting is often criticized due to the informal nature and improper vocabulary. In John McWhorter’s speech “Txting is killing language. JK!!” the author convinces readers that texting language is not as harmful to society as many would assume while adding his own professional and personal experiences as evidence.
Is it right for adolescent American students to text so profoundly? In my opinion, it is a very pessimistic thing and is having a negative effect on the students writing abilities and grammar. As it says in both passages ,“Text-Speak Is Harming Teens’ writing Skills,” and ,“Text-Speak Can Help Students,” recent studies have shown that an average teen sends about sixty texts per day. The use of informal language and slang takes place which can cause illness in academic work.
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
With the constant use of various forms of technology, communication via texting has become a very popular leisure activity for people all over the world. While texting, an individual automatically utilize different symbols and shorthand words to save time and space. For example, when texting, one is given a certain amount of characters that they can use within the message. To save space, the individual would use words such as “u” to replace the word you, “btw” for by the way, and “c u l8r” to refrain from writing out see you later. The problem with using shorthand words to text evokes grammar issues and not being able to transition smoothly from texting a friend and writing a paper for an English
We often hear news stories report on the possible negative effects texting has on students’ formal writing. These stories usually flash a picture of some student’s formal essay or class assignment containing a text-speak abbreviation in place of a formal word. For example, “u” in place of “you”. Stories like this cause educators and parents to worry that the use of texting is impairing students’ ability to write in a formal setting and is thus becoming detrimental to literacy altogether. However, do these news stories actually hold any merit or are they simply media hype? How often does textspeak actually appear in students’ writing? According to literary scholar David Crystal, “all the evidence suggests that belief in an impending linguistic disaster is a conseq...
Text messaging is damaging our literacy and communication skills as a society. Calling someone on the phone or writing them a letter is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. There is a new language that is being learned and not taught across the globe. It is the language of Textese, and it has quickly consumed the lives of millions across the world. There will always be the protector of language arts. These are the shrinking number of people everyone knows, that will continue to handwrite letters and sign them with proper English and etiquette. It may be as simple as picking up the phone and calling a friend or relative. It may be even simpler than that, in that people put forth an effort to talk to the person sitting next to or across from you and engage them in a conversation. Texting and textisms have become so common and widespread that using proper English, correct spelling, and full sentences is also becoming a thing of the past. People that constantly use text and instant messaging may have difficulty with literacy and expressing themselves in writing form. The research shows that text messaging has deteriorated how we communicate and express ourselves because textisms have become an easier and quicker form of communication that has affected literacy in children and adults.