I have always thought texting was a horrible way to communicate. My husband and I found it so offensive we would not allow our son to have this "secretive" form of communication on his cell phone. Nick and I talked alot about him getting texting his senior year and we came to a decision, sure, why not. Nick spent so much time texting in school his GPA dropped from a 3.8 to a 2.9 the first month texting was activated on his phone. We didn't just have an issue with poor written language skills, we had a problem with texting in school, period. We asked him not to text during school hours, as per the school's mandated rules, but he would borrow someone elses phone and text anyway.
I softened on the texting issue when I realized that texting was becoming a part of our world whether I liked it or not and to be able to communicate with my peers, my son's teachers and most of the general public I had to jump on the smartphone bandwagon.
If one is texting, one is thinking and communicating. The test that are being done around the county and world are inclusive as to the question, is texting hurting our children. The most common answer, "Overall, these findings suggest that children's knowledge of textisms is not associated with poor written language outcomes for children in this age range" (Plester, Wood, & Bell, 11).
Andrea Lundford from Standford University's Standford Writing Center agrees based on her findings,"a massive study that suggests today’s 21st century college student has actually become stronger writers based predominantly on there keen understanding of kairos, how to write for an audience. Of the 14, 672 writing samples her team gathered not a single one used txt lng in formal writing (Hyde, 2009).
The biggest user of acroymns in our society is our Federal Government and Medical Community. ASAP (as soon as possible), AWOL(absent with out leave), SOP(standard operating procedure), DOA(dead on arrival), LEO(law enforcement officer), there are entire websites dedicated to acronyms.
In order to use acroymns one must know what they mean and ususally, when we read, recite and repeat we learn.
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References:
Plester, B, Wood, C, & Bell, V. (11, 00 2008). :the name assigned to the document by the author. this field may also contain sub-titles, series names, and report numbers. txt msg n school literacy: does texting and knowledge of text abbreviations adversely affect children's literacy attainment? . Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ815807&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ815807
Hyde, A. (2009, 08 31). Does texting make our kids dumb? [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://dcamd.com/2009/08/31/does-texting-make-our-kids-dumb/
I agree with you and I was the same way. I kept thinking, "Why text when I can just call the person?" And now I think, "Why call when I can just text?!" You made avalid point about our accronyms for ASAP, AWOL, and even RSVP that I never thought about. Our government has been doing thins for years and although these accronyms have lasted, I don't think the more common ones such as LOL, BRB, and so on will last. I think they are just a fad and will fizzle out when the next "cool"thing comes along.
ReplyDeleteI don't really think that texting helps students with their language skills. I think it gives them an excuse to talk lazy. With that being said, I do text, and I do use these abbreviations, but only while texing or chating on facebook. I dont believe these abbreviations will help in language skills at all, I think if they creep into education, it will only hurt students' language skills.
ReplyDeleteI like how you address texting as being an issue of attention, rather than an issue of skill. I think that observation is very astute! Ultimately, texting in school is a subject that needs more experimenting and studies conducted before any definitive conclusions can be reached.
ReplyDeleteGood discussion! I agree that are problems with kids using cell phones as a distraction. I'm just not sure it's much different than the way kids used pencils and paper as a distraction. Doodling? passing notes? I think the most important thing is for teachers to create more engaging learning environments instead of blaming cell phone for student disengagment with school.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on this and I love how you used the distraction comment.
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