Can Texting Help With Spelling? | Scholastic.com - 2 views
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Texting literacy literacy skills skills writing education

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A British study published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning found a positive correlation between texting and literacy, concluding that texting was “actually driving the development of phonological awareness and reading skill in children.” In other words, contrary to what you might think when faced with “creative” usages such as ur for your, 2 for to, and w8 for wait, kids who text may be stronger readers and writers than those who don’t.
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To abbreviate message as msg or tonight as 2nite, you have to understand how sounds and letters work, or how words are put together. Texting encourages students to think about these relationships, helping them to understand how words are built. A study in the Australian Journal of Educational Development & Psychology showed that texting improves spelling because it increases these phonological skills.
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Abbreviations are a natural part of the evolution of language. OK, the most popular American word in the world, was invented during the age of the telegraph, because it was concise. Teachers found OK as inappropriate then as they do c u l8r today. But OK found its way into our lexicon soon enough, and these days we couldn’t do without it. The most popular textisms are already becoming official: The Oxford English Dictionary added OMG last year. New technologies—from the printing press to the telegraph to the cell phone—inevitably inspire new spelling, new abbreviations, and new words.