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Literacy is the ability to use available symbol systems that are fundamental to learning and teaching – for the purposes of comprehending and composing—for the purposes of making and communicating meaning and knowledge.  —Patricia Stock, Professor Emerita, Michigan State University (June, 2012)

Link Between Texting and Literary Skills Explained

Although unexpected, text messaging’s positive affect on literary skills seems plausible when you consider more deeply Wood and Meachem’s  claim that strong phonological skills may be one of the contributing factors of the of text message senders continued spelling accuracy in traditional written language exercises. This result lends support once again to the theory of the strong role of phonological awareness and perception in orthographic processing and spelling ability, and partially answers the question of how texting can improve literacy.

It's gr8 news 4 skools. Claims that the explosion in text messaging among children is eroding youngsters' literacy skills appear to be unfounded, according to research. A study comparing the punctuation and spelling of 11- and 12-year-olds who use mobile phone text messaging with another group of non-texters conducting the same written tests found no significant differences between the two. Both groups made some grammatical and spelling errors, and "text-speak" abbreviations and symbols did not find their way into the written English of youngsters used to texting. According to the author of the research, the speech and language therapist Veenal Raval, the findings reflect children's ability to "code switch", or move between modes of communication - a trend familiar to parents whose offspring slip effortlessly between playground slang and visit-the-grandparents politeness.

According to the mobile telecoms consultancy Mobile Youth, 700,000 (20%) of primary school children own mobile phones and the under-10s are the fastest-growing section of Britain's mobile phone market. The leap in the popularity of mobiles and text messaging among children and teenagers over the past five years has prompted concern that pupils' literacy skills could suffer. Texting puts a premium on speed and concision, leading to the creation of a host of abbreviations and acronyms incomprehensible to the untrained reader, together with symbols or "emoticons", such as smiley faces, to express emotions.

There have also been studies conducted on the topic over the years. Varnhagen et al. (2009) studied 40 adolescent texters between the ages of twelve and seventeen and measured their spelling ability. In conclusion to their study, they “are optimistic that spelling ability is not adversely affected by instant messaging” (2009: 731).  They suggest that those who used more abbreviations and other features of texting were better spellers.

The study, performed by researchers from Coventry University, looked into the impact of texting on the language skills of 88 children aged between 10 and 12 years old. The children were given ten different scenarios and asked to write about them in text messages. These messages were then analyzed for their use of language alongside more traditional class work. The study, published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, found no detrimental link between texting and linguistic development, saying in their report: "Children's use of textisms is not only positively associated with word reading ability, but it may be contributing to reading development." Dr Beverly Plester, the lead author of the report and a senior lecturer at Coventry University, laid the blame for the negative views of text messaging squarely at the feet of sensationalist media outlets: "The alarm in the media is based on selected anecdotes but actually when we look for examples of text speak in essays we don't seem to find very many ...The more exposure you have to the written word the more literate you become and we tend to get better at things that we do for fun." Contrary as it is to popular opinion, the study backs up research done by the University of Toronto into a similar scenario, that of teenagers using instant messengers, and more than that, it makes sense when considered logically; after all, to be able to understand a short hand, you have to understand the long hand behind it.