Bravo Bombers

"I work at the school's writing center and I would suspect that some of the mistakes I see in writing assignments are text related," Cleveland said.

"Cursive writing is always going to be a needed skill," he said. "The argument by those who've done away with it say it's an art form, not needed in everyday life. I would dispute that because there are jobs such as (postal carriers) whereby people have got to be able to read cursive."

Jennifer Scott, a 10th-grade Lauderdale County home-schooled student, said she texts constantly. She also has plenty of school writing assignments. She admits she gets lazy from time to time and allows text talk to enter her school writing. "I might use the number 2 instead of spelling out "to", or for the word "into" I might write n2," she said. "But I don't use slang terms like LOL or BTW (by the way). My mom would definitely not appreciate that."

Having multiple literacies, however, does not only mean being comfortable composing with a variety of media; it also means understanding how to use different facets of language in each situation.

That does not mean all is well for literacy and communication in the future. It isn’t clear whether all children are comfortable shifting from one form of written communication to another. A lack of opportunity to develop in multiple language modes could cause language to develop in one way among one group and make those kids unable to communicate with those who have developed multiple literacies.

Ironically, the problem may be prevented not by closing the digital divide by ensuring access to text technologies but by providing access to more traditional forms of literacy, like books. “Text messaging and instant messaging have grown exponentially among kids, and that is likely a positive development,” says Shanahan. “While I see the value of all of this new communication technology, I would argue that we need to protect time for more cognitive or intellectual technologies–those technologies that do more to help us think more deeply rather than those aimed at more-immediate social sharing of information–as well.”

Many tweens take shortcuts or use so-called techspeak when sending text messages. “They may use a homophone, such as gr8 for great, or an initial, like, LOL for laugh out loud,” Northwestern researcher Drew Cingel explained in a statement. Other shortcuts include dropping non-essential letters, such as changing the word “would” to “wud.”

To study the effect of these habits, Cingel gave a group of middle school students in central Pennsylvania a grammar assessment test. The students were then given a survey that asked them to detail how many texts they send and receive, their opinions on the importance of texting and the number of shortcuts in their last three sent and received text messages.

The results of the survey and the test, which were reported in the journal New Media & Society, showed a link between poor grammar scores and frequent texting. What’s more, both sending and receiving techspeak-riddled texts seemed to affect how poorly the students performed on the test. This suggests tweens might not be initiating all of their bad language habits, but might also be influenced by the grammatically incorrect messages sent by their friends and family.

The review by Ireland's Department of Education into last year's exam performance by 15-year-olds claimed text messaging was hitting standards in English.

The use of abbreviated words, phonetic spelling and lack of punctuation were affecting conventional spelling and grammar, the review claimed. There was also an undue reliance on short sentences, simple tenses and a limited vocabulary.

Literacy is the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential.

For many years educators and parents have blamed texting for two ills: the corruption of language and a degradation in spelling. Teachers are even complaining about textisms creeping into schoolwork. This has led many to wonder if it is possible that texting can have any positive influence on learners’ language development.

If it seems like American teens are texting all the time, it’s probably because on average they’re sending or receiving 3,339 texts a month. That’s more than six per every hour they're awake – an 8 percent jump from last year. Using recent data from monthly cell phone bills of more than 60,000 mobile subscribers as well as survey data from over 3,000 teens, The Nielsen Company analyzed mobile usage data among teens in the United States for the second quarter of 2010 (April 2010 – June 2010). No one texts more than teens (age 13-17), especially teen females, who send and receive an average of 4,050 texts per month. Teen males also outpace other male age groups, sending and receiving an average of 2,539 texts. Young adults (age 18-24) come in a distant second, exchanging 1,630 texts per month (a comparatively meager three texts per hour).

Examiners have given warning that pupils are increasingly using text message language in GCSEs, the first official acknowledgment that mobile phone shorthand is undermining standard English.

Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield said.

there are strong reactions from the public, media, and language experts that the use of textisms can transfer to formal writing in the form of deterioration of spelling and misuse of language.

  According to the study, the students’ use of text speak was determined using five different measures, which included: Use of textisms in formal versus informal communications Text speak proficiency: Translating Standard English to text Text speak familiarity: Translating text speak to Standard English (SE) Literacy processing speed: Speed of translation to and from SE Spelling errors: Translating target textisms to SE The students were also administered a standardized literacy, which was determined using two different measures: Reading: Woodcock Johnson III Achievement test, letter-word identification and reading fluency subtests. Spelling: Woodcock Johnson III, spelling subtest

Although there is no evidence that the use of such acronyms and abbreviations in professions and career fields have caused a deterioration of the English language, yet some have argued that the use of textese and textisms may result in diminishing an individual’s use of the English language.

Spell-check: Through our research we discovered that many students rely too heavily on spellcheck to correct their spelling, and as a result, have poor spelling skills.  In the following video, a high school girl describes her spelling problems from dependency on spellcheck.  It also addressed the problems that arise from text speak.

Other negative effects of technology on learning: -Technology makes it easier to cheat and plagarize -Decrease in critical thinking -Decrease in analysis skills -Decrease in imagination -Don’t process as much during class, easily distracted

Sources: Are Digital Media Changing Language? http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Are_Digital_Media_Changing_Language¢.aspx Is Technology Producing a Decline in Critical Thinking and Analysis? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128092341.htm Today Show clip: