I mainly argee with the author who fears that chatspeak is destroying english. I'm shocked that I feel that way since I'm a big online/computer fan. I want to have as many tech. tools as possible in my classroom. However, I do find that sometimes my own writing reverts to a simple/abbreviated form. It can hamper or slow down my writing. Linda Howard identifies my problem with "switching gears". I'm very used to typing short messages to others that I forget that I can't use the same style when I'm writing something for a grade. I shouldn't expect that my teacher should be able to decode my writing.
As Linda Howard also notes, "The shortcuts and acronyms that make instant messaging, text messaging, and online chatting so popular have no place in academic, business, and other formal writing settings." Part of our job as teachers is to prepare students for the next step and proper writing skills are necessary for this next step. Our society still holds a high value on proper/traditional communication skills. This means that incoming members should hold these values as well if they plan to succeed.
Some questions from the reading are - So chatspeak is bad - now what? Do we ban students from communicating via txt?
I think part of my own personal issues, about shorting my words with texting, can be solved with a couple improvements. Some carriers limit their text msgs (wow, just added chatspeak without realizing it) to 200 words and if you're over that limit then to have to create a whole new message. Maybe if carriers somehow remove this limit, students won't be forced to shorten their text. Also, the trend towards adding a QWERTY keyboard to most phones will allow students to type easier. Can these changes help? Will students use shortcuts anyways?
It is an interesting and important issue for educators. I hope students can keep chatspeak out of their school assignments.
Technological Social Justice
16 years ago
"Part of our job as teachers is to prepare students for the next step and proper writing skills are necessary for this next step. Our society still holds a high value on proper/traditional communication skills." -- exactly! It is so hard to understand where we are suppose to draw the line and I agree that we need to help them with the outside world and what is going on currently, but are we meant to just push aside everything we have already taught? (does any of that make sense??)
ReplyDeleteGood idea that as more and more phones go to the QWERTY keyboard we may be able to expect less abriviated spelling and chatspeak. I whole heartedly agree with you that students need to keep chatspeak out of thier school assignments.
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