I have to
admit that I've been pretty well convinced spanning the last several years that
different types of media used by adolescents today are detrimental to their
reading and writing skills. With reading and writing scores declining and
social media usage increasing, it's hard not to develop a negative attitude
especially when you see all the abbreviations and textisms. On the surface, it appears to be poor writing
and poor spelling. According to a recent
Nielson survey (as cited in Scholastic Instructor), the average American teen texts between
3300 and 4000 (depending on gender) messages per month. That breaks down to 30 texts per day and a
text every ten minutes around the clock.
That is just unbelievable to me!
Now, I
don’t think I’ve fallen into the “Texting
Makes U Stupid” realm (as cited in Scholastic Instructor), but I'll admit to having a bit of an attitude. I’m not making excuses for
myself; but, quite honestly, the “auto-correct” makes me feel and look stupid
all the time!
Texting
is truly a phenomenon. Pure and simple, it has
created a writing and reading storm that is and will continue to change the way
we have traditionally taught our children.
I am a secondary school business teacher. I am fully confessing, as a keyboarding
teacher, that texting has decimated standard typing practices used for decades
by typing teachers. I’ve had a hard time
accepting that. However, that is just
one of the many changes and challenges we have to accept with the new texting revolution.
We all
know that shorthand is a dinosaur in the business world today, but it was my
first love in my teaching career. I have
sorely grieved its demise. It was a
language all its own, and one that I enjoyed using and teaching. I liken it to speaking or teaching a foreign
language. This realization created an “AHA”
moment for me while reading the article in Scholastic Instructor “Can Texting Help With
Spelling?” Once again, I admit to “Laughing
Out Loud” when I read that title. However,
in this article, texting was referred to as a form of shorthand or
note-taking. OMG, I was completely taken
aback. I had never looked at texting as
a form of shorthand. It was an epiphany for me. The blinders had come off. Many of the facts cited here were relatable to my love and use of shorthand, and in one instance, poetry. As a poet, I got that inference as well.
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Fact: Texting helps
students read. The Journal of Computer Assisted Learning "found that kids who text may be stronger readers and writers than those who don't" (as cited in Scholastic Instructor). My greatest growth in
grammar and sentence structure was learned in shorthand class not in English
class.
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Fact: Texting boosts
phonology. The Journal of Computer Assisted Learning also found that texting was "actually driving the development of phonological awareness and reading skill in children" (as cited in Scholastic Instructor). Shorthand, as well, has its basis in phonology. Yet, I am a pretty good speller. It never affected my ability to spell
properly but greatly enhanced my ability to spell and understand how words were built.
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Fact: Students know
when not to text. Texting does not distract students. Just because I can write an abbreviated form of the English language doesn't mean that it has ever been a distraction in other writing assignments. A graduate student at the City University in London, Veenal Raval, found that most students can avoid textisms in their classwork. He referred to it as 'code-switch' (as cited in Scholastic Instructor).
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Fact: Texting is a
fun way to play with words. Inventing new textisms is creative. Texting is fun and creative for adolescents as was shorthand for me. The use of texting along with the creativity of a 160 word count was equated to the counting and rhyming patterns used in poetry (as cited in Scholastic Instructor).
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Fact: Textisms have
historical roots. I never realized that the word “OK” was made
popular by the use of the telegraph.
This was another great example that brought me closer to the realization
that we have moved into another age (as cited in Scholastic Instructor).
We need to "listen up" and get with the program. We can no longer bury our heads in the sand or live, learn and teach in another century. The analogies that I've been able to make have helped me to change my views on the effects of digital media on young people's abilities to read and write.
We need to explore great new ways to incorporate texting and other forms of digital media that our students are going to use into our school curriculum. Students are learning to write in many ways and in places outside the classroom. We need to redirect all that adolescent creativity, energy, and real-world experience. We need to engage and motivate our students, and we need to use all the tools available to us to do that. It is going to take all of us working together across the curriculum disciplines and classrooms to dispel the common myths about adolescent literacy (as cited in National Council of Teachers of English, Adolescent Literacy) and incorporate reading and writing lessons in every class and subject.
References
Lenhart, A., Arafeh, S., Smith, A., Macgill, A. (2008). Pew Reseach. Writing, Technology and Teens. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2008/04/24/writing-technology-and-teens/
Scholastic Instructor. Can Texting Help With Spelling? Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/can-texting-help-spelling
National Council of Teachers of English (March 2011). Reading and Writing across the Curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/nctefiles/resources/journals/cc/0203-mar2011/cc0203policy.pdf
National Council of Teachers of English (2009). Writing Outside of School. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CC/0191-sep09/Chron0191BriefWriting.pdf
National Council of Teachers of English (2008). Writing Now. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Magazine/Chron0908Policy_Writing_Now.pdf
National Council of Teachers of English. Adolescent Literacy. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEfiles/Resources/Magazine/Chron0907AdLitBrief.pdf
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5EI_CHi40mNMEZ6Zm9DaDZIX2c/edit?usp=sharing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IysHjKE2D-Y&list=PL0FC51FF4ED9CC035
“The literacy of the future… of the 21st century.” I had to pause for a moment and quote the gentleman from your YouTube video. I agree with him. Literacy is literally bombarding us everyday from every direction. I don’t think I realized before taking this class how rapidly I was being hit with information, much more so than 25-30 years ago. It’s been a fast revolution but not so much that I got lost in it. I admit, texting confused me at first. The etiquette rules were lost on me. I thought that my texting had to be complete sentences with the correct grammar. It didn’t take me long to realize that no one wanted to read a 50 line text. That’s not what texting is meant to be. It is a short concise question/answer conversation or sometimes just a casual “How are you?” Which brings me to your conversation on shorthand. My mother learned shorthand in college and taught me how to use it as well. It is how we communicated meals and schedules on the refrigerator between her busy schedule and my own busy teenage schedule back in the 1980s/ early 90s. It worked and I loved it. I have not thought about shorthand in a long time, especially connecting it to texting.
ReplyDelete“I really think it is important that my 4th graders learn about the media because it is around them constantly.” I have to agree with this quote from your YouTube video as well. Our kids are digital natives. It is part of their life. They can connect with it, so why not add it to our curriculum. “If you can hook children and get them excited about something, you got them. They’ll learn.”
With the information age, I also believe that teaching students what to believe and checking sources it of utmost importance. Which once again will grab their attention and aid them in their literacy skills. Media is only going to become a stronger hold in our society; therefore skills to be able to become a more responsible citizen should come to the forefront. I really enjoyed your video link. What innovative teachers.
I have to agree with you, “We need to redirect all that adolescent creativity, energy, and real-world experience. We need to engage and motivate our students, and we need to use all the tools available to us to do that.” Real-world experience is what our students will connect with and understand. It will also give them an edge in our society. We need to be able to say that we can release them into society and they will have the skills they need to function without having to play catch-up with today’s technology.
I do not miss shorthand but had never thought of texting AS shorthand! I enjoyed every fact that you quoted and they all made perfect sense. What took me aback was the fact that teens average 3000-4000 texts per month. I got out an old cell phone bill and between my family, we had sent 11,237 text in one month! I think that is ludicrous but then thought that my kids send a lot of 'group messages' and one text could count as 20. I also did not know that OK was made popular by the telegraph! As educators we definitely have to keep exploring all avenues of technology. I feel that I am pretty up to date on technology until my five year old niece grabs my cell phone and shows ME something I did not know how to do! I also love your Twitter bird :)
ReplyDeleteI took a traditional typing class when I was on the 9th grade, and those are skills I still use to this day. I was curious as to why texting has harmed the typing skills of the current generation. Is it because they learn to text first, and then mistake it for typing, and then try to apply those short hand techniques to documents that are meant to be standard English? Just a guess. Do you keyboarding should be offered in every school? I have students that cannot type, and they barely text, or write.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate all your comments. To answer Jared's question, keyboarding is an elective class to begin with now and many do not elect to take it. Secondly, the keyboards are not the same obviously in size so the techniques taught in typing class have always emphasized your posture and hand placement for improved speed and accuracy. These elements are important when are typing a lot for papers and documents. With texting you can swipe and your fingers are everywhere but where they are supposed to be relative to a keyboard. And, then of course there's the autocorrect that just changes everything for the texter and they don't have to think about accuracy. Anyway, it's challenging. However, most students who do take typing/keyboarding are very happy they did at some point in the future! Thanks for your comments and interest.
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