(ITLL B OK) Text Messaging Effects on Literacy and Grammar

LOL, OMG, BRB, ppl instead of people, u in place of you, and 2 for to. These are just examples of what one might see in text messages as well as posts on social media and emails. Typing less characters to express a message of course reduces the burden of punching those keys, especially the very small ones on those smart phones. It is quick. And it is evolving with its own set of rules. There are concerns that these exercises can impair one's literacy and grammar skills. In fact, a press release two years ago from Penn State highlighted a study by Cingel and Sundar that claims a negative relationship between texting and grammar skills:


Unfortunately, this study was not well designed. The above press release noted:
The researchers, who report their findings in the current issue of New Media & Society, then passed out a survey that asked students to detail their texting habits, such as how many texts they send and receive, as well as their opinion on the importance of texting. The researchers also asked participants to note the number of adaptations in their last three sent and received text messages. Of the 542 surveys distributed, students completed and returned 228, or 42.1 percent.
The data collected on how students were using texting relied solely on the students' own reporting. There was likewise no baseline testing. Good studies require reliable data collection. There is a recent study published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology that shows otherwise: Text messaging styles do not impair one's literacy and grammar skills.


In this study, text messages of students are recorded and saved over a time period. These text messages are then analyzed and categorized according to the following types of grammatical violations:


This recent study was over a twelve month period. A battery of standardized tests were administered at the beginning and at the end of the study. Participants are from three levels of education: primary, secondary and college. The results show that at all levels, there is no correlation between a student's performance on the grammar and literacy tests and text messaging. In fact, for secondary pupils, greater use of word reduction is correlated with better performance in spelling. Those who type messages with words like "tryna", "hafta", "wanna" and "gonna", can in fact spell better than those who do not.

This instance illustrates why it is very important to have a well designed experiment. Our opinions, biases and limited observations can not be used as valid evidence to draw general conclusions. Text messaging does not impair a student's literacy and grammar. In fact, text messaging provides a route for creativity....

Above copied from Personalized License Plate (photos.al.com)
It will be okay.


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