I was at a family reunion where I had a conversation with my aunt who is a high school English teacher. She was telling me how she had been grading essays written by her students and what she found was horrifying. They were using no periods, commas or capital letters. They were struggling to form complete sentences and instead using shorthand. My aunt claims that texting is ruining language because teenagers are breaking the conventional linguistic rules of spelling and punctuation. Being a millennial and writer myself, I had to step back and think about this. I love the convenience of sending a quick text message instead of actually having to call someone. But I also love to write. It 's my job.
So is texting ruining language? The answer
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If you went over, you had to pay extra. As a result, shorthand and abbreviations were required. With the introduction of smartphones, there is no limit to the amount of text that can be sent. Smartphones also include autocorrect which automatically corrects misspelled words. Text language is no longer frequently used because message nowadays are made up of full words and sentences. The older generation will always complain about the younger generation and how they are ruining everything. Here we are just seeing another example of it play out. Instead, why don 't we talk about the positive aspects of texting? Texting helps teenagers form more concise thoughts, which is valued by standardized tests like the ACT and SAT. Through texting, Kids are writing on a daily basis, something that they would normally not have done and are being taught to employ different ways of communication.
Of course there will always be kids who are unable to go back and forth between the two languages, like the ones my aunt is talking about, but just because I type OMG when texting or I chose to leave out a period does not mean that I am unable to form a complete sentence. I am just choosing not to because the language does not require
I totally agree with McWhorter’s idea because it is totally appropriate to use those languages when doing informal communication. In the speech, McWhorter discussed about the characteristics of texting language. With many harsh and astute critics over texting, McWhorter believes that texting
Summery In “TXTing: h8 or luv it,” Courtney Anttila addresses the concerns of English instructors concerning texting. Anttila explores how texting effects the child’s reading and writing abilities, how children will use any creative ways to cheat, and how texting
In her essay "Does Texting Affect Writing?", Michaela Cullington presents her argument that texting does not impact formal writing written by students. She discusses the concerns presented by many people about how texting language can transfer into writing, but through the use of personal experiences and credible sources she discusses how this is not true. Her use of multiple different studies and situations help boost her argument and allow the reader to truly see how students actually do formal writing. She presents a strong argument as to why those who believe students don't have the control and knowledge to write formally, instead of with text speak, are wrong.
The influence of textspeak on teenagers' writing is a polarising concept with both fans and critics of texting weighing their opinions. In her essay, "Does Texting Affect Writing?", Michaela Cullington, a previous student of Marywood University in Pennsylvania, outlines her investigation into whether or not texting affects writing. Cullington analyzes the critiques of texting and why critics believe that texting has a detrimental affect on teenager writing. Along with the critics,
Katie Hafner’s article “Texting May Be Taking a Toll” divulges that texting is becoming a major issue among teens, leaving parents and teachers struggling to find ways to keep up and get it under control. The article begins by proposing that teenagers are texting more and more often and it could be taking a toll on their health; sleep deprivation, stress injuries, failing grades, and many more. The author illustrated this by saying “...it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation,” (1). This quote specifies that kids are more focused on their phones and the text messages they are receiving, then they are on their classes, grades, getting adequate amounts of sleep and their
Michaela Cullington was a former student at University in Pennsylvania when she wrote the essay of “Does Texting Affect Writing?” Have you ever thought if texting truly effects our writing style when it comes to college levels? Cullington did research of her own from different people group asking this question. Her thesis sentence was “IT TAKES OVER OUR LIVES” (…). The way that she capitalized all the letters is something that can engage the reader and the curiosity of knowing what is taking our lives?
Turkle states that, “the mere presence of a phone on a table between them (two people) or in the periphery of their vision changes both what they talk about and the degree of connection they feel.” While this may be true, along with the other studies on how technology is detrimental to society, there as also positives aspects that contribute to society as well. “It is not about giving our phones but about using them with greater intention” (Turkle). This quote by Turkle embodies how I feel about the technology debate and the more new technology and phones have developed the more we have analyzed whether or not they are good for our society, and at what age kids should use them.
In her essay “Does Texting Affect Writing?” Michaela Cullington addresses the issue of text messaging possibly causing poor communication skills and the use of textspeak, abbreviations used during text messaging such as “LOL” and “g2g,” in students’ formal writing. Cullington argues that “texting actually has a minimal effect on student writing” (pg. 367). She addresses the opposition directly, even citing credible sources. However, she also cites credible sources with better information to support her point, and even conducts an experiment of her own.
Not So Fast” Andrea Lunsford researched students’ writing for 30-plus years to see what effect new technology has on how students learn. Lunsford discovered that students are actually improving their own writing skills with the help of mass media. Not only does it allow students more access to educational resources and information, but it also encourages students to do more creative thinking and writing outside of class which Lunsford refers to in her article as “life writing.” In her research she recalls the account of a student who sent a friend a text message which was completely informal and would be considered unprofessional by most piers. However, the same student also sent a very formal and professional report to her faculty adviser later on.
However, does texting really affect the literacy of teens and children? MXit is a trending mobile instant messaging service, that has over 10 million registered users, most users happen to be under the age of 18, who send on average 250 million messages every day.1 Even though teens and children are writing more than ever, most people don’t consider
Not So Fast”, conducts her own study with a few colleagues to take notes on how students writing skills are changing. She decides to conduct another one twenty five years later to see how much the writing skills have changed since technology has been updated and became more available to students. She found that “students today are writing more than ever before.” Although we still have the same amount of writing errors as before, the patterns of errors are different. Many people argue that technology is only making our writing skill worse, this study helps to prove a different theory.
Language is very important and is most effective when people can speak how they want. There may be disadvantages to language always changing such as people not knowing what others are saying. An example of this would be old people not knowing what teens are talking about on social media using modern lingo. Language adaption lets people use their creativity and makes communication more enjoyable. Our literacy is very important to our success as people.
In the essay, “Tapping into Text Messaging”, Kornblum explains that teens were among the first groups to take to text messaging (365). Time spent texting in class distracts from learning, as discussed in another essay, “Texting in Class is Rampant”. Rubinkam discusses how teens frequently use their cellphones during class (369). By texting in class, teens are being distracted from learning accurate grammar through observation. In their study, Cingel and Sundar also present the idea that teens learn grammar through observation, or by seeing how teachers frequently use grammar around them.
A person who speaks more than one language is described as being bilingual. According to the United States Department of Education, “about 21% of school-age children speak a language other than English at home,” (Lowry, 2011). As Wayne Thomas and Virginia Collier describe in, “Two Languages are Better Than One,” children who come into school having a first language besides English, tend to struggle. Usually when a child struggles with a particular subject, they are taken out of the main classroom and brought somewhere for a remedial class. But according to Thomas and Collier, in order to help narrow the gap in comprehension, English learners and English speakers need to be kept together in order to be fully enriched in a successful learning
This can cause teens to develop grammar issues. Also, when using a cell phone teens cannot see people’s expressions, so someone can be giving advice, and teens think they are being rude. Furthermore, teens are not able to tell how someone is truly feelling, through a phone, you need to talk to them face-to-face.” When teens use their cell phones for comfort or safety, teens never learn to work through their problems. Using cell phones as a safe place is not always the best thing to do.