Two years ago, a study published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology looked at 88 U.K. kids ages 10 to12 to examine the impact of texting on their language and reading skills and found that it could actually have a positive effect on the way kids interact with language.
“Children's use of textisms is not only positively associated with word reading ability, but it may be contributing to reading development," the report says.
Lead author Beverley Plester told the BBC that texting doesn’t negatively impact children's spelling ability, either. “What we think of as misspellings, don't really break the rules of language and children have a sophisticated understanding of the appropriate use of words.”
The kids involved in the study were asked to compose text messages for 10 different scenarios. The textisms were split into categories, including shortenings, contractions, acronyms, symbols and unconventional spellings, and analyzed for their use of language alongside more traditional schoolwork. Researchers found that the ratio of textisms to total words used was positively associated with word reading, vocabulary, and phonological awareness.
"When we look for examples of text speak in essays, we don't seem to find very many," says Plester, explaining that "The more exposure you have to the written word the more literate you become and we tend to get better at things that we do for fun."
However, Jeff Sledz, an eighth-grade language arts teacher at Hinsdale Middle School located in Glenview, Illinois said that as the age of cell phone users has gotten younger over the past few years, the improper use of language in school papers has increased.
"It's really not that students are using texting lingo like lol (laugh out loud) in their papers," Sledz said. "The problem is with the improper use of punctuation, lower casing letters and shortening words."
Sledz said the most common misuses by students are using a "i" as a stand-along word, using only the letter "u" instead of the word "you," using the letter "r" in place of the word "are" and not using periods where needed.
"It's independent of intelligence," Sledz said. "The problem is the inability to recognize it on your own. If I'm texting, I'll shorten some words, but I know that isn't appropriate for other writing. A lot of students don't make that distinction."
Marie Gillespie, a theater and interpersonal communication teacher at Lyons Township High School, also in Illinois, said it is important for students to be able to use different types of communication at appropriate times, a skill referred to as "code switching."
"We actually discuss with students the concept of code switching as a desired skill to be developed," Gillespie said. "Students must be adept at many communication codes and understand when it is appropriate to use each one and have the skills necessary to easily switch from one code to another."
Gillespie said the term code switching originated to describe switching back and forth between one language and another, such as English to Spanish, which led to Spanglish; or between one dialect and another, such as African-American vernacular English and standard American English.
"I believe there are great advantages for all of us in becoming adept at new codes, like text lingo, and retaining skill with former codes, such as formal writing, reading and speaking skills," she said.
What’s been your experience? Do students who regularly text have better reading skills, despite their frequent use of phonetic spellings, abbreviations, and omission of vowels?
