Walt Gardner opines in EdWeek that in a world obsessed with STEM skills, schools are neglecting to teach kids the important skills of reading and writing. Making insightful observations about the gap between "grammar skills" and fluent writing, Gardner notes - and laments - the receding writing skills associated with kids immersed in a world of text messages.
A new study by Drew P. Cingel and S. Shyam Sundar, "Texting, techspeak, and tweens: The relationship between text messaging and English grammar skills," concludes that the more time students spend sending and receiving texts, the worse their grammar skills become ("YSK, teens 2 fluent in TXT," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 4). That's because it's difficult to switch between standard grammar and the abbreviations used in text messages. It's not that mastery of grammar alone makes for effective writing. Far from it. It's altogether possible to score high on a grammar test and still be unable to develop a written argument. For example, I remember when diagramming sentences was thought to be indispensable. Yet the transfer to expository writing was minimal, if non-existent. More importantly, however, when students spend so much time texting, they're not reading. And that's the point. I've long believed that the best way to learn how to write is to read. I'm not talking about reading anything. Instead, I'm talking about reading literature that is appropriate to what a student wants to write.
This point was aptly addressed in a recent LA Times commentary. The loss of writing skills is negatively impacting the business world and the ability to being to access the jobs and lives they desire. Importantly, Gardner reminds us that being an effective writer is intrinsically linked to being an effective reader. It's not enough to assign kids reading and writing. English teachers at all levels - including college - need to teach kids "how to read" and "how to write."
"Techspeak," as Sundar and his research partner Drew P. Cingel call it, has become so routine and prevalent among young users that it's eroding their foundation of basic grammar. "Routine use of textual adaptations by current and future generations of 13–17-year-olds may serve to create the impression that this is normal and accepted use of the language and rob this age group of a fundamental understanding of standard English grammar," they said in their published findings. Basically, kids aren't able to "code switch" -- shift between standard grammar and the abbreviations used in text messages, Sundar said. Those abbreviations have essentially become the words for them. Adults not raised on text-friendly abbreviations in their formative years are able to shift between formal and informal language, Sundar said. Kids consuming a steady diet of "textual adaptations" aren't. "Results show broad support for a general negative relationship between the use of techspeak in text messages and scores on a grammar assessment," the study results read.
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