Is Text Messaging/chatrooms Slang Ruining Academic Writing

[Saint_Michael 3]

Thought I would bring this topic up after doing research for my paper and of course seeing several articles like this one

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

and their was an article that some girl won a text messaging contest and it mention she sent 8000 a month

http://www.wayodd.com/teen-girl-wins-25000contest/v/7054/ (article is close enough)

With the research I found out, some reports mention that students are not even aware that they use chatroom slang and text message shorts cuts. One story mention a girl filled out a job application and she didn't even notice she did it. From all this reading from these two articles and the stuff I found out I would say world wide that text messaging and chatrooms slang are ruining students effectiveness in academic writing. This is due to the fact that since students are so use to using short cuts when sending someone a message or talking in a chatroom it starts becoming harder and harder for them to properly write a research paper, essay, job application with out all their errors in spelling and even punctuation problems. Now this may not be the case for all and their was an argument that teachers are using blog for students to do their writing or become better, which is all good and dandy but when it comes to using acronyms an actual academic writing student won't realize it till after the teacher lets them know what was wrong with the paper.

My stance is that if students can't tell the difference between text/chat lingo and academic writing they should fail, this of course is after the fact they have been told this several times. But if it a serious problem then of course teachers and parents have to step in and cut out the middle man with concern to their writing in the academic world.

Now of course lets talk about the money issue now some phone services have free text messaging on a certain amount of messages while others are in the .99 range, lets do a little math here now if she were to pay 99 centa message her phone bill would be like almost $8,000 dollars, which is just insane for a 13 year old to spend. Of course it is obvious those are free because her parents would go insane knowing it cost them that much. But my question is why all those text messages when can easily dial the phone you have and talk to them like that? To me I think thats straight laziness right their no matter what angel you look at it. I only can imagine as she gets older she will have problems with her wrists and hands (carpal tunnel anyone?).

So what does everyone else think especially you text messaging freaks out there?

Edited May 12, 2007 by Saint_Michael (see edit history)

[Smack 0]

In my opinion chat room slang is not ruining academic writing. People know the difference between writing professionally and writing in a casual form. When the time calls to write professionally one should write professionally and use no slang.It all comes down to the person. Personally, I do not write "internet slang" much in any of my conversations on MSN, E-mail, on cell phones, etc. Shorthand writing has been around for a long time, the only reason people are making a big deal of it is because there are many people who do not like technology. People have been writing in "internet slang" or shorthand for years in manuscripts and personal letters.People are lazy and will write how they want to and they should accept getting 50's on papers and rejected from a job because they cannot tell the difference between a professional setting and a casual setting.

[Saint_Michael 3]

Well yeah that is true shorthand has been around a long time but how many reports make the mistake to make it a full sentence when they are trying to quickly writing what someone says down? Of course most people that shorthand know to make what they say complete based off a small note they made somewhere.But it's not just the people who hate technology, but in reality a majority of them are teachers whose students are doing this every time . I should have made that point a bit clearer in my first post, but like I mention before not everyone makes that mistake. I would say those who do this on a daily basis like 12 hours a day are the ones who are having the problem with academic writing and or writing in general. Whats funny though, from time to time when I am reading news on yahoo or in the paper I catch a few spelling mistakes.

[Smack 0]

Writing a report isn't like taking notes, I'm sure in taking notes when you are trying to quickly write what someone says down people use shorthand, I do and don't know anyone that doesn't. Notes are made for personal use, not to turn into the teacher.And if the teachers are having such a huge problem, why don't they just fail the students? Isn't it English class? I'm sure they have the right, nay, the obligation as a teacher to fail a student who cannot write properly in English while in a professional setting. Isn't the solution to this problem simple? Fail the students and the outcome is students will not write this way any more - right?

Edited April 26, 2007 by Smack (see edit history)

[QuickGreen 0]

Not too much for me personally, but I know a lot of people female "air-heads" in my classes that don't know how to spell anymore because they use "short-hand", such as "becoz" or "were" instead of "where". It's kind of scary to see all this happening, and you know those are the kids that are texting during class and on Myspace as soon as they get home too.So, I would agree it's affecting some of us, but not all of us.

[salamangkero 0]

It is true that some people's ways of writing are heavily influenced by modern technology. Nowadays, it is not too rare to see smileys on a research paper or even on an exam paper!

But my question is why all those text messages when can easily dial the phone you have and talk to them like that? To me I think thats straight laziness right their no matter what angle you look at it. I only can imagine as she gets older she will have problems with her wrists and hands (carpal tunnel anyone?).

Hmmn, this is a bit... ambivalent. I don't really think it's about laziness but more on the illusion of savings. After all, it takes more effort (and time) to key in anything of fairly considerable length than just actually talking to your target. Furthermore, text messaging lacks the context cues such as inflection, speed, pitch or even silences, thus is more prone to misinterpretation. So why do people insist on texting?

For one, for really short messages, like a quick notice or an imperial one-word command, it is just as fast as calling. However, one of the things it has going for it is the price. It is much, much cheaper to send one message that to relay that message in a phone call. Unfortunately, this, too, is text messaging's own pitfall.

See, while people do, most of the time, save a lot of money, not time, by sending text messages, misinterpretations, misunderstandings and misconceptions can cost just as much, or even more than a phone call. For example, two people with different vocabularies may interpret things differently. Requests for clarifications or asking "what do you mean..." provide the overhead in terms of price.

So, as we can see, text messaging is useful only to a certain degree. For things that are much more complex, like instruction sets, questions with lengthy answers or puns, it probably is much better to make a phone call. That is, of course, aside from this thing called carpal tunnel syndrome. (Ah, who am I kidding; my mouse seems intent on giving it to me)

So what does everyone else think especially you text messaging freaks out there?

Who u callng txt msg-ing frk?

[arnz 0]

Have to say maybe not, some classes in various schools are even teaching it now, but is not using it on a daily basis and is generally not recommended. Whether it's a good thing or not remains to be seen. I'd probably hate to see universities and so forth handing in papers based on SMS or even 1337 SP34K.

[dwayne12 0]

In my opinion people who say text messaging/chat room slang destroys peoples academic abilities and gives people the impression that slang is acceptable is wrong.I think this generation is smart enough regardless of how much slang and abbreviation is used to differentiate between using slang and proper English. Sure a lot of people use it in their daily lives mainly teenagers when talking to one other but most people not just teenagers who use it know that it's not an acceptable form of English.Firstly they don't teach slang in schools, slang is not educational unless the school is run by snoop dog then I'm sure that the school won't be teaching slang to the kids whoever mentioned it above in their post. As far as I am concerned this is just another excuse for the government to blame failed public education on. Although public education here in Australia isn't all that bad it's horrible in other country's.

[Robbie.Knox 0]

I don't think so. I mean it's hardly making people forget how to spell, and as long as they aren't show offs and write their exams in text speak then it's alright. All it is is shortening a word. As long as it's not a word that they don't know how to spell in proper English then it's ok, and that's unlikely as 99% of people who text on mobiles (i.e. above 11) can spell to an acceptable degree.

[Tetraca 0]

What ruins academic writing is the use of everyday slang, the kind of slang that can often get into the dictionaries and such. I am sort of concerned that our language will evolve into something like newspeak.

[biscuitrat 0]

What ruins academic writing is the use of everyday slang, the kind of slang that can often get into the dictionaries and such. I am sort of concerned that our language will evolve into something like newspeak.

I definitely agree. Slang absolutely pervades our languages and perverts it because people want to take the easy way out of a conversation. I voted "Yes" on accident, but I really meant "Not Really" because I know excellent writers who text frequently. I think that, since a cell phone and paper are different mediums, the two never really end up mixing. Most people who start writing truncated words on a piece of paper, unless they mean to, usually catch it before too long. It's not too bad.

[Saint_Michael 3]

Some interesting posts I have read about this particular topic, I would agree that some are able to separate the two forms of english and they are fine with it. But what I am getting at is when you hear articles about this particular subject I see it as more of a growing trend. YEAH!! I found an article that should make this topic more interesting now that I found it:

IntroductionWith the commercial advent of the Internet and cell phones in the late 1990's, technologies such as instant messaging (IM) and text messaging have achieved increasing prevalence in our society. These types of messaging technologies are widely used among adolescents today. To cite just one personal example of this widespread usage, my friend's daughter, who is now 11 and lives in Ireland, got a cell phone last year, and, according to my friend, "was the last person in her class to get one." This is quite an amazing change, given that ten years ago, instant messaging and text messaging were in their infancy, and cell phones were only readily available as tools for roadside assistance.

Given the newness of these types of technologies, it is only in the last few years that educators have started to notice them and explore their effects on student behavior and performance. While there is supporting evidence to suggest that these technologies have a large influence on the social development of adolescents, an even more pertinent issue for classroom teachers is what effects these technologies have on the academic development of young people. In this article, I examine how students' use of text messaging technology, specifically IM, affects their writing skills. How does IM use affect students' interest in traditional writing (as learned in school)? In what ways does IM usage affect students' writing ability? How does "IM-speak" change students' views of what is considered "proper" language? How can classroom teachers build on student use of this increasingly popular technology? In this paper I provide a discussion of the current issues and current teacher practices surrounding instant messaging as it relates to student writing.

What is Instant Messaging?
Instant messaging is a form of computer "chat" that allows one to have a real time, typed "conversation" with one or more "buddies" while connected to the Internet (Figure 1). It is an extremely fast-growing communications medium, especially among adolescents. According to a Pew report from 2001, "74% of online teens use instant messaging" (Lenhart, Rainie, & Lewis, 2001, p.3), and "69% of teen instant message users use IM at least several times a week" (p.3). Given this high rate of use, which has only been increasing since the Pew report was published, IM is clearly an extremely influential element in many young people's lives.

Figure 1

Academic Effects of Instant Messaging
While everyone recognizes that IM is widely used by adolescents and teens in the United States, there seem to be two distinct opinions of its effect on student academics. There are those who see the use of so-called "Internet English" as a breakdown of the English language according to a recent newspaper article, "Some teachers see the creeping abbreviations as part of a continuing assault of technology on formal written English" (Lee, 2002). Conversely, there are those who regard this same "Internet English" not only as an example of how language is constantly developing and changing, but also as a type of literacy in and of itself, which can be capitalized on to engage students in more traditional learning. As professor Barbara Bell believes, "anytime (students) are reading or writing, it's going to help" (Associated Press, 2003, p.1).

One concern about IM has to do with the "bastardization" of language. Several articles indicate that students who use messaging on a frequent basis often use bad grammar, poor punctuation, and improper abbreviations in academic writing. According to Lee (2002), "teachers say that papers are being written with shortened words, improper capitalization and punctuation, and characters like &, $ and @. " However, something that is not always considered is that these mistakes are often unintentional when students use IM frequently, they reach a saturation point where they no longer notice the IM lingo because they are so used to seeing it. Montana Hodgen, a 16-year old high school student in Montclair, New Jersey, "was so accustomed to instant-messaging abbreviations that she often read right past them" (Lee, 2002). As she puts it, "I was so used to reading what my friends wrote to me on Instant Messenger that I didn't even realize that there was something wrong," she said. She said her ability to separate formal and informal English declined the more she used instant messages" (Lee, 2002).

This was also a problem for Carl Sharp, whose 15-year old son's summer job application read "i want 2 b a counselor because i love 2 work with kids" (Friess, 2003), and English instructor Cindy Glover, who while teaching undergraduate freshman composition in 2002 "spent a lot of time unteaching Internet-speak. 'My students were trying to communicate fairly academic, scholarly thoughts, but some of them didn't seem to know it's "y-o-u," not "u"'" (Freiss, 2003.) These examples give credence to Montana Hodgen's point, that heavy IM use actually changes the way students read words on a page.

Other educators take IM usage as a more positive trend, and revel in how comfortable today's kids are with writing, and how much easier it is for them to get words on a page (or, more often, screen.) Barbara Bass, director of the Maryland Writing Project, points out "For a while, people were not writing anything. Now, people are actually seeing words on paper. And that's good" (Helderman, 2003.) In fact, according to another recent newspaper article, "Instant messaging and e-mail are creating a new generation of teenage writers, accustomed to translating their every thought and feeling into words. They write more than any generation has since the days when telephone calls were rare and the mailman rounded more than once a day" (Helderman, 2003).

Gloria Jacobs, in her research, has found that not only are students writing more than they have in years, but they are also revising and editing as well. As the aforementioned article cites her, "Jacobs said too many adults dismiss online writing because they assume kids jot off anything that pops into their heads. While that is sometimes true, she said, she also saw teenagers read over messages before sending them, editing to clear up mistakes or imprecision . . . Liz [Charlton, a 13-year old seventh grader]and her classmates said they will sometimes sit in front of a computer screen for up to 10 minutes, planning a sensitive message wording and rewording" (Helderman, 2003.)

Some educators even see the pervasiveness of the frequently-changing IM terminology as an opportunity to teach students about language evolution. Erika Karres, a teacher educator, "shows students how English has evolved since Shakespeare's time" (Lee, 2002,) using IM lingo as an example of today's speech.

It is clear from the points raised in this section that both 'sides' have valid concerns in this ongoing debate. To further address these issues, I will now turn to a more in-depth discussion of IM and its relationship to academic writing, including strategies implemented by actual classroom teachers.

Instant Messaging and Writing
One of the most interesting things about IM and other popular technologies (text messaging, video games, etc.) is that they are potentially learning tools. They can be harnessed by educators to help students learn school-related content, as is illustrated by teachers who "encourage students to use messaging shorthand to spark their thinking processes" (Lee, 2002.) Trisha Fogarty, a sixth grade teacher, states "When my children are writing first drafts, I don't care how they spell anything, as long as they are writing . . . If this lingo gets their thoughts and ideas onto paper quicker, the more power to them" (Lee, 2002). However, the same teacher indicates that "during editing and revising, she expects her students to switch to standard English" (Lee, 2002).

Other teachers have also started to capitalize on student interest in writing as "recreation" rather than "work." Robyn Jackson, a high school English teacher, has "organized an online chat room where some Gaithersburg High students meet once a week to discuss literature and writing. The students are allowed to use Internet-speak in the chat room that would never be allowed in formal writing, but the online conversations are vigorous and intelligent" (Helderman, 2003.) However, the teacher's job doesn't end there-- Jackson believes that part of her job as an educator is to help students to "switch off their informal habits when they leave the chat room" and that "this gives us a wonderful opportunity to speak to students about what language to use where" (Helderman, 2003.)

Jackson's point is the crux of the concern that educators have with IM and IM lingo. Students have trouble seeing the distinction between formal and informal writing, and consequently use informal IM abbreviations and lingo in more formal writing situations (Brown-Owens, Eason, & Lader, 2003, p.6.) However, this problem is not insurmountable. Students can be taught both to understand what constitutes correct language, and also to know when different types of language are appropriate to use. Educators sometimes believe that this level of judgment is something adolescents already have, but as Jackson points out, "I think we expect kids to get it instinctively, and they don't. It's something that has to be explicitly conveyed to children" (Helderman, 2003.)

Joylyn Hannahs, a ninth grade English teacher, told her students that "if they turned in papers written like instant messages, their grades would suffer" (Helderman, 2003.) Her threat worked. Students no longer make those same mistakes, indicating that students can learn the appropriateness of language in different situations. Robert Schrag, a communications professor, points out that "We have always implicitly taught our children different language structures and how they function in different arenas . . . We use (a different) language structure watching a basketball game than in our place of worship. Most children will understand the difference" (Friess, 2003.)

Some educators believe that this type of language misuse is the fault of the students. Obviously there are cases where this is true, as well as cases where it is not. However, regardless of the situation, teachers can work to ensure that students develop a sense of audience when writing. As Leila Christenberry, former president of the National Council of Teachers of English and a university English professor, asserts, "It's not that there's never a place for this sort of thing, but it's the difference between how you would dress to go out on Saturday night versus how you dress when you do yard work" (Friess, 2003.)

I believe that Brown-Owens, Eason, and Lader (2003) sum up the general debate on this issue very succinctly: "The dilemma, then, is how to help educators adapt literacy education to the reality that instant messaging is the dominant mode of written communication in the lives of many American teenagers" (p. 8.)

Conclusion
At this point in time, it is not possible to determine specifically the effects of instant messaging on formal writing. However, one clear conclusion is that IM is becoming an important literacy in kids' lives, and consequently one that needs to be recognized by teachers.

So how does this 'new literacy' impact classroom teaching? Probably the most important thing that teachers can do is to emphasize to students the concept of audience. Students need to understand the importance of using the appropriate language in the appropriate setting, and that who one is writing for affects the way in which one writes. For example, IM-speak is perfectly acceptable when instant messaging with someone; on the flip side it is completely unacceptable when writing a formal letter. The same thing is true of formal writing it is appropriate in an official document, such as a school paper, but would be inappropriate in-- for example-- an online chat room.

In addition to teaching about audience, teachers can also use IM to speak to their students. As cited in the previous section, teachers have done this with some impressive results. If students understand where and when it is appropriate to use certain types of language, then allowing them to use IM-speak can be beneficial in building student-teacher relationships, in enhancing students' comfort level in school settings, and in improving academic performance.

IM lingo is evidence of the evolution of language, and as Brown-Owens, Eason, and Lader (2003) point out, teachers need to realize that for better or for worse IM is widely used among many adolescents and is consequently a strong influence on student academic performance. For who knows? Given its roots in other languages, sometime soon we may even be teaching IM-speak as a legitimate form of language.

But what got me interested was these two paragraph's right here

One concern about IM has to do with the "bastardization" of language. Several articles indicate that students who use messaging on a frequent basis often use bad grammar, poor punctuation, and improper abbreviations in academic writing. According to Lee (2002), "teachers say that papers are being written with shortened words, improper capitalization and punctuation, and characters like &, $ and @. " However, something that is not always considered is that these mistakes are often unintentional when students use IM frequently, they reach a saturation point where they no longer notice the IM lingo because they are so used to seeing it. Montana Hodgen, a 16-year old high school student in Montclair, New Jersey, "was so accustomed to instant-messaging abbreviations that she often read right past them" (Lee, 2002). As she puts it, "I was so used to reading what my friends wrote to me on Instant Messenger that I didn't even realize that there was something wrong," she said. She said her ability to separate formal and informal English declined the more she used instant messages" (Lee, 2002).
This was also a problem for Carl Sharp, whose 15-year old son's summer job application read "i want 2 b a counselor because i love 2 work with kids" (Friess, 2003), and English instructor Cindy Glover, who while teaching undergraduate freshman composition in 2002 "spent a lot of time unteaching Internet-speak. 'My students were trying to communicate fairly academic, scholarly thoughts, but some of them didn't seem to know it's "y-o-u," not "u"'" (Freiss, 2003.) These examples give credence to Montana Hodgen's point, that heavy IM use actually changes the way students read words on a page.

Now for dwayne's post saying the opposite how could return the argument based on this article that it is not 100% but maybe 70-80% right? I don't think the government has anything to do with this situation, this is about the teacher's responsibility to the students to give them a proper education and it's student's responsibility to be able to tell the difference. I could go on to say children younger then 10 years old are starting the famous trend of text messaging and if they are like these two kids when they become their age it could become a problem for them. You have to remember a child's mind is still developing as they grow up and they tend to pick up bad habits along the way and so this could become a bad habit for them if they are not careful about it. But I will contend that some students can tell the difference as the article mentions about above how teachers break that habit and drill it into their school work to when and where it is appropriate.

[scan06disk 0]

Hehe well in a way u could say yes chat and sms and many short forms of writing can be blamed, but when a person is talking about academics and Marks and something relating to my knowledge and basic English structure it has to be perfect there should not be any substitute for it. All such academic reports or submissions must be marked down or A "0"ZERO, in order to promote people to learn proper English and use it accordingly. we all must be responsible "plp" and know where and when to use such language, its quite obvious that many who are learning English, think writing sms and chat phrases is fine so it has to be clearly outlined that this type of English is not evident in the real world. for example for your job CV "u" cant use this type of English you must use proper phrases, so its a Very good topic to touch upon Saint ! Many english learners please read this website Learn English Free !!!a very good site to start with.

cheers
Scan

[Dearster 0]

From my own experiences in exams i have before written the odd few words in slang or text talk although after reading back through my work these mistakes have been corrected.Exams always leave enough time for corrections and reading through as long as you plan your time correctly and this is a key aspect of exam technique.Through this experience i think that chat room slang/ text talk is not ruining academic writing. Students and other people in all aspects of business etc should know the difference between writing professionally in a formal way and writing in a casual form with friends over the internet etc. For me personally i think i can type quicker using proper english and no slang than i can using text talk and slang. Using msn and other instant messaging, chat rooms, mobiles i always use proper english and no slang. Therefore this can be easily interpretated and no mistakes are made when reading it.People who write in text lmessaging languages and other forms of shorthand are acceptable in such places as socialising with friends over the internet but should not be used in circumstances such as exams and other formal circumstances. There is one form of shorthand which i cannot stand, interpret and have no clue how the writer thinks this is a quciker and easier way of typing. This is leet where the person uses Numbers to replace certain letters such as 50PH13 instead of Sophie. I can't understand how this language is easier to use compared to typing normally. Although i feel it is a matter of image for some people who write it and these people wish to look "cool" over the internet.Patrick

[srujanlive 0]

Daily use of slang in everyday conversations would definitely ruin academic writing. But texting would not be the main responsible medium. It would be an adjunct. Children should be made to speak more often in class in order to improve their language and offset the effects of slang usage.