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http://thescholarship.ecu.edu/handle/10342/4582

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1 Teen literacy is affected by phrasing in text messages

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1 Teen literacy is affected by phrasing in text messages

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2 Auto correct affects teen writing in a negative way.

3 Talking is often affected by phrasing in text messaging

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UAB experts give advice on how youngsters can properly use technology when writing the old-fashioned way.

English teacher Carrie Beth Buchanan sees the effects of students' growing up in an age when communication is done in an abbreviated text language and where they depend on autocorrect to automatically solve the "i before e" literary dilemma.

"In my classroom, I can already see the negative effects," said the English Department chair at Clay-Chalkville High School and a participant in the UAB For Teachers By Teachers grant program. "Many high school students have become dependent on electronic spell-checkers. As a result, I spend a significant amount of time circling misspelled words on assignments."

This begs the question: Could text language and autocorrect technologies have an effect on writing skills? UAB experts offer thoughts and tips.

Embrace the change: "New technologies will, as they always have, influence how we gain and use knowledge," said Cynthia Ryan, Ph.D., associate professor of English. "This kind of shift can be frightening to those of us who learned to use language through a different approach, or who value some aspects of English that are currently being dismissed as less important. The fact is that what constitutes literacy changes over time."

"For any of us to be effective communicators, we have to be able to adhere to conventions that others share," Ryan said.

It is not bad, just different - but be careful: Texting is just another genre of writing, says Tonya Perry, Ph.D., assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in the UAB School of Education. It is up to the parents and teachers to remind youngsters when and when not to use it.

"Basically, how students write should fit the audience and occasion for which they are writing," Perry said. "When students text, they're writing in a particular genre and for an informal audience. Texting as a genre has space considerations and expectations, which warrant using abbreviations for phrases such as LOL, symbols like 2 for two, and just as few characters as possible. On the other hand, when students submit a final paper, they have written, revised and edited in another genre and for a more formal audience. In this case, of course, we'd expect the words to be complete and correctly spelled."

Pick up a pen and paper: Buchanan gets research papers from her students that are riddled with misspellings or written in an abbreviated language. She says that parents need to emphasize the importance of correct spelling by having students complete paper and pen classwork and homework assignments that prevent students from using autocorrect.

Depending solely on that technology can be tempting; but for the sake of becoming better writers and spellers, she says, students should be required to revise any errors so they can learn from mistakes.

Talk it out and find the fun: "I think parents should always aim to keep the conversation about language going with their children, making sure they understand the meanings of words in context and the importance of using precise language to express themselves," Ryan said.

"Kids might begin to see language as 100 percent formulaic, and that takes a lot of the fun and purpose out of the writing process," she said. "As long as kids are writing in context, meaning that they are aiming to communicate with a specific audience for a particular purpose, they are learning; and learning is always a good thing."

Technology will not replace good, old-fashioned writing: "I tell students never to depend wholly on an available program or other technology to be the final word on their selection of words and phrasing," Ryan said. "Context is key, and neither autocorrect, a thesaurus nor any other kind of resource can be counted on to do the work for the writer.

"What we write matters because it's based on our individual thoughts and ways of shaping these thoughts through language. A computer program or other external device can't do the real work of writing for us."

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department of curriculum and instruction

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News - Could texting and autocorrect affect kids' writing skills?

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UAB experts give advice on how youngsters can properly use technology when writing the old-fashioned way. English teacher Carrie Beth Buchanan sees the effects of students' growing up in an age when communication is done in an abbreviated text language and where they depend on autocorrect to automatically solve the "i before e" literary dilemma.

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how does texting affect teen literacy at school

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how does texting affect teen literacy at school

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The advent of cellular phones has undoubtedly revolutionized the communication process to a large extent, adding to that the burgeoning social media sites also changed the way one used to communicate. With the introduction of text messaging feature, conversation over text messages become popular among a large number of people.

However, it has greatly influenced kids and teenagers who viewed the new add-on as "cool" and became obsessed with it. In over a decade, teenagers using cell phones and other gadgets such as tablets and laptops have surged manifold.

It has also been found that children and teenagers prefer texting to talking over their cellular devices. Adolescents like to speak with their parents over the phone, whereas they love to text to their friends. While texting, the teenagers don't care to focus on the basic spellings and grammar and even sometimes misspell some words deliberately to appear "cool".

But this can cause a great harm to their education as some teenagers tend to write the same way they text messages. They cannot help it because after texting messages for a long period of time day in day out, the writing style is stored in their brain permanently and they commit the mistakes without their knowledge.

Many people are against texting as they believe that excessive texting weakens the mental ability of teenagers by making them commit mistakes in spellings and grammar.

Also the latest fad of using abbreviations and short forms in text messaging such as LOL ( laughing out loud), ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing), TY (thank you), TC (take care), etc. It has been found out that the students who regularly use abbreviations and short forms while texting are bad spellers and perform below average in grammar tests.

The text style of writing has also been found to crop up in teenager students' assignments and tests. The short-hand writing style used by teenagers in their text messages has badly impacted their literacy. Apart from the short style of writing, the large number of problems found in punctuations, spellings, grammar, and language have impacted the literacy of the teenage students.

Apart from affecting students' literacy, the problems associated with excessive text messaging also have a negative impact on teachers as they have to rate the assignments and tests which at times are found to be written in text messaging style.

A 2015 report released by Internet and American Life Project, a unit of Pew Research Center, stated that an average American teenage student sends nearly 50 text messages on a daily basis. Statistically, the maximum number of sent text messages is sent by teenagers compared with the people of all age groups.

The report also found out that 75% of American teenagers own mobile phones in 2015, whereas just 45% American teenagers owned mobile phones in 2004. Fifty-four percent of the total American teenagers who have their own mobile phones text each day.

A survey found out that while teenagers make no more than 203 calls from their cell phones in a month on an average, they text nearly 2272 times during the corresponding period.

The same survey cited that about 31% of the teens surveyed send more than 100 text messages daily, 16% of the teens send 51 to 100 text messages, 28% of the teens send 11 to 50 text messages, 22% of the teens send 1 to 10 text messages, while only 3% send no text messages at all.

A separate research conducted by an independent firm found that an American teenager sends nearly 1800 text each month on an average and it stated that the number is expected to be much more now.
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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The advent of cellular phones has undoubtedly revolutionized the communication process to a large extent, adding to that the burgeoning social media sites also changed the way one used to communicate. With the introduction of text messaging feature, conversation over text messages become popular among a large number of people.