If you’re worried that your students or children are eroding their vocabulary due to texting, you may want to sit down. Thanks to a new study in New Media & Society, it appears that students who text on a frequent basis perform worse on grammar tests.
The study examined sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in Pennsylvania. S. Shyam Sundar, who supervised the study, says the reason students perform worse on grammar tests is because texting is not actually a different language. It therefore works its way into the classroom, homework, and all facets of language.
In other words, texting too much can cause students to think this shorthand is a proper way to write.
At this rate, it wouldn’t surprise me that grammar continues to worsen as attention spans decrease, Twitter makes everyone talk in 140-character snippets, and texting keeps students unable to master grammar.
So how do teachers combat this? Sundar recommends giving students writing assignments that require longer form answers, formal language, and actively require students to shy away from shorter answers.
In my opinion, texting has a place in the classroom. There are polling tools, classroom apps, and short-form writing assignments that can play a great role in classrooms. However, let’s not forget the message of this study: texting happens outside the classroom all day long so let’s not rush to embrace it for all in-classroom work too.
This study falls directly in line with my education technology philosophy: technology has its place in the classroom. It’s not meant to replace teachers or anything dramatic like that. Just a great companion to any lesson that lets students have a learning experience like no one else before them.
Be sure to also check out Education Week’s review of the study here.
Interesting article…and yet I found a very common grammatical error in your writing. Check the second sentence in the sixth paragraph, which states that “There’s polling tools, classroom apps…” Last I checked, your list is plural, and yet you used the contraction for “there is,” not “there are.” That’s becoming really common in spoken English; however I think I’m justified in wanting a higher standard in written language, especially in a piece written about education. Maybe you’ve been texting too often…?
You are probably right Jeremy. I intentionally use a very casual tone on Edudemic as I want the writing and stories to feel like they’re written by a friend e-mailing you. But, will fix up the error you mentioned. Sorry about that!
I wonder if that’s a regionalism. I’m 70 years old and haven’t lived in Chicago for 58 years and despite my career as an ESL teacher “there’s” with a plural subject slips out when I’m speaking.
Interesting point Kathryn! I guess in the world of connecting to everyone on the planet, language in general is getting mixed together like never before. However, texting is certainly not helping
Jeff,
Were you trying to mimic the teens who write in sentence fragments in your last paragraph? That last
“sentence” is a bit rough.
A lot of people knew this before an official study was undertaken. The question is, how do we teach students traditional informal English or formal English without alienating them?
I like your solution. Text messaging and chat language is here to stay, but we can still require standardized English and grammar skills in our classrooms. Students need to learn when it is appropriate to use each. (Jeff, social media is playing havoc with my writing and proofreading skills. I’m able to write as fast as I talk and it is a dangerous situation. I am sometimes horrified by what I go back and read!)
Teaching students informal or formal traditional English is what you’ve done all along. Add texting to the mix of what is place appropriate. Children understand the concept of code switching, even if they don’t use the term. They know they speak one way with their friends, another with their parents, another with grandparents, and so on. Txting is another layer, and can be a challenging habit to break, but then so are common errors like loose/lose, their/there, and so on. It doesn’t have to be about alienating your students if it’s clear why they need to switch. For many, breaking it down to power and money makes sense: what form do you use for power (communication)?