Tags : edumacation, everybody panic, spelling, texting, u r stupid, won't someone think of the children?
Study: Texting Does Not Affect Children’s Ability To Spell
University of Alberta Psychology professor Connie Varnhagen allayed fears of parents and educators that texting language may negatively affect the ability of students to spell.
The proof is a comparison made by Varnhagen and her team of short messaging conversation among 40 Canadian students aged 12 to 17 and a spelling test. The study showed that good spellers maintained their spelling ability, whether they write words in a quiz or on their mobile phone in an abbreviated manner.
However, those who were poor spellers also made text message errors despite the shortened form. Varnhagen cited the phrase “rolling on the floor laughing” normally spelled as “rotfl” in text messages. Good spellers would write it as “rotfl” when they send SMS, while poor spellers would misspell it in various ways like “ratfl.”
Another interesting finding of the study is that girls used chatspeak more often, while boys utilize capital letters and punctuation marks to stress a point.
While doing the study, some of the younger researchers admitted they have to consult online texting dictionaries to fully understand or decipher the kids’ messages.
With this reassuring finding, Varnhagen stressed the value of accepting new languages in an educational content. She said in a statement, “If you want students to think very precisely and concisely and be able to express themselves, it might be interesting to have them create instant messages with ideas, maybe allow them opportunities to use more of this new dialect in brief reports or fun activities. Using a new type of language does require concentration and translating it to standard English does require concentration and attention. It’s a little brain workout.”
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