Published in News

Texting could improve language skills

by on26 February 2009


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Teens can't get any more illiterate anyway


Boffins
from Coventry University claim texting could have a positive effect on the way kids interact with language.

Their recently published study found that so-called "textisims" could, in fact, have a positive impact on reading development. The study focused on 88 children aged between 10 and 12, who were given 10 different scenarios and tasked with writing about them using text messages.

Their literary masterpieces were then taken apart, and textisms were split into categories, such as shortenings, contractions, acronyms, non-conventional spellings, and analyzed.

Dr Beverley Plester, the lead author of the report, said most media reports about illiterate teens were based on selected anecdotes, and the study failed to find many examples of text speak. Furthermore, it found no evidence of a detrimental effect of text speak on conventional spelling.

"What we think of as misspellings, don't really break the rules of language and children have a sophisticated understanding of the appropriate use of words," she said.

We believe the cunning little snowflakes cheated, and successfully hid the extent of their texting related illiteracy from researchers.

More here.
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