Yet Another Study Shows Txting Improves Kids' Spelling
from the ok,-are-we-done-yet? dept
While it still seems like the common belief is that "txt spk" and other sorts of abbreviated elements of the English language harm kids' ability to write properly, we've seen study after study after study after study after study after study has found exactly the opposite. They've found that most kids can tell the difference, and do understand what's proper and what's not. On top of that, heavy texters tend to be better spellers, because they're much more used to writing -- even if they tend to abbreviate the language when communicating via technology.So it almost seems superfluous to mention that yet another one of these studies has come out and it, too, has found that those who regularly use txt spk have very strong literacy skills. But what's annoying is that both the researchers and the BBC act as if this was a "surprise." It's as if no one bothered to check to see if similar research had been done before, and found the many, many, many studies all saying the same exact thing.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: kids, spelling, students, studies, texting, txt speak
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Credit where credit's due
[ link to this | view in thread ]
I text loads
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: I text loads
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: I text loads
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: I text loads
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Technology may actually help kids?
na-na-na I CAN'T HEAR YOU!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Manipulated results
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Manipulated results
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Manipulated results
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Empirical results say otherwise
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Then again, neither group for the most part has mastered grammar, paragraphs, punctuation, sentence structure, parts of speech, etc. Doubt me? Try reading papers submitted by students in even so-called "advanced placement" courses.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Similar in MMORPG's?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: I text loads
And now I'm laughing too hard to keep going, sorry.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Empirical results say otherwise
You immediately assume that text-speak is the source of the problem, without even bothering to consider your students' writing skills in general. Unless you can bring out some examples of their work showing a degradation into chatroom abbreviations, you're simply guessing at the solution before you've even identified the problem.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]