Posted on 09/24/2009 11:03:28 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Calgary, Alberta (AHN) - 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."
;-)
wut?
PWND.
however,
socialism does.
Who provided the research grant money?
Translation: Your mastery of English will improve if you don't use English and instead use a fake language with no rules of grammar at all.
This whole study is total crap.
Mos prolly da gubmint.
k I c. U b right.
This is from allowing calculators to be used in schools at an early age. The same thing will be seen in children in a few years as they start texting at 6 years old, it will affect their spelling, IMO.
wat abt ur bff jill?
Isn’t that what they said about phonics? Just axing!
Why did the writer of this article keep misspelling “ROFL”? :-)
Considering how short texting has really been around, this study is meaningless. What is their spelling like 5 years from now?
Actually, some people don’t have the natural ability to spell.
My daughter has auditory processing problems, and has difficulty hearing the different sounds in words. The public school did not teach her how to spell. We pulled her out of public and put her in a multi-sensory reading program for dyslexia, and she can spell okay now.
She still can’t sound out some words. She does not text. When she does send out e-mails, it is always perfectly written. Texting doesn’t follow the rules for spelling. It’s more of a spelling based on sound. Texting is much harder for her.
On a side note, my son did not start using a calculator until honors Algebra II. He had to use the graphing calculator in that class. They had assignments just on how to use the calculator.
When he was 7, he went to a garage sell with my mom, and bought a few things. While the women working at the garage sell were typing the amounts into a calculator, my son figured out the correct amount of change in his head. My mom was very proud of him!
I am delighted to know that the young lady who ran me onto the shoulder of the interstate the other morning while texting is not damaging her ability to spell. If you are the young lady in the Chevy Aveo with Oklahoma tags, let me apologize if you are able to read lips. For future reference, let me remind you that texting and drinking a coffee while running 70 MPH in morning traffic does not make you the World’s Best Multi-Tasker. It makes you an idiot. In the future, I will not apologize for my comments, and I will probably resort to sign language so you fully understand my irritation. I do hope you didn’t spill your coffee or latte or whatever on your lovely yellow blouse. I did however, have to stop by the mechanic to have my seat removed from between my butt cheeks. Good fortune prevailed as there was no permanent damage to the seat or either cheek. I do hope you have learned a valuable lesson, so my butt did not pucker in vain. Although it is nothing special, I am quite fond of my butt and find it most useful. I have lost it several times, and it was not an enjoyable experience. If it will stop you from your reckless behavior, then I will strike up the pain in my butt as a public service. I am sure this was an isolated incident, and you are a lovely person. Just Please don’t scare me and piss me off again on a Monday morning. Our encounter was somewhat informative - I was unaware an Aveo could run 70 MPH uphill. Have a nice day!-—Jubal
Coz it suxt B4
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