“And so it is rather bizarre that the first widespread change in how people spell English words appears to have come from a group of (largely) young people sending text messages to one another with cellular phones and other electronic devices.” (Shea 2010)
Response:
I was rather surprised by the above quote. Up until I read this, I never considered the idea that texting was the first widespread change in how people spell English words. I was always under the impression that other major changes in spelling had already occurred. For example, English spelling that was used in the time of William Shakespeare or the 1700’s are not frequently used today. In my opinion, I see that as a “widespread change” in the spelling of English words. Yes, texting has made an impact but when it comes down to it, most of the abbreviations have already been around. The article states that “virtually all the commonly used ones can be found in English a century ago.” (Shea 2010) On the other hand, I can see how it has been making a change. For example, in my high school English class, I listened to enough lectures about the importance of using proper English in our papers instead of texting abbreviations. Since she had to repeat that lecture numerous times, apparently that was becoming quite the problem. Seeing as I helped proofread many of my classmate's work, I agree with her. Using abbreviations such as "ur" or "btwn" in a paper isn't the best idea, no matter how long they have been around. I believe that if students don’t understand the proper time to use the “texting lingo”, then that is when a problem occurs. Reference:
VOALearningEnglish. (2010, February 22). Students' Writing and the Web: Motivator or OMG?. Retrieved on 2 February 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cs85s4w2U0
I agree with you that a growing larger portion of students don't know the proper time to use "texting lingo." And what's worse is that I personally know a number of children who see nothing wrong with the way they spell. There's a time and place for everything!
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