Socratic Monologue
Of course, the fears are largely unfounded. Here’s the story: CBC News: Text messaging among teens raises illiteracy fears
The article does point out (down towards the bottom, where not every reader will see it:
In Europe, where teens have been texting for years, researchers report that claims that texting leads to illiteracy are unfounded.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that having teens communicate by typed text should actually increase their literacy. I am defining literacy as the ability to communicate effectively in a particular medium. If teens are becoming better at communicating through text messaging, would that have a positive effect on literacy in other mediums, such as the standard written essay (which may not be the best measure of literacy in the global sense).
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I did a presentation recently to Faculty … and one of the slides was of my Dad’s first email message, and an email he sent 1 year later. My dad, a Greek immigrant, was basically illiterate when he left from Greece, and of course, being in the restaurant business … he didn’t need to be well versed with Shakespearean sonnets.
Anyways … I showed the two samples with the obvious and marked improvement, and one of the attendants said she couldn’t believe that Internet and email use could possibly improve literacy, and that my example was an extremely rare case. She noted the way teens communicated (l33t speak) as proof.
WELL, sure … if we measure by OUR standards (i.e., digital immigrant standards). I imagine that if we tested teens on how well they use THEIR language, we may find it surprising.
texting raises litteracy rates because i text message and im on a daily basis and im in 7th grade i score 12 out of 12 on my essays and have an above reading level than most of the students in my class who do not text or instant message alot and i have typed faster since i started instant messaging i can’t explain what might help the reading and writing skills of people who use texting but it does help it raised my reading level from below average to above average and at the top of my classes texting is a great way to improve reading and writing skills