Some see it as a sign that young people are interested in the written word and simply need to be encouraged to expand their endeavors into more serious topics.
"I think it’s quite exciting to see so much writing going on in any form," said Richard Sterling, chairman of the advisory board of the National Commission on Writing. "It leads people to other parts of the spectrum."
Others say the tech-flavored style – heavy on horrid punctuation and shortcuts such as "LOL," for laugh out loud — encourages bad habits while contributing nothing to improved writing skills.
To think otherwise would be the same as suggesting that 18th Century telegraph operators were improving their own writing skills, said Michael Bugeja, director of Iowa State University’s Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.
"I don’t even want to hear such nonsense," Bugeja said.
As someone who has taught English to teens for the past nine years, I find I agree with those who don't see text messaging and instant messaging as the death of all writing. At first, when I began to see the LOLs and TTYL in messages from students, I nearly panicked about the possibility for erosion of writing skills, but that is not taking place. I liken it to people who learn to write or speak in more than one language. I see few students who try to insert text messaging language into formal papers or formal language into text messaging.
There are always negative people who see each development in our culture as the end of mankind.
Let me know what you think.
No comments:
Post a Comment