Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/7398
“Text writing, shortened words and acronyms are happening in their writing at school.” Duane Mendoza Hueneme Education Association not the same protocol for writing a term paper. Sometimes they’re being lazy, sometimes they are trying to get a point across, and sometimes they just forget.” Rosen believes that they are not poor they don’t have listening skills, compre- hend lectures or comprehend when someone is talking to them the way that students used to. They are somewhere else at times. As soon as the bell rings at the end of the day they are texting each other. They are even texting other kids 20 feet away. I ask them, ‘Can’t you walk over and talk to your friend?’ They say no, that’s the way kids communicate, and why should they walk 20 feet when they can stay put, get an instant answer and not interrupt their friend from doing something else.” Language morph Abbreviated words and texting lingo are creeping into schoolwork because students are thinking in text language and having a difficult time remembering real words, say teachers. “Text writing, shortened words and acronyms are happening in their writing at school,” says Duane Mendoza, a teach- er at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard. “The word ‘you’ becomes ‘u’ and ‘people’ becomes ‘ppl’ in their writing. We are trying to correct them on it and discuss appropriate writing styles for school situations. We remind them that what is okay for texting or e-mailing is TOP: Duane Mendoza, a teacher at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, works with student April Salas. RIGHT: Kelsey Laughner, a student at New Technology High School, with her cell phone — a given. FEBRUARY 2010 | www.cta.org 15 communicators; they just engage in it differently. “How can people say they are not communicators when they commu- nicate more than any other generation by constantly texting, Facebooking, and communicating in other ways with each other?” he asks. “They may be sitting be- hind a screen, but they are socializing more than if they went outside to play. Behind a screen they can be more anony- mous, but they can also open up and be more honest and less shy.” Rosen, author of Me, MySpace, and I: Parenting the Net Generation, argues that texting and social networking have not ruined this generation as writers and, in fact, have enhanced their writing style somewhat. “They write worse formal letters, but studies show their essays are more ex- pressive,” he says. “That’s because they are used to communicating about their feelings. A lot of what they do online is communicate about feelings.” Whether or not there are long-term ef- fects from social networking as the predom- inant form of communication remains to be seen. Scientists say that it’s hard to know for sure, because they have lost the “control group” to use as a comparison. In this day and age it’s nearly impossible to find kids who are not texting. “My dad took away texting. It’s hard, but I’ll live.” –Maria Zuart, junior high ❙