Cn you rd ths?
IDK. BRB. LOL!
All of these acronyms are “text talk” and what one might see or hear today coming from teenagers. For example BRB is “be right back” and LOL is “laugh out loud.”
“I text about 100 times a day” Brittany McDonall, Saint Martin De Porres High School, said. She also stated how she has used “text talk” in her class work, and a couple of points were taken off her grade for it.
According to Etan Horowitz of the RIS Media Web site, 64 percent of youngsters ages 12-17 have used emoticons, text shortcuts and informal language in school assignments, a survey found. Seven hundred teens and their parents were surveyed to find out what effects IMing and texting have on writing in school and out of school, according to researchers.
Teens who blog or text a lot have a better chance of using text shortcuts in school Horowitz said.
Jan Leach, assistant professor who teaches ethics and copyediting at Kent State University, has found students use text talk in their e-mails and maybe one or two papers she has received.
According to Leach, she doesn’t give students who have written “text talk” in their papers another chance to do their paper over unless they are freshmen in the first week of school. She explains this in her syllabi for classes, which state that she will not grade papers with “text talk” in them. Her daughter made one part of the syllabi in text talk for her to get her point across. It says, “I dnt xept txt talk n email.”
“Students have to get the grammar right in journalism school, or they won’t be successful in media,” Leach said.
Leach sends text messages to her daughter, friends and graduate assistants because they are used to communicating that way. She writes her text messages are in proper English. In one month her average number of text messages is about 50 or 60, compared to McDonall’s 100 times a day.
Students are sending e-mail with “text talk” to their teachers. Leach is a teacher who doesn’t even accept “text talk” in e-mails. E-mails are different from text messaging and a way to show is to start understanding that they both have different audiences, Leach said.
Karen Kastner, assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University, said reading would help separate text writing and the correct way of writing in class. In Kastner’s class, if “text talk” is in the assignment, the student won’t receive higher than a “D.”
“If students got used to using incorrect punctuation and capital letters, it would affect their grades,” Kastner said. When the students use “text talk” and get a “D,” it’s to let students know it’s not ok to write like that.
“Writing is more formal than speaking,” Kastner said.
MORE INFO:
These are examples of what two Kent State University professors have on their syllabi about how ‘text talk” isn’t acceptable in their classes or e-mails.
Jan Leach, i dnt xcept txt tlk n email
Karen Kastner, you cannot receive a grade higher than a “D” for assignments that contains either spelling errors or Internet abbreviations.
