Gaby Gomez's List: Misinformation Debate

• The use of “textisms” can improve literacy among pupils by giving them extra   exposure to word composition outside the school day, it was claimed.
• The research, to be published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning   next month, found evidence of a “significant contribution of textism use to   the children’s spelling development during the study”.
• This study, which took account of individual differences in IQ, found higher   results in test scores recorded by children using mobile phones after 10   weeks compared with the start of the study.
• According to the report, the association between spelling and text messaging   may be explained by the “highly phonetic nature” of the abbreviations used   by children and the alphabetic awareness required for successfully decoding   the words.
• “It is also possible that textism use adds value because of the indirect way   in which mobile phone use may be increasing children’s exposure to print   outside of school,” said the report, funded by Becta, the Government’s   education technology agency.
• Prof Clare Wood, senior lecturer in the university’s psychology department,   said: “We are now starting to see consistent evidence that children’s use of   text message abbreviations has a positive impact on their spelling skills.

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• A study of eight- to 12-year-olds found that rather than damaging reading and writing, "text speak" is associated with strong literacy skills.
• The research, part-funded by the British Academy, suggests that texting requires the same "phonological awareness" needed to learn correct spellings.
• when pupils replace or remove sounds, letters or syllables - such as "l8r" for "later" or "hmwrk" for "homework" - it requires an understanding of what the original word should be.
• Using initials and abbreviations and understanding phonetics and rhymes are part of texting - but they are also part of successful reading and spelling development, they say.
• This is an interim report, based on a year-long study of 63 pupils in England, with the final report expected next year, but so far researchers have not found a negative association between using text abbreviations and literacy skills

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• Gloria Jacobs, in her research, has found that not only are students writing more than they have in years, but they are also revising and editing as well.
• she said, she also saw teenagers read over messages before sending them, editing to clear up mistakes or imprecision . . . Liz [Charlton, a 13-year old seventh grader] and her classmates said they will sometimes sit in front of a computer screen for up to 10 minutes, planning a sensitive message – wording and rewording" (Helderman, 2003.)

• the teacher's job doesn't end there-- Jackson believes that part of her job as an educator is to help students to "switch off their informal habits when they leave the chat room" and that "this gives us a wonderful opportunity to speak to students about what language to use where" (Helderman, 2003.)
• Joylyn Hannahs, a ninth grade English teacher, told her students that "if they turned in papers written like instant messages, their grades would suffer" (Helderman, 2003.)
• Students no longer make those same mistakes, indicating that students can learn the appropriateness of language in different situations.
• Robert Schrag, a communications professor, points out that "We have always implicitly taught our children different language structures and how they function in different arenas . . .
• Students need to understand the importance of using the appropriate language in the appropriate setting, and that who one is writing for affects the way in which one writes.
• If students understand where and when it is appropriate to use certain types of language, then allowing them to use IM-speak can be beneficial in building student-teacher relationships, in enhancing students' comfort level in school settings, and in improving academic performance.

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