"Texting
is good for the English language" - David Crystal
RATIONALE
I have chosen to write a newspaper editorial in order to target as many
audience as possible. Also because it will allow me to convey
all my learning outcomes in the best manner possible. Since I will be able to
argue and state my opinion, and that would be most efficient if it is to be
written as a newspaper article. The
editorial will be written by me, where i am to argue on the behalf of every
student or teenager that feels misunderstood. My editorial will be
targeting parents and teachers that disapprove of the excessive usage of
texting, leading to my goal which is stating this generation's opinion, in
addition to persuading teachers and parents. The purpose will be to argue
against the ideologies of how texting does not necessarily have to have a
negative effect on language. The article be implying the various advantages
that texting has to offer on the behalf
of language. While at the same time
debating and denying the misconceptions on how useless technology can be. The
article will be set in the mean time, where various cultures are not fully
aware of how important texting is. The piece of writing will be debating
against the social perspectives against texting, which are stating and believing that it
affects language.
Technology
over the many years, has included modifications and upgrades of tools used by
humans. Everything around us has its own advantages and disadvantages,
technology can be used to favor a certain community, whereas is can also
generate devastating events that occur worldwide. Texting is the form of
sending messages electronically, exchanging conversations and transferring
ideas between two or more people at a time. Texting like anything else has
advantages and disadvantage. Advantages can include a student asking about
school work, people giving advices and may as well embrace business reasons. On
the other hand the disadvantages are severely damaging when used incorrectly,
which consists of bullying harassment and persecution.
Texting,
which is considered to be the most efficient way of communication between
teenagers, is being presumed as a scapegoat for having a harshly negative
effect on an individual's language. "Texting is good for the English language"
states the theory of David Crystal, a British linguist, on texting. You usually
take notice of teachers or grownups assuming that texting influences the
language used by the uprising generation consisting of students and teenagers.
Arguments
that are universally enhanced then enforced by teachers:
·
"Texting is done by kids only"
·
"Kids fill their messages with
abbreviations (leading to entirely abbreviated conversations)"
·
"The abbreviations are invented by
the kids"
·
"Kids don't know how to spell
anymore due to these abbreviations"
·
"Students start suing these
abbreviations in their essays, resulting in rearing a generation of kids who
are going to be partially illiterate"
In
reality the above statements are not entirely accurate, seeing that the
statements were frequently abducted by teachers. David Crystal suggested
reasons to prove that they are nothing but myths, through presenting ways by
which texting has enriched the English language.
·
Only 10 percent of the words used are abbreviated,
which means that the other 90 percent includes words that are written in
standard spelled English, therefore kids are not misspelling most of the time.
·
Kids did not come up with "abbreviations".
Looking back to 100 years ago, people used "C" for see, "U"
for you and "l8r" for later. These abbreviations were used a long
time before texting started to spread.
·
People think it's cool to leave some
letters out, which means that they knew that the letters were there in the
first place.
"The more
you text, the better your literacy scores" Crystal added, "The earlier you get your mobile phone, the
better your literacy scores". The best way to improve language is by
reading and writing using that language. As I have mentioned before, texting is
the form of sending messages and receiving them (conversations). As texting is
being carried out by teenagers, it is highly likely for them to be improving
their own language, by reading and writing the texts. The aim is to make students read and write plenty of
language pieces in order to improve their language, texting is the solution as
it motivates them into doing so. "The
more you read, the more you write, the better" David Crystal
concluded.
According to a study done by California State
University, texting can improve the writing skills of students in writing
assessments or even informal essays. Open-minded teachers say that it is
reasonable to incorporate the language of texting, in informal essays that
students conduct.
If a student stores a form of hatred towards reading
and writing, then he might as well pay no attention to a wide range of tasks
that require him using his reading and writing skills; resulting in getting bad
grades and subsequently hating the study of language. However when it comes to
texting, the student might gain knowledge and feel motivated towards writing.
throughout this incident, teenagers will start to "overcome their awkwardness and develop their social communication
skills".[[1]]
Crystal conveys and promotes a study that concludes
the idea of texting being a tool to help improve "the ability to summarize and express oneself concisely" in
writing or formulating a piece of work. Moreover, David explains how . Moreover,
David formulates his ideas that texting helps improve an people's diplomatic
skills, that is due to the fact that a person can have additional time to
formulate and express his own feelings, ideas and thought more carefully.[[2]]
A foreign teacher specified in language at St.
Mary's Ryken High School in Leonardtown, Terry Wood explain how she notices a
vivid decline in her students' work, blaming it on texting and social websites.
"They do
not capitalize words or use punctuation anymore," She informed,
adding, "Even in E-mails to teachers
or [on] writing assignments, any word longer than one syllable is now
abbreviated to one."[[3]]
In fact the entire idea of texting does not involve inquisitive actions that
would cause a negative effect on language.
Texting is a form of writing and that is a fact. Any
form of writing is good for language, meaning that texting cannot be considered
to be harsh as teachers and grown-ups think it is. However if students get
attached to texting, they would start enjoying it, subsequently leading them to
get attached to writing in general. That can result in the students enjoying to
write formal pieces of work, as Derek
Anderson, who is known for being a composition and literature teacher,
explains, “Any writing is good writing,
as long as you get your point across”. [[4]]
To
sum up this editorial, I would hope if it would be read by the majority of
grown-ups or teachers who come across and believe in such misconceptions. Also
for students who feel as if they are being misunderstood, just always know and
be sure that it is not you or this generation, it is the "old-school"
teachers who think otherwise.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Crystal,
David. “Texting.” ELT Journal 62.1 (2008): 77–83. Wilson Web. 8 Nov. 2009.
Crystal,
David. Txtng: The Gr8 Db8. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.
US
News. U.S News & World Report, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
Walsh,
James. “Txt Msgs Creep in2 class; Some Say That’s gr8.” Star Tribune 23 Oct.
2007: n. pag. Academic.
Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 27
Oct. 2009.
[1] Crystal,
David. Txtng: The Gr8 Db8. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.
[2] Crystal,
David. “Texting.” ELT Journal 62.1 (2008): 77–83. Wilson Web. 8 Nov. 2009.
[3] US
News. U.S News & World Report, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
[4] Walsh, James.
“Txt Msgs Creep in2 class; Some Say That’s gr8.” Star Tribune 23 Oct. 2007: n.
pag. Academic
Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 27 Oct. 2009.
