Cellphones have become an integral part of life. They are convenient and efficient and bring the world to the users’ fingertips.
That also means their users are getting younger and younger — and some educators are concerned about how they affect students’ communication and study skills.
The heavy use of cellphones and text messaging has sparked a new lingo and way of speaking. “Lol,” “jk,” “l8r,” “whatev” and “yolo” have become popular phrases. And these abbreviated words and acronyms are not just being used in text messaging but are being carried over into verbal communication.
Claude Wilkinson, an English professor at Mississippi Valley State University, says he often receives emails from students that are closer to text messages than letters.
“The students are not able to distinguish the types of writing they are supposed to be doing, because they do so much of the other and so little of the academic writing,” Wilkinson said. “It creates problems, because nobody is checking grammatical constructions when they write text messages.
“Some people can weave between the worlds of text messaging and real writing, but most people nowadays can’t,” said Wilkinson. “There is this quest for immediate gratification. The thinking is if I can’t get it in a hurry, then I don’t want it or it’s not valuable to me.”
Misspellings are becoming more frequent. Children now rely on features such as spell check and AutoCorrect for writing. In addition, little attention is being paid to the content of a message, but rather how quickly it is sent and received. This is turning most forms of communication into informal messages.
According to Margaret Dean, Greenwood Public Schools public relations director and English teacher, encouraging children at an early age that reading is important can help students later differentiate between academic writing and informal text messaging.
“There is little doubt that technology has changed the lives of students and that the line between social English and academic English is often blurred, especially for students whose brains are wired for 21st century technology,” she said. “But while the diction for social sites is different from academic discourse, students, in my opinion, have been able to separate the two.
“Educators understand that reading comprehension is critical to academic success and therefore, students are taught at an early age that ‘reading is fundamental,’” she said. “Reading comprehension and spelling are taught across the curriculum and are constantly being reinforced and assessed. Students are always encouraged to read — either from a traditional book or the latest e-reader.”
The usage of cellphones has changed the way people receive information, process it and communicate. Information can be retrieved almost effortlessly in quick fragments.
Long gone are the days of all-nighters, where students fall asleep in a book after hours of research. All it takes now is a Google search to learn about anything.
“My students would rather have a typed-out study guide rather than take notes by hand and reading their books,” said Alyssa Avant, a Carroll Academy English teacher. “It’s like ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’ They don’t understand that to learn you have to take time and write stuff down. They just want to Google their homework answers now, and they want everything fast.”
But just finding the answers to questions hinders the process of learning academic subjects, Avant said.
Still, the use of technology can help increase students’ motivation.
“I have given homework assignments to watch YouTube videos, and I also encourage my student who don’t want to read to download audible books,” Avant said.
Wilkinson said reading still is the best way to learn.
“Reading real literature actually slows the reading process down and causes one to think. Obviously, if you can read while driving and doing something else, it has no value as far as communications goes,” Wilkinson said. “You can’t read Richard Wright while driving and get anything out of it.”
• Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7233 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
