Ahad Rauf
Tara Forbes
English 1020
9/12/15
Is Txting Good 4 U?

With technology getting better and better throughout the years, society’s chosen form of communication changes. From writing letters, to making phone calls and emails, Texting is today’s number one way of communication between young adults. 97 percent of young adults send text messages every day (Knight 1). Texting became popular when these young adults were teenagers, in 2000. It is also the best way to communicate with today’s teenagers, with 63 percent of teens sending messages every day (Ngak 1). While this form of communication may be relatively new, it is here to stay. The question is, what is the affect of texting on teens? Although people may believe that texting is detrimental to teenagers’ literacy rates in terms of spelling abilities due to the use of “textisms” or texting abbreviations, it actually has a positive effect. Texting is beneficial to teenagers because it affects teen literacy in a constructive way, by improving spelling and reading skills and giving teachers a tool to use in the classroom, while also evolving the English language.
The first text message was sent in 1992. The next year, in 1993, Nokia created the first phone with texting capabilities. It only worked if the recipient of the text had the same cellular plan as the sender. Finally, in 1999, texting people on other networks was finally allowed and it began to take off. The standard texting plan at the time was 35 texts per month. 2002 was when texting really took off, with 250 billion texts sent that year. Text messaging became more common than calling, making texting the number one form of communication in 2007. Texting became so big, that in 2008, Presidential candidate Barack Obama sent a mass text message to his supporters to announce Joe Biden as his Vice President (Gayomali 1). Today, SMS messages are not the only form of text messaging. People all over the world use different apps to communicate, including: Imessage, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, KiK, and many more.
Although it started with the bulletin board system and internet chat rooms in the 1990s and early 2000s, when people text, some use “textisms”. Examples of these textisms are: “otp” (on the phone), “lol” (laugh out loud), “2nite” (tonight), “U” (you), and many more. Many of these textisms are formed either through acronyms or using different letters and numbers to spell the word phonetically. For example, “c u l8r” and “see you later” have the same phonetic spelling, but it is a lot easier to type “c u l8r”. The motivation for using textisms come from the fact that older phones did not have a keyboard and having to type on a small keypad multiple times became tedious. There is also a 160-character limit on text messages so if someone has a lot to say, they may have to condense the message with these textisms. Studies have shown that although using these textisms save time when typing them out, it takes the average person twice the amount of time to read the textisms than it does if the sender just sent the normal spelling of the word (Vosloo 1).
Due to the amount of teenagers that text everyday, questions about the effects of texting have been asked by teachers and parents. Many people believe that texting has a negative affect due to these textisms, and that it negatively affects teen literacy. They could not be more wrong. David Crystal, honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales says, “People have always used abbreviations ... They do not actually use that many in texts but when they do they are using them in new, playful and imaginative ways that benefit literacy” (Vosloo, 3).
In the article “Does SMS text messaging help or harm adults' knowledge of standard spelling?” by D. Powell and M. Dixon, an experiment to test whether or not textisms affect literacy was made. The experiment was on undergraduate students between the ages of 20 to 24. There were two tests with 30 words. Each test used the same words. During the first test, or the “pre-exposure” test, words were spoken out loud and the test takers had to spell them. There was an “exposure” period where the test takers were exposed to the textisms of each word. After that, they took the second test, or the “post exposure” test. The test takers did better on the post exposure test than on the pre exposure test, proving that these text abbreviations affect literacy in a positive way (Powell and Dixon 58-66).
Texting proved to improve literacy in a longitudinal study that took place over the course of a year. Researches from Coventry University took text messages from three groups of children and young people (83 elementary school students, 78 high school students, and 49 undergraduate students). The students took a standardized test to measure IQ and spelling and grammar skills and then took the same test again a year later to measure growth. “There was no evidence that grammatical violations made whilst texting was related to children's understanding of written and spoken grammar at either time” (“Text Messaging and Grammatical Development” 1). In fact, the use of ungrammatical word forms and the absence of punctuation were all positively associated with progression in spelling capability over the course of a year.
To abbreviate words, teenagers have to understand how the sounds and letters work, and how words are put together. Due to this, texting improves phonological skills. In actuality, texting is not the first time these abbreviations arose. In the early 1900s, when the telegram was popular, the abbreviation “OK” was created. Today, ok is a very prevalent phrase used globally. “IOU” dates back to 1618, and was originally an acronym for “I owe unto” (“Word Histories” 1). Words like “fridge”, “vet”, “bus” and “exam” are all abbreviations and are all used as words today. In 2011, the textism “OMG” was added to the Oxford Dictionary, making it an official word. English is a living language that will constantly change over time. Due to the amount of people it reaches in different parts of the world, no one has the same language experience.
We all have a slightly different vocabulary depending on where we live, age, education level, and other factors. People pick new words and phrases up from their peers and it adds to the language. Texting is no different from this, it is adding to the evolution of the English language. Textisms are an adaptation due to how tiresome it is to type full words and sentences on the keypad. When looking at some messages, they can be linguistically complex. To get to the point where texting is today, teenagers (the demographic that text the most) had to play around with words. They broke down the sounds, the spelling, and the grammar of different words and created textisms. They will continue to do this to find new textisms and new ways to express themselves. Texting today is very relaxed, with little to no punctuation and “emojis” are utilized to express emotion. “LOL” no longer means that something is very funny and instead evolved to express amusement. Many people believe that the widespread use of textisms have a negative affect due to the possibility of some students not knowing when they should use formal writing. In a New York Times article, “I Think, Therefore IM”, by Jennifer Lee, One Student said that she was so used to textisms that she regularly read right past them. Ms. Moran, a teacher in Jersey City says ''They should be careful to write properly and not to put these little codes in that they are in such a habit of writing to each other,'' (Lee 1) Other teachers talk about how their students need to realize when and when not to use these textisms. ''They should know where to draw the line between formal writing and conversational writing”, says Ms. Harding, a middle school teacher in Illinois (Lee 1). While this may be a problem, it is up to schools to be able to teach students when and when not to use casual writing. When they understand that it is not acceptable to use textisms on school assignments and other forms of formal writing, they will stop.
Studies show that students already do know the difference between formal and casual writing. For example, In the article, “Txt msg n school literacy: does texting and knowledge of text abbreviations adversely affect children’s literacy attainment?” by Beverly Plester, Clare Wood and Victoria Bell, results on a test that had eleven and twelve year olds translating textisms to full sentences showed that students have awareness on when to use textisms and when not to. In the study, Sixty-five students were used and fifty-one (78.5%) of the students use their phone regularly. Out of the fifty-one, thirty-two (62.7%) mostly use their phone for texting purposes (Plester, Wood and Bell 137-144). Teachers can still use many activities to teach this, including having their students pretend to text a friend, a teacher and a parent to teach etiquette.
There are are many benefits to textisms in the classroom and they outweigh the detriments. Students can take better notes if they use textisms because it will take less space, and less time to write them down. Some teachers encourage their students to use textisms when writing first drafts of essays so that they can get as creative as possible without having to slow down when writing everything out ("Can Texting Help with Spelling?” 1-2). The textisms will later be changed to full sentences when they are editing and revising their papers. Teachers can also challenge students to create textisms out of big words like “conundrum” and “fallacious” so that they can break them down phonologically. Discovering the phonology of new words will help them memorize how to spell and use them. Students can also make connections between words and textisms to help memorize what they mean. For example, they can pair the word “Uproarious” with “LOL” ("Can Texting Help with Spelling?” 1). This can be useful for vocabulary on the SAT.
Class discussions can be created by using apps like “Poll Everywhere”. Students can answer polls and text in responses to questions, allowing everyone to be apart of the discussion without being afraid to speak up. Another app called “Study Boost” lets students study by answering questions over text. These study guides can be created by the teacher and it can extend learning to outside the classroom ("Can Texting Help with Spelling?” 1). Teachers can also figure out how well their students know the material, and see who needs extra help.
Many teachers have also begun to translate classic works by authors such as Shakespeare and Langston Hughes to textisms to connect with and interest their students. In the same New York Times article, “I think, therefore IM”, Erika V. Karres, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says “I turn it [textisms] into a very positive teachable moment for kids in the class,'' (Lee 2). She uses the lesson to show the evolution of English between historical authors and today’s textisms. ''Imagine Langston Hughes's writing in quick texting instead of 'Langston writing,” (Lee 2). They can also use textisms to create short summaries of these stories and think about how different dialog between characters would be if it were over text. Today, teenagers write more than ever through forms of texting and blogging and teachers need to recognize that and realize that all forms of writing are important.
Teachers may be against the use of cell phones in the classroom because it can create a distraction. They may be texting instead of paying attention to the lesson, and that can affect test scores. Before cellphones became as popular as it is today, they were doing other things instead of paying attention, like passing notes in class ("Can Texting Help with Spelling?” 1-2). Texting itself isn’t bad, but they should be paying attention. Rules for when and when not to use cell phones in class must be created to regulate how much of a distraction it can be and many teachers already do this and can take away their students’ cell phones if they are using it when they are not allowed to.
One question that must be asked, is about what the affect of “autocorrect” is. Autocorrect is a software used in smartphones that automatically corrects spelling and grammar mistakes whenever something is typed. People may rely on this software too much, to the point that it might negatively affect spelling and grammar skills. Many people that depend on autocorrect, or “the Autocorrect Generation” have been reported to not be able to spell common words such as “definitely” and “necessary”, without the help of autocorrect ("Poor Spelling of 'auto-correct Generation' Revealed 1). This may be similar to calculators and how people believed that it may result in the loss of true mathematical ability. Studies have shown that the level of the person’s knowledge determines whether or not calculators negatively affect mathematical ability ("Calculators Okay in Math Class, If Students Know the Facts First." 1). People may also see that they spelled a word wrong or make a grammatical error and learn from autocorrect and are less likely to make that mistake again. There needs to be more research on how autocorrect affects literacy to truly decide whether or not it is detrimental.
Another topic that should be researched is the evolution of emojis. There are 250 of them to choose from, and each one expresses an emotion or a picture. There are smiley face emojis, crying emojis, angry emojis, and even emojis for different types of food. Earlier this year there was an update that gave emojis with human faces the option to be shown in different skin tones to add ethnic diversity. They are a huge part of texting, with 74% of Americans use emojis in texting apps (Sternbergh 1). Even ISIS recruiters on twitter use emojis to sound friendly in their ISIS promoting tweets.
Mimi Ito, a cultural anthropologist at UC Irvine, says, “when people are given the capacity to communicate in these ways, they’re picking them up and developing whole new forms of literacy” (Sternbergh 1). Emojis are a useful linguistic tool because they can illustrate things that can not be conveyed with text. It adds intimacy to the conversation and is often compared to seeing someone’s facial expressions when talking to them in person. The “face with tears of joy” emoji won Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year because it is, “the ‘word’ that best reflected the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015.” More research on how emojis affect communication and the English language is needed because it is changing the concept of literacy and what language is. It also may affect teen literacy negatively because emojis are a symbolic language. Their writing skills might be negatively affected in the future because they may only use emojis to show how they feel, making them unable to express themselves through text. In this paper I argued that texting affects teen literacy in a positive way by not only improving it, but also giving teachers a tool to use in the classroom to connect with their students. It can cause distractions, but when used effectively it can benefit students by engaging them more than traditional teaching methods. When looking at a language like Latin (one supposedly used by scholars- the root of many others around the world), there is no potential for the same kind of evolution as there is for a living language like English. English is a dynamic language and will continue to evolve over the course of time as technology develops and society grows. More research on emojis is necessary to see how it affects literacy and writing skills. Evidence shows that there are positive correlations between texting and literacy but more research is needed to decide on what the effect of autocorrect is. The literacy of teens has since evolved at a rate identical to that of technology; one that has never been seen before. This is, without a doubt, the largest benefit of texting, including its resulting dictionary.
Works Cited
"Calculators Okay in Math Class, If Students Know the Facts First." News.vanderbilt.edu. Vanderbilt University, 19 Aug. 2008. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
"Can Texting Help With Spelling? | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.
Gayomali, Chris. "The Text Message Turns 20: A Brief History of SMS." The Text Message Turns 20: A Brief History of SMS. This Week, 03 Dec. 2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.
"'IOU'" Word Histories. Word Histories, 11 Apr. 2011. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.
Lee, Jennifer. "I Think, Therefore IM." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Sept. 2002. Web. 02 Nov. 2015. .
Ngak, Chenda. "Teens Are Sending 60 Texts a Day, Study Says." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 19 Mar. 2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.
Sternbergh, Adam. "Smile, You're Speaking Emoji: The Rapid Evolution of a Wordless Tongue." Daily Intelligencer. New York Magazine, 16 Nov. 2014. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.
"Text Messaging and Grammatical Development." Text Messaging and Grammatical Development. Nuffield Foundation, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.
Plester, Beverly, Clare Wood, and Victoria Bell. "Txt Msg N School Literacy: Does Texting and Knowledge of Text Abbreviations Adversely Affect Children's Literacy Attainment?" Literacy 42.3 (2008): 137-44. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
"Poor Spelling of 'auto-correct Generation' Revealed - BBC News." BBC News. BBC News, 22 May 2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.

Powell, D. "Does SMS Text Messaging Help or Harm Adults' Knowledge of Standard Spelling?" Online Library. Blackwell Publishing, Jan. 2011. Web. 02 Nov. 2015.
Vosloo, Steve. "The Effects of Texting on Literacy: Modern Scourge or Opportunity?" Shuttleworth Foundation. ShuttleWorth Foundation, Apr. 2009. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.