Keisha Machado

Leslie Drake
Research Techniques
November 22, 2015

The impact of texting in grammar

Introduction
As technology and information expands, so does the use. Cell phones are quickly
becoming one of the most used communications technologies in our culture with over
94% of college students using cell phones. According to new media & society, text
messaging or texting, as it is more commonly called is the process of sending and
receiving typed messages via a cellular phone. It is a common means of communication
among teenagers and is even becoming popular in the business world because it allows
quick messages to be sent without people having to commit to a telephone conversation.
A person is able to say what is needed and the other person will receive the information
and respond when its convenient to do so. Young people tend to use texting method as a
quick and easy way to communicate to each other, take notes, school work, etc.
According to USA Today Magazine, texting is the act of composing and sending brief,
electronic messages between two or more mobile phones, or fixed or portable devices
over a phone network. People use texting method as different functions.
In our todays society everything is by social media which requires texting
especially for students and workers. According to USA Today Magazine students are not
even carrying their notebooks to their classrooms, they prefer takes their notes by texting.
In order to more quickly type what they are trying to say, many people use abbreviations

instead of words. The language created by these abbreviations is called textspeak.

According to International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning people believe
that using these abbreviations is hindering the writing abilities of students; some say that
textspeak has no effect on student writing, and still others argue that texting is actually
having a positive effect on writing. This is a great debate. According to College Student
Journal, 64 percent of teens say they use texts speak in classroom writing assignments.
Although some believe that texting has either a positive or a negative effect on writing, it
in fact seems likely that texting has no significant effect on student writing. Since texting
has become a way of life of many students, it is feared that the SMS language can affect
students?

Since texting is so popular in our generation there some implications with it.
Some people think texting is ruining our grammar but some people do not. According to
the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, there is the situation where middle and high
school students use a lot of abbreviations while texting and forget how to write correctly.
These kinds of situations are the huge impact of texting in our todays society. Texting is
and has been such a huge issue in our todays society. Many teachers in primary and
secondary schools have expressed concern at the number of children whose literacy
levels are dropping; and who are not even able to write by hand, so accustomed are they
to computers, tablets and mobiles.
According to USA Today Magazine, fact, linguists say teenagers, far from
destroying English, are innovating and enriching the language, students were given aftercourse-surveys examining in class texting behaviors. Final exam scores and texting

behaviors were subjected to a Pearson's correlation as well as a regression analysis.

Students GPA as well as ACT scores were also examined in the regression analysis. The
study showed there was a negative correlation in the relationship between in-class
texting and final grade score. Texting is indeed writing, they value their texts more than
any other writing style even above social networking status updates and comments. Also,
a sample of 86 children aged 10 to 12 years read and wrote text messages in
conventional English and in textese, and completed tests of spelling, reading and nonword reading. Children took significantly longer and made more errors when reading
messages written in textese than in conventional English. Further, they were no faster at
writing messages in textese than in conventional English, regardless of texting method or
experience. Predictive texters were faster at reading and writing messages than multipress texters, and texting experience increased writing, but not reading, speed. General
spelling and reading scores did not differ significantly with usual texting method.
However, better literacy skills were associated with greater textese reading speed and
accuracy. These findings add to the growing evidence for a positive relationship between
texting proficiency and traditional literacy skills.
After a lot of research texting has forever influenced the way we communicate,
but we still control the words that go on the page. If we are emailing with a boss or
professor we should know how to write correctly and not using abbreviations. According
to Owl, the evidence suggests that grammatical violations in the text messages of
children, adolescents, and adults do not reflect a decline in grammatical knowledge. This
article says some young people seem well aware that different types of communication
require different ways of writing. As long as young writers can maintain this awareness,

then the violations of grammar common in digital communication need not be perceived
as a reduction in writing skill. According to Literacy, people who write regularly have
larger vocabularies even if they are just writing text messages.
According to Texting, Testing Destroys Kids article the teacher, Jacquie Ream
said, text messaging and the Internet are destroying the way our kids read, think, and
write. "These kids are not learning to spell. They are learning acronyms and shorthand.
Text messaging is destroying the written word. Students are not writing letters; they are
typing into their cell phones one line at a time. Feelings are not communicated with
words when you are texting, they are using symbols. Recent findings have suggested that
school children in the 1960's and 1970's were far more literate than children of today. In
2013, the average schoolchild struggles more with spelling, grammar and essay-writing:
essential skills which before now were considered key to a good grasp of the English
language.
According to Star Tribune magazine, fifty percent of surveyed teens said they do
not use proper punctuation or grammatical marks when they write text or instant
messages. The fact that people do not use proper punctuation or grammatical marks
when they texting seems to be the reason of why students do not have good grammar.
Eleven percent of teens think electronic communication has a negative impact on their
writing skills. A 2008 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that
two-thirds of middle and high school students had accidentally used instant-messagingstyle words in their work, while a quarter admitted using emoticons in assignments. In
fact, 64% of youngsters ages 12 to 17 have used symbols, text shortcuts and informal
language in school assignments. When people start using abbreviations its when people

start to lose the correct grammatical skills. Most common abbreviations among students
are LOL (laughing out loud) BRB (be right back) or, cuz (because). According to
New Media & Society, some people worry that teens are ruining their grammar by
spending so much time writing slang filled texts. One study found that students did
worse on grammar exams if they had just received text. It is not surprising that many
teachers, parents, and young people themselves feel concerned about this constant
exposure to non-standard written English. It seems that frequently seeing to/too written
as 2, or people written as ppl, might mean that these kinds of spellings could start
to creep into students formal writing.
People said kids these days do not write because they are not actually using
handwriting as a writing method, but the reality is that they actually write, but texting its
a new method of writing, everything is going to depend on how students use their
grammar skills into texting method. According to Herald Scotland journal, texting its
new, electronic and dominant understandings of writing which have been so dominant
for so long, especially young people, may be unlikely to identify their short, informal,
electronic forms of written communication as writing at all.
The question is, is texting and social networking ruining grammar? According to
Journal of Computer of Assisted Learning electronic writing modalities dont simply
change our conceptions of processes of writing, they also change the ways we read.
Texting messaging does not have to change your grammar if youre using it correctly.
Technological things such as mobile phones, and text messaging in particular, have their
advantages and disadvantages, which has changed the way that people communicate.
According to my research there are people who say text messaging and internet are

destroying the way kids read, think and write. These kids are not learning to spell, they
are learning acronyms and shorthand. Students are not writing letters, they are typing
into their cell phones one line at a time.
Conclusion
The reality is that technological advance is growing up every single day and
everything is going to be into mobile phones and tablets which their uses is by a
keyboard texting. Texting doesnt erode literacy: it actually challenges literacy skills. I
do not see how texting could be a significant factor when discussing children who have
real problems with literacy. People just need to keep good grammar skills even if they are
texting with friends, in other words, do not use abbreviations. Take advantages of
technological progress, and not ruin their grammar. Text messaging can be a fun and
playful way to communicate, the important thing to remember for education is teaching
children how to employ different ways of communication. Writing an essay and writing a
text are different things; children can learn both.

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