MIDDLE school teachers in the United States are noticing a new generation of errors creeping into their pupils’ essays, Associated Press has reported.
An increasing number of students submit classwork containing words that may confuse adults. For example, they wrote “I WUNT TUBAROXSTR” for “I want to be a rock star” and “DLERES PCNU” for “delicious pumpkin”.
Middle school teachers say they most frequently encounter “b/c” for “because”, “w/o” for “without” and “4-ever” for “forever”.
Those simplistic abbreviations, acronyms and phonetic spellings are known as “instant messaging-speak” or “IM-speak”. Today these words have become so commonplace in children’s social lives that the techno-spellings are finding their way into essays and other writing assignments.
“The IM-speak is so prevalent now,” said Julia Austin, a language arts teacher at Stonewall Jackson Middle School in Orlando, Florida. “I’m always having to instruct my students against using it.”
The rise of informal communication through e-mail, Internet blogs and cellular text messaging has not deterred school teachers from ingraining in students the importance of spelling.
“We’ve got a strict policy so they can be penalized for that — we don’t allow it. We talk about the four levels of the language: slang, colloquial, informal and formal, which apply to both spoken and written language,” said Beverly Arnold, chairwoman of the English and language arts department at Owasso High School, Oklahoma.
“I think it’s critically important — for both formal and informal communication. We teach kids that they need to learn to exist in a world outside their social networks, and that requires them to use proper grammar and spelling when they speak and write,” said Marsha Edmonds, director of curriculum in the Tulsa Public Schools, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Teachers use different strategies to teach spelling than they did 20 years ago, Edmonds explained.
Instead of assigning students random lists of words to master, teachers now draw on vocabulary from the literature their classes are studying or subject matter being covered in science and social studies.
“Many years ago, we taught spelling in isolation from reading and writing, with no context to the kids’ experience or the rest of the curriculum. Now, teachers ask students not only to spell a word correctly but to use it in a sentence to show they understand the meaning,” Edmonds said.
But some educators, like David Warlick, 54, of Raleigh, North Carolina, see the growing young band of instant messengers as a phenomenon that should be celebrated. Teachers should credit their students with inventing a new language ideal for communicating in a high-tech world, said Warlick, who has written three books on technology in the classroom. 21ST
