I do think that chatspeak is destroying English. I mean sure it useful to get the point across over a text message, but it creates laziness. I think that this chatspeak is going to carry over into students writing and in any school work. I think it can be useful to text "u" instead of spelling out the word "you". However I'm still convinced that its more damaging then efficient. I just really feel that this chatspeak should not be practiced and students should be practicing the correct way to write in every form of expression. All this slang doesn't translate well for essay test scores.
Linda Howard, whom I agree with that chatspeak is useless. She says, "The shortcuts of chatspeak are a welcome convenience when keying data into the cell phone or online chat rooms, but they have no place in the larger society, where effective writing skills are a must." Writing skills are suffering because of this chatspeak. I think we need to take Linda Howard's comments and eliminate this chatspeak as best as we can. On the other hand, Greg Monfils, thinks that, "The kids want to see if they can get away with it and, perhaps, help to make a change in something so dryly traditional as spelling." He thinks spelling doesn't matter and that we should let students use chatspeak in their assignments and essays. I highly disagree with this man. I think we need to teach spelling just as rigorously as we did before computers.
In conclusion, my only question was how we can eliminate chatspeak entirely? Another question that arose was, how can we teach writing English if students are practicing it in their own lives? These questions I cannot answer, maybe a peer of mine can answer these questions when they comment on my post. Thanks for reading my blog post and lets get rid of chatspeak once and for all!
Hi Mikey, I could not disagree with you more. Chatspeak has accomplished what thousands of English composition teachers could not. It has gotten kids to write! Everyone remembers in school, how writing assingments were met with groans and complaints. Chatspeak can rid us of that problem forever. Think on this, our language is not Greek and thereore not dead. All good languages change and adapt over time. Chatspeak is simply another step in the evolution of the english language. It will revolutionize communication and enable people all across the word to communicate.
ReplyDeleteHey Mikey, I kinda disagree with u as well. Here is what I think: I think that if we r worried bout chatspeak, then we should worry bout speakin n slang also. I think some students do struggle 2 use proper english cause they use slang so often, but I think its only cause they dont have enough opportunity in da classroom where they r forced 2 use proper english. However, 4 the most part, students are really good @ knowin how enlish is supposed 2 be spoken. I think the same is true 4 texting and instant messaging. I utilize chatspeak when I have 2 during texting, but I definitely know how 2 properly type.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that we should still teach spelling. However, with the spell checks that are on all computers, even I am very poor at spelling many words.
All in all, I dont really have a strong opinion on this matter. I guess I just like givin u a hard time.
I had responded to this a long time ago, but apparently I didn't submit it correctly, so here we go again!
ReplyDeleteI don't entirely agree with what you say, mostly because I feel like the we are asking the wrong question by asking "Is Chatspeak Destroying English?" I believe the question should be, "Given that chatspeak is here and likely here to stay, how are we going to deal with it in the classroom?" Without going too in depth, I believe that we must acknowledge that it is commonly used by today's students and therefore that must be addressed in class. Students need to be directly taught the difference between formal and informal writing. Maybe this means the creation of assignments where students take informal chatspeak documents and "translate" them into formal writing with correct spelling and conventions. That's one idea!