Are social media and text messaging negatively impacting high school students?
by: Zackary McDonald
This topic has been occurring for many years since social media exploded in the mid-to-late 2000’s. I was in high school myself when it started to become a “problem” for students and teachers alike in school. I can recall my own English teacher making it a point to prevent students from writing papers as if they were posting to facebook/myspace. Acronyms for sayings such as ‘idk’ (I don’t know) etc. have begun to run more rampant in students’ writing, not just in English and other subjects, but according to the article, college admissions are "getting [admissions] essays like they've never seen before. Admissions officers have shared with me that a lot of the essays they're encountering now are deeply rooted in this technological culture of cut-off sentences where you're writing like you speak. After the first few sentences, college admissions professionals toss them to the side." This has become an issue that we as teachers have of course observed ourselves, and I know that as a young teacher I catch myself doing it as well. I believe I know the difference of when to be professional and clearly write out my thoughts, but the students seem to do it without realizing they are and many do not possess the ability to articulate their opinions any clearer than what they know already.
Social media seems to, according to Chad Dion Lassiter, a professor of race relations at the University of Pennsylvania, attribute to "a dumbing down of culture." He goes on to state that we as adults and educators need to hold the students accountable for their writing or they will not be able to communicate effectively to one another in the future. The article also states how older generations observe this and often correct it or mark off points for it, while the younger generations of teachers often let it slide because they understand what it means. I think that this practice is wrong and detrimental to our students’ successful futures. We need to do as Dr. Lassiter states and hold each student accountable, make them rewrite the phrase or essay using the correct terminology and sentence structure. Students should not be writing how they talk; most of them do not speak correctly to begin with.
This article was very eye opening to me as I do not grade written work very often being a Technology teacher. I do not witness students’ successes or failures in their writing skills very often, and when I do I can see that most students do not write in full or proper sentences. I’m not sure how all of this will play out in the future; it’s almost as if we need autocorrect to become full on “sentence correct,” which would truly only make things worse because student’s would still not have to correctly form a sentence on their own. I hope for a future where the parents and teachers work together to encourage sentence structure and proper punctuation so that students can write out their feelings and opinions in order for others to actually understand them.
To read the original article follow this link: http://www.usnews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2011/06/13/how-slang-affects-students-in-the-classroom
Zackary,
ReplyDeleteAmen to that! We need to make sure students can still write and communicate with some formality. I think we need to return to expressly teaching grammar rules in the lower grades and get away from teaching grammar in context.
I agree that these texting acronyms are certainly something we as educators need to stay on top of. Students need to be aware that there are various settings and when it is/isn't appropriate to use them. For example, one of my seventh graders last week told me that they had to go back through an essay they had written for english class and fix all of the words that she uses when she texts. She admitted to using them out of habit, but on the bright side, she was able to recognize that these weren't suppose to be used in english.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to hear that the student in hour particular situation was able to identify what they were doing was wrong. I think we definitely need to teach our students where and when this is acceptable and try to break the habit. In some cases it could help when they are taking notes. If they are writing in a manner that will get them to better understand the information that is being given to them by using slang/text then I think that is fine. It truly is habit for students and youth today because they are so addicted to their phones and social media which is hindering them in more than one way.
DeleteIt's kind of baffling how big of a problem this has become. I can almost understand, accidentally slipping once or twice, saying 'lol' or 'idk' in a homework assignment, but on college essays?!?! That is a disgrace! Sounds like students don't understand the whole of point of the essay - to stand out (in a good way) and impress the admissions officer reading it! With students being involved in social media in middle school, I'm worried it will be difficult to fix. Thinking back, I remember being in about 5th grade when my family first got the Internet. I learned all of the slang acronyms and used them when talking to friends on AOL Instant Messenger. But to use them in my school work? Never. When did students start to think that's even remotely acceptable?
ReplyDeleteI think the key here is to teach students when slang is appropriate.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Don. In every aspect of life they need to know and understand what is and what isn't appropriate in society. Slang is fine with their friends but not when interacting with people whom you work with or your superiors. I do not think students really understand this because they do see adults use this when using text or on social media so they do not understand why it is not okay.
DeleteFor me, even as a Math teacher, it is not acceptable in any of my class whether writing or speaking. I always tell my students that they need to be aware of their environment and to know what is socially accepted where and when. My students do journal writing and they often times have to do a writing piece in math and that is one of the things that I do stress, proper sentence structure, grammar and all the mechanics that students would use in an ELA classroom. We as teachers, new or veteran need to hold our students accountable. When did students think that using texting acronyms was ok in writing and how do you make the assumption that the person who is reading or correcting your paper understands what you are trying to say? Here we are back to students thinking that their 'norms' are the same as everyone.
ReplyDeleteZackary,
ReplyDeleteI am pleased that you chose this topic to write about because I find it is a growing problem. I know students that have no idea how to spell because they are so used to texting all the time with their friends and family on their phones or posting using abbreviated words like text. I have to ask what some of those abbreviations mean sometimes because I have no clue. I just do not understand why people have to write like that all the time.
Adding to what Don said above I do think we need to go back to basics and go through the formal grammar rules with students not just look at them in context. Some students have no idea the different parts of speech in middle school. When I ask them to identify a vocabulary word they are not able to do so for me in class. I do not think this is anyones fault but the fault of the system focusing on other things such as tests and not giving time for students to master the skills that are needed for the rest of their life.