Teens are talking less, texting more
Well, as a secondary school English teacher, I can certainly verify that teenagers' speaking skills are not up to par. But have they ever been spectacular? I guess what I am saying is, if this USA Today article is accurate, then the speaking skills of the typical adolescent have gone from bad to worse. I would really like to hear from people -- teachers, parents, students, business exec's, CEOs... anyone, really -- who feels that they learned really great speaking and listening skills in high school. I would like to hear from people like this because I really want to know what we can do better to improve this. Additionally, I'd like to hear from people who learned their fabulous speaking skills outside of school -- where did you learn them, from whom, and what made you learn to speak well?I certainly do not think the solution is to "ban" our students' lives online. There is a purpose for IM chatting, email, and texting. Yes, perhaps we need to put more emphasis on speaking skills in our curricula. But I do not believe that going the whole "technology is bunk" route is the solution. It's great that our students are learning to communicate in different ways -- but we must ensure that we don't leave any gaping holes.
I'm not sure I agree with Carol Jago's assertation that an extra-curricular life online helps students "build fluency in their writing," however. I think we still need to remember that our students need guidance in understanding that with a different purpose and a different audience will come a different kind of writing. I am also fairly certain that I don't agree with what she has said about peers' online feedback being more authentic than a teacher's. Surely, if all you are doing as a teacher is writing "frag" in red across the page, that is not authentic feedback. But I would hope that Ms. Jago understands that a good teacher will explain why a sentence fragment can be confusing or hindering to a reader, and that it most certainly depends on audience and purpose. On a MySpace posting, if a writer posts an incoherent sentence (regardless of what the issue is -- fragment, wrong word choice, whatever), no one is going to explain to him/her what is incoherent about it. They'll likely either A) not reply at all, or B) say something potentially unhelpful like, "Dude, you don't make any sense." That's not authentic feedback to me!
Your thoughts?
posted by Adrienne @ 9:41 p.m.
2 comments
2 Comments:
I have started to see more evidence in language deterioration among young girls. A friend of mine has a 10 year-old who, when e-mailing me, uses structures and abbreviations I've never heard/seen before! Further to this, I have a class of many young women who were also expressing their concerns regarding their younger counterparts linguistic skills. At least people are aware of the 'problem'.
But I do have to wonder what would be the best way to help them? Take away their cellphones? Or could we not teach them to obey the rules of a diglossic-based concept: Use your cutesy English crap for the phone and the Internet, but use 'proper' English for educational purposes.
Could that be a vialble option?
I spend a great deal of time in my classroom talking about the different kinds of register, a term used (and assessed for) often in IBMYP and IBDiploma English courses. My subject guide (a curriculum document) defines register as "a mixture of appropriate tone, vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure." A few examples about the different levels of language, and most of my students get it right away.
I don't necessarily see it as language deterioration, but that we must emphasize that when writing ANYTHING (from a shopping list to a presidential speech), the writer must consider audience and purpose. When I put it that way, most (though not all!) of my students understand that sending me an email with "Hi miz, I need 2 cu soon bout my eng paper" as the first sentence is not an appropriate way to begin an academic dialogue about improvement.
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