Instant Message Lingo in Student Essays
Special thanks to Ian Jukes and his fabulous blog, The Committed Sardine, for bringing this article to my attention (I've been a committed sardine for a couple of years now!).
This article discusses how IM (instant messaging) terms are creeping into students' essays. Words like "ur" and "b4" are finding their way into formal writing.
The question is: Is this trend troublesome?
The CNN article implies at the beginning that it is, but then goes on to quote Vicki Davis as saying,
"I'm Southern, but I wouldn't use the sayings, "squeal like a pig" or "kick the bucket," in formal writing (because) some people may not understand. . . IM-speak should be treated the same way."
And I agree. In fact, I am always telling my students to bring it back to the basics: Who are you writing this for? (audience) Why are you writing this? (purpose)
I hesitate to go in the direction of celebrating the "new inventions" like David Warlick does. But I certainly do not think we should be pedantic in telling our students that IM-language has no place in their writing.
Your thoughts, as always, are welcome.
posted by Adrienne @ 2:35 p.m.
1 comments
1 Comments:
Adrienne,
It was a good article. I do feel obliged to correct, again and again, my quote, which was misquoted. I wasn't saying that we should celebrate this new grammar, but instead, celebrate that our kids invented it. It was the act of collaboration that I am so impressed with. I think that we should respect IM speak, and understand that it is part of their future. But our job is to teach children how to make the decision of when to use formal language and when to use IM speak and other formal languages.
Great luck to you!
-- dave --
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