Txt Spk: bd 4 skls?

Anastasia De Waal, 22 January 2010

Apparently children who are down with the latest literary lingo are bang on with their understanding of the English language. Research published by the University of Coventry earlier this week rather unhelpfully concludes that “children’s use of textisms is far from problematic.”

Dr Clare Wood, Reader in Developmental Psychology at Coventry and author of the report, clearly hasn’t marked a pile of year five and six exercise books (or is that ‘yr 5 n 6 ex bks’?).

A passage of text littered with indecipherable ‘textisms’ is a depressing sight and the endless hours spent changing ‘BOTOH’ to ‘But on the other hand’ and ‘def’ to ‘definitely’ is not what I had in mind when I decided to assess my class’s comprehension of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse.  The provocative results of Dr Wood’s (incredibly small) pilot study reveal a generally positive correlation between young technophiles and their “phonological awareness” (the ability to identify, separate and manipulate patterns of sound in speech).   Granted, some of these textisms show an ingenious aptitude for creativity (giving the digital middle finger—‘nlm’— akin to the visual, is a particular favourite of mine).  However, I’d challenge anyone who posits the idea that phonological awareness equates to a complete phonological understanding, in particular one that appreciates the importance of literary form and audience.  And I’m certainly sceptical about instilling a change in attitude in teachers and parents – especially one that “recognises the potential to use text-based exercises to engage children in phonological awareness activities.”

I eagerly await the publication of Dr Wood’s larger scale report and the resultant recommendations for teaching English to primary school children, due to be published next year.  Let’s just hope she leaves her phone at home, and doesn’t produce a report written using illegible text speak.

By Annaliese Briggs