Well, the school break is over, and delightfully I can get back to homework and educational blogging for fun. To start, I came across this http://tinyurl.com/39453g article to which I had dealt with in my internship. The article talks about the usage of IMspeak in essays. It appears students are starting to use “ur” for your and you’re, or “dat” for that. I had students responding to discussions online, and they immediately turned to using these short sayings instead of typing the real words.
Where to start on this one? The last line in this article says, ” There is a time and a place for innovational World Wide Web expression, just like everything else in life.” I agree with this contention. I do not think that IMspeak would be a problem, except for the fact that it is detracting from the already low English skills of the youth today. I am not an English major, nor will I pretend to have done any research on this topic, but is it feasible to think that this may be the future of the written English language? Perhaps content is what is really important, anyway, not exactly how it is written, but rather what is really being said.
The way that I dealt with this in my internship was first, establishing the arena for our discussions. One was formal and one was informal. In the informal arena, I allowed students to discuss and “chat” via whatever methods they found appropriate. Secondly, in the formal arena, their answers were graded like an essay – marks deducted for non-English conventions. I feel that I responded to this technological dilemma quite well. What is most important in this area is getting across that, right NOW at least, there is a time and a place to use PROPER English, and that there are more important elements than just the content.
One thing I had trouble with is the new favourite form of expressing confusion, “wtf?”. If a student in your class were to say “What the fuck?”, you would likely have to warn them about language, or perhaps send them to the office, as such language is prohibited. However, this slang term has taken on a completely different meaning. It doesn’t literally mean those three words anymore, it is simply an expression of confusion in a simple 3-letter saying. Initially, I did not even notice it, because of my age and level of computer usage. However, after seeing it a few times, I told students that it was inappropriate and they stopped using it after that.
As a business educator, I am highly curious as to where this is going to take me in my 30-40 years of teaching. One advocate of the IMspeak in schools says, “Teachers should credit their students with inventing a new language ideal for communicating in a high-tech world.” However, he is quickly rebutted by another who says, “Last time I checked, there were few problems with our existing language. What makes a bunch of cell-phone-charged 13- and 14-year-olds think they can “invent a new language”?” However, I tend to lean towards the former of these two arguments. There are things wrong with our language. It is cumbersome for quick, digital communications when this is exactly what the users are demanding. It is evolution. Plain and simple. I can’t wait to see where it takes us.
Dan
2 responses so far ↓
1
Vanessa
// Feb 27, 2007 at 11:57 am
Your blog gave me a lot to think about. I come from the other side of the spectrum – I have always been a literature buff and held “proper” grammar of the English language in high regard. I read a newspaper article some months ago that talked about how the English language was too difficult to spell – for example, it would make more sense to spell “through” as “throo”, since that is how it is pronounced. Since the late 1800’s there has been talk about this, and even Mark Twain was a proponent of this type of language. Despite this push for change from some people, nothing has happened. I wonder if the new IMspeak might lead to this kind of change. I agree that sometimes the English language can be cumbersome, and the short form may be easier for computer use. However, I think that the true language still needs to be taught and emphasized foremost in schools, because IMspeak does not hold the same power and beauty of language in its full form.
2
mrbenesh
// Mar 5, 2007 at 4:37 pm
The English language can be very powerful and beautiful. Technology should be able to help that. I heard a good quote the other day – “Technology is the process, not the answer” – or something like that. People so often think that technology is just the answer to all our problems. Well, it can be, but it’s only as smart as we make it.
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