Could texting slang be good for kids?
mayB dey rnt dat bad, a/all.
That鈥檚 one way to phrase the conclusion of a new study on how the economical but decidedly nontraditional slang words in text messages affect the language skills of young people.
Researchers at Coventry University in England ran 88 grade-school students through a battery of literacy tests. Then, the researchers asked each child to write responses to 10 real-world scenarios 鈥� asking a friend what to wear to a birthday party, for example 鈥� and measured how frequently the students used 鈥渢extisms,鈥� such as abbreviating 鈥渢onight鈥� as 鈥�2nite.鈥�
Parents and educators have long complained that such slang words erode a student鈥檚 English skills. But the results of the study, published in this month鈥檚 edition of the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, tell a different story. The analysis found no evidence of a relationship between frequently typing in textisms and diminished spelling ability. The more textisms students used, the higher they tended to score on measures of word-based learning and vocabulary.
The report suggests that when kids use text message lingo, they are actually being artful 鈥� not just lazy 鈥� and building a heightened awareness of letter patterns and sounds. In support of the theory, the study found reading ability correlated more positively with sound-based textisms, such as substituting 鈥渨iv鈥� for 鈥渨ith,鈥� than with acronyms, such as writing 鈥渓ol鈥� in place of 鈥渓aughing out loud.鈥�
A factor behind the results might simply be the increased exposure to the printed word that text-messaging inspires. The fun and ease of the medium encourages extra language practice, especially by children whose skills are poor and who are otherwise discouraged from reading. Kids who obtained a mobile phone at an early age performed the best on the literacy tests.
