TechDirt provides some responses to the popular claim that text messaging ruins writing ability, including this Guardian report about a small study on the code-switching abilities of kids with extensive SMS experience conducted by Veenal Raval at thee City University in Londona.
Mr Raval said: "The fear that has been put across in the media is that children don't understand the need to code switch - that is, switch between standard English grammar for an exam or essay and what is acceptable when you are communicating on a social level. In fact, they are capable of that switch, just as bi- or tri-lingual children might speak English at school and a mother or father tongue at home."
While the text-experienced children wrote much less than those without mobiles, concision was not necessarily a bad thing, he argued. "Whether that is a positive or negative effect is up for debate. It depends on the situation or the subject studied. A science exam might require brief answers which might not be appropriate in a literature exam."
[via Lifehacker]
Posted by johndanseven at August 26, 2005 02:25 PM