Introduction
Whether you are referring to it as chatting, texting or even instant messaging, everyone has a rough idea of what we will be taking a keen look at in this essay. With the changes that have been brought about by modern technology, chatting or texting has become a common mode of communication in almost every age group. Children who are not even old enough to go to first grade have mastered the lingo of chartrooms acronyms yet they cannot even write or read their respective language properly.
Even the older generations participate in this craze but most of them do it while they are online and using features like facebook and other social sites. The younger generation prefers to text when they are using their cell phones instead of talking. Even though some of them won’t admit it, this is mostly done to save on cell phone minutes. (Barker, 2009)
Proponents of Chatting
The reality is a regular teenager around the age bracket of 15-17 years old sends an average of 2000 messages a month! It is something most parents do not understand because they fear their kids will have a problem in the future when it comes to commanding the written form of their language. In their defense, most youngsters argue that they can differ as to which language is appropriate when writing an essay or texting their friends.
With the expanded services that have been brought along with the advent of chatrooms, some of them are used to offer lessons on foreign languages whereby the student can communicate with the teacher through chatting. Furthermore, most of the chat services available online incorporate the auto-correct features of Ms. Word which help someone to correct grammatically incorrect sentences. Such features are extremely helpful to users who are learning English as a second language.
However, critics argue that such features only increase laxity in students when it comes to remembering the spelling of certain words and the proper punctuation of sentences. These different viewpoints can be viewed as the pros and cons of the chatting services available. Before we take an in-depth look at these varied viewpoints, we must see if this feature (chatting) serves its core purpose as a communication tool; which is to convey information. (April 2008)
Function as a communication Tool
When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he approached a giant telegraph company, Western Union, to assist him in finding his newfound invention. Western Union did not take him seriously because at that time, communication via the telegraph network was the chosen way and Western Union banked its future on this model instead of the telephone which seemed too complicated for the average user at that particular time.
Looking back at Western Union’s miscalculation, what becomes abundantly clear is that man will choose the easiest and fastest mode of communication when the need arises. It is the reason why the telephone bypassed the telegraph as the chosen mode of communication. Both of them would convey the message, but the difference is the telephone could transmit voice messages which added clarity and a personal touch to the communication. (Hewings, p 259)
The same can be said with chatting. Occasionally someone might feel the need to convey a message quickly and maybe he or she is in a situation where he does not have enough cell phone minutes or he is stuck in a noisy environment. In another scenario, the user might want to communicate a message but wants to keep the entire process brief and impersonal. If you are visiting a dating chatroom and you are not sure as to who is at the other end, most people start with chatting then once they are comfortable with each other, they can start talking on the telephone. What all these examples demonstrate is people will chat or text because they found it more convenient to do so at that particular time.
It can be pretty tedious for the older generation who are not used to doing it but some of them have been stuck in a noisy environment and this was the best way to communicate. The points that have been discussed thus far are the reasons why people prefer to chat in abbreviated words that are punctuated depending on the message of the sender. The topic of discussion in this essay is the language they use in this mode of communication and whether it has a positive or negative effect on the grammar and vocabulary of their respective language. (Hewings, p 259)
Effects of Chatting on Vocabulary and Grammar
Improve Grammar?
It does seem like a far-fetched notion that chatting can improve a person’s grammar and vocabulary. As mentioned earlier, some kids as young as those in the first grade do know how to use a cell phone and some of them can construct a sentence that might be lack the proper punctuation and grammar when texting; but they will convey the message.
When these kids do eventually grow up and they are taught by a teacher as to how to write a grammatically correct sentence; won’t the familiarity of their previous text messages prove helpful in understanding their current curriculum? Although others might argue that the teacher’s workload is increased since he has to “undo” the damage done from all the chatting and texting, it’s not like teaching English or French requires some kind of indoctrination like teaching Marxism. It is a simple and direct approach where the student will realize if they write their sentences a certain way, they will fail the assignment. (26th October 2006)
When it comes to teaching languages, most teachers use the technique of constant repetition to ensure that a certain part is thoroughly understood. Even if the so-called student did not spell the word correctly when texting, he will remember the context in which the word was used and this is equally as important as spelling the word itself. It’s not unusual to read a sentence that has all the words spelled correctly plus proper punctuation but the sentence simply does not make sense.
On the flip side, most people have a problem understanding what the slang and abbreviations used while chatting or texting mean but once they get past that, they will understand the message being conveyed. My point is while a lot of weight is placed on proper punctuation and spelling when it comes to the written language, the context in which the respective words are used is equally as important. While chatting and texting might massively fail on the former, it does get a few points on the latter.
This argument also applies to foreign students who might be learning a respective language like English. When you are texting someone whose English is not that good, you will find yourself writing simple and correctly spelled words that you hope the reader will understand. (26th October 2006)
Changing Writing Traditions
There is a new theory being put forward by psychologists that the real effects of chatting and will be felt later on in life and not now. It is clear that this phenomenon is quite new and its long-term effects are not known due to a lack of research. While psychologists worry about the rate at which human contact and conversations are being replaced by technology especially in the young generation, their writing and reading skills should also be brought into question. As explained earlier, most teenagers can able to distinguish which language to use when writing an essay in class or chatting with their friends on their cell phones. Certain quarters might be proud of themselves in their ability to distinguish the two forms of written language. (Štekauer, p 371)
The question that comes to mind is what happens when these teenagers grow up and join the workforce? The good thing with the school system is that risking a bad grade is a good enough deterrent when it comes to presenting your work in the proper language. Your average workplace might have certain traditions when it comes to writing a memo but the presentation of other documents doesn’t require the writer to follow strict guidelines.
Nowadays, we can read manuscripts that were written hundreds of years back like the bible or Koran. Even if the language is slightly different, the message still gets through because these writers followed certain traditions when punctuating their sentences or the use of certain metaphors. The problem with today’s culture is that the slang and lingo being used today will smell like an old cardigan in a few weeks or months from now. The best example is what if the works of great philosophers or scientists like Socrates and René Des Cartes had written their works in a language that only their close friends could understand? (Štekauer, p 371)
Fast forward to today’s society, we will certainly produce great poets and historians, who would capture our imagination like the previous trailblazers. It would certainly be unfortunate if their private journals were written using “IMHO— in my humble opinion” or “ROFLOL— rolling on floor, laughing out loud”.
Write now these abbreviations are quite common to some of us but what happens if this civilization is ever wiped out by some disease like the bubonic plague and the only records of our history and culture are written in some jargon that the future generations would not be able to decipher? Right now it seems like we are being sensational when we make such speculations but can you imagine how our various written languages would sound like a hundred years from now if we continue on this slippery path? Several words like “Google” and others have already been added to the Oxford dictionary and this demonstrates that our language is evolving.
The only problem would be if the majority of the civilized world is unable to keep up with these changes regardless of how hard they try. Today’s youngsters will certainly pass on this culture to their children who would take it and turn it into something that would sound foreign to us grandparents even if they are using the same language.
History will best judge you if you left it with some form of evidence to pass judgment on. All the ancient civilizations from the Crusaders’ quest to spread Christianity to Hannibal’s invasion of the Roman Empire with his elephants are all well recorded because the authors followed certain traditions when writing these records. These writers certainly had an option of using a language that was more “accommodating” but they went through the trouble of using a language that was probably not their first one, like Latin, because that was the expected norm. (Štekauer, p 375)
Ability to Express Oneself
Another problem that is emerging in today’s generation is their inability to express themselves using the written language. This is evident in today’s classrooms where studies have shown that the creative writing skills amongst students have been declining over the last few years. Maybe this could be blamed on the current curriculum being adopted by most urban schools where the content being covered is so much that the teachers do not have time to fully test the writing skills of each student. Part of the blame is also attributed to the way everybody communicates in today’s society. If you are not calling someone with your cell phone you’ll probably email them or text them.
Most assignments being handed in today are usually typed and the demand for handwritten ones is waning and waning. Typing with the help of auto-correct and spell check features of Ms-Word certainly ease a person’s work but does it affect a person’s creativity? Seasoned writers who started with the plain Bic biro pen and A4 foolscap certainly have an edge over writers who never went through this process and have to depend on the synonym and dictionary features of most word processing programs to find the words to express themselves. (Hewings, p 263)
This is what most of the “chatting and texting generation” use when typing assignments since they cannot use the common slang in their papers. The previous generation on the other hand had to rely on wit and previously acquired knowledge when it came to finding words that express their thoughts. Some teachers can agree that assignments on creative writing being handed in today are a bit “flat” when you compare them to previous works say 20 years ago.
The literature can be grammatically correct with the proper usage of punctuations and pronouns. The problem is the verbs, adjectives, and metaphors used to convey the feelings of the writer just do not show that this author is a budding Ernest Hemmingway or Charles Dickens. There are of course a few students who will always stand out but a large majority of them are handing in “flat” work.
One of the main reasons for equipping a learner with proper reading and writing skills is to give them tools for expressing themselves. This is only possible through constant practice which requires one to read books and be an active writer.
Newspaper sales are declining in most developed countries and this is attributed to the booming online services being offered, or people just stopped reading newspapers. As explained earlier, writing a grammatically correct sentence can be easy with today’s technology; the only difference comes in if the writer was able to convey the message he wanted. How many teenagers growing up today have the skills of using a coma or a semicolon appropriately, in the middle of a sentence, so that the feelings being conveyed by the writer can fully sink in? (Hewings, p 265)
Conclusion
Most job applications require one to fill in some form online or hand in a typed letter of application. Don’t you think a hand-written one has more character and is a far much better barometer for judging someone’s personality? The reality is the current generation is usually lost for words when they are told to describe themselves in 100-150 words. Blaming this on the content being taught in schools is a far-fetched excuse since the curriculum hasn’t changed radically in the last 20 years or so. The weaknesses being observed in the writing skills of students are probably due to the chatting practices they engage in.
Finding harmony between the emerging literature and its traditional norm is necessary if we want to preserve our language traditions. Unless we find a middle ground before the whole communication process becomes a jig-saw puzzle, then the future generations will have to start from scratch and invent a new language that is incorruptible. TTFN— ta for now! (26th October 2006)
Works Cited
Barker T, 2009, “Texting surges as tool for more than just the young.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Web.
Teaching writing in online and paper worlds, 2008, “Digital fluency as goal and objective”, New York. Web.
Hewings Martin, Grammar and Context, Routledge, 2005, pp 259-265.
Štekauer Pavol, Hand Book for Word-Formation, Springer, 2005, pp 370-375.
Oxford Learning, 2006, “Texting VS Writing: The Problem with Instant Messaging”. Web.