Students use IM-lingo in essays - CNN.com

There's a new one of these articles every once in a while. I keep posting them because they are great conversation starters with teachers, particularly language teachers.

I like to refer to this as "chatese", but IM-lingo is pretty good too. This dialect of English (at this point you might be able to refer to it as a pidgin at this point, I'd love to hear ideas on which it is) is widely "spoken" and could be considered a functional dialect for millions of text messaging (SMS) and instant messaging software.

This, however, frustrates some teachers to no end. They see it as a corruption of the language and yet a sign of sloth the permeates the younger generation.

I would respectfully disagree. I think that these same teachers forget their own (or at least others in their generation) use of non-standard forms of the language (primarily slang). These have always leaked into school assignments, much to the chagrin of teachers.

In all of these cases, teachers have eventually come to the conclusion that they can't convince students not to use the language, but they could teach them that there are appropriate times to use different language forms. For example, using "standard English" in a chat room will mark you as an outsider, with all the negative associations that accompany the designation. In the same vein, using chatese in academic, business, or other formal writing will mark the author as immature, naive, and even disrespectful.

I'll take your opinions if you'd like to post a comment.

Re: Book written in txt msg - CNN.com

This was inevitable. I'm just surprised that it took so long to come out. I don't think that it's just the Finns or people from any country per se; it's simply a new form of communication for the masses.

If you're teaching any group of students this day (young or old) you have to deal with this in your classroom. Not only do I mean the incessant texting during class, but I also mean dealing with the texting language creeping into academic discourse.

You can see it as an attack, as an art form, or simply as a teachable moment. The choice is yours.

Dan

Poll: Teens, adults separated by 'IM gap' - CNN.com

So, is this surprising?

I suppose not, but I guess that folks have to know. Those 'old folks' needed to discover this fact in a survey.

I actually like IM'ing but I have to admit that I'd rather use the audio feature than the text feature.

In the end, I think that IM'ing pales in comparison to Texting (text messages on your cell phone). This is where a real difference can be seen. I don't think that many adults text, whereas most younger cellphone users likely do.

'Yo, can u plz help me write English?'

I thought that I'd repost an newspaper article that Ellen drew my attention to. It's an interesting piece that discusses the "problems" of chat-ese creeping into academia.

I would have to put myself squarely into the, "just educate them when to use it" camp as opposed to the "banish the evil chat software" camp.