"Students failing because of Twitter, texting,"
 

Student grammar failure: capability or context?

By John Timmer | Last updated February 1, 2010 12:09 PM

LOL-speak, fractured grammar, and emoticons are all finding their way into the college essays of Canadian students with increasing and disturbing frequencies, if a report in that nation's popular press is to be believed. Entitled "Students failing because of Twitter, texting," the report is based in part on the failure rate of an English language exam administered by the prestigious University of Waterloo in Ontario. The failure rate has now approached one third, up from 25 percent a few years ago, and a University administrator blames failure of basic grammar.

Emoticons and textspeak have apparently made their way into these exams, and the administrators are horrified. All of which flies in the face of some research that's only a few years old, which suggests that teens who are heavy texters actually have a reasonable grasp of grammar. One of those studies, in fact, was performed with Canadian teens, some of whom have probably made their way to college in the intervening years.

Although it would be tempting to ascribe the apparent differences to those between anecdote (in the form of college English exam scores) and formalized studies, the differences may really be a matter of what's being measured. The earlier studies focused on how the students were expressing themselves, and focused on the complexity of the communications; these came through despite what our report termed "informal diction and bizarre acronyms." It's precisely that informal diction, like replacing "because" with "cuz" and merging "a lot" into a single word, that's grating on college administrators. At the same time, liberated from the tyranny of character limits, students are apparently sprinkling commas liberally throughout the text.



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FYI - I don't believe Canada has standardized testing so it's worrisome that they are seeing this coming out of college students.


Beware of the creeping trend of anti-intellectualism that is upon us!

If you don't have sense enough to not use textspeak in your essay, you would've failed anyway.

I don't think it's an issue of "common sense". I think it's more of what's not being taught in the school system. Kids are taught 'just enough' to get by. No emphasis on phonics, nor emphasis on creative writing makes today's youth a lot less prepared.

It's why people get "your" and "you're" or "its" and "it's" all mixed up....heh.

Worst of all: "won" or "one"

emoticons?? so you mean someone will write a paper and put a damn smiley face in it? lol smiley face! gtfoh.

I give this speech to students every semester. I have only received a couple of term papers over the years that were in "informal type," and only a couple of students who insist on emailing me as though they are texting a buddy.

I agree with christiangirl in that this is less likely to happen at institutions where students can't get away with it from day ONE (but that speaks to the relationship between being taught, socialization, and "common sense"). Also, the "good students" with well-balanced backgrounds aren't usually the ones with this problem. It's the students who have become completely socialized by their Internet and texting generation that have this problem. They have fewer familial, peer, and academic breaks from the Internet/texting so they are never brought back to reality. I mean, seriously, what can we expect if newer families are spending less face time together and parents and kids are texting each other to "rmmber 2 wash dishes n com down n pic up ur dnner."

I wish I could go back and thank all of my teachers who were strict when it came to spelling and grammar.

One of the things I will NEVER forget from elementary school was learning that "a lot" was two words. I had a teacher drill that into our heads.

Learning when to use to/too/two and your/you're were also things that we reviewed periodically throughout a school year. The key was repetition.

I sometimes hear that teachers/administrators are trying to overload the curriculum, so as to leave little room for these "small" lessons to be taught extensively.

Or maybe they're not being taught at all?

I guess it's hard to compare one thing to another when I didn't have the internet until I was in 7th grade, and a cell phone until 16, but kids nowadays can reprogram my computer by the time they're 5.

Teaching the "whole language" way in elementary school or before + texting from the age of 10 on = epic grammar and spelling fail. I don't know why anyone would be surprised by this.

This is a tough one. It is a combination of school, family environment, and overall socialization.

There are kids who are A students and in the National Junior Honor Society who write and speak HORRIBLY because that is how their families write and speak and how their peers write and speak.

I come from a family of college educators and my parents kept us in check. We used to hate it when we were kids because we wanted to be able to relax and speak slang or say things like "where you at." LOL. My parents were not having it because they KNEW it would socialize us to forget there is a difference.

I see that now in kids and I hate always being the one to create potentially hostile environments by correcting them.

We didn't have the Internet until college (and we walked 100 miles to class in bare feet LOL). Sending a black screened-green lettered instant message and lower tech email were huge deals to us.

I think I got my first cellphone in college. One of the good things about being 30+ is that you remember how it was before, during, and after much of this technology existed.

Other cultures really value their languages. In fact, in some places, for a foreigner to use improper grammar is looked down upon, for a native speaker, it's tantamount to blasphemy.

If someone has a poor command of grammar and/or poor diction, then a lot of doors will be closed to them.

Perhaps the problem is that the attitude in most classrooms when it comes to grammar is that we're going to teach you a bunch of rules, and if you don't learn them, you'll get a bad grade when the message needs to be that if you don't learn these rules, you [in internet parlance] will epic fail.

Not surprising, there's also seem to be a rash of grad level students using an internet forum for their sources.:D:D:D

Bingo! LOL

This is a REAL situation that may have some addiction linked to it albeit unproven. Research is ongoing at John Hopkins et al.

I found this interesting...

My mom is close to 60 and has a Master's degree and has recently learned to text...AND SHE'S DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!!

Last text she sent: Member 2 get tics 4 Sat 2-13

I have a full keyboard on my phone for a reason. I text in complete sentences and paragraphs.

^^^THIS.

I understand the socialization aspect, but it boggles my brain that prior to college the writing and grammar of these students wasn't addressed enough that they don't know the difference. I honestly can't conceive of a situation like that at all, minus a complete lack of formal education.

I think that beyond understanding the mechanics and structure of the primary language of one's country (Canada also has French), it is vital to know time and place for language. there is nothing wrong with being culturally competent and using short hand for communication informally, but it is inappropriate and damaging if one doesn't learn how to function professionally and to interract with others. Language changes over time but there is a definite split with those who can easily go between formal and informal speech and writing, and those who have no idea that there they exist or how to discern when are where, let alone how to communicate effectively.