lol, i luv u ;-) ;-)
A school in Orlando, FL has seen a sharp rise in eighth-graders using online slang words, like “b4” and “ur”, in class essays. There is no doubt that IM and E-Mail has made us lazy (“What is spell check?”) and fast to write and send before we think and re-read, but what bothers me is that some educators are doing little to stop it.
Point-in-case, as CNN points out, a teacher in Raleigh, NC, thinks that this “phenomenon should be celebrated” for “inventing a new language for communicating in a high-tech world.”
Thoughts? Any school teachers or communications specialists out there?
February 13th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Basically, this is how language changes. If you get enough people to speak a certain way or use certain phrases it becomes the norm and an accepted part of a language. For those of us who grew up speaking pre-internet English, these new spellings will seem trashy and incorrect. For those who are growing up now, this is how their peer group is speaking. I guess we can push and argue about how they are destroying the language, or else we can just accept it. The language we speak now is not the English that Chaucer wrote in. Change happens. Deal with it.
February 13th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
As a fourth grade teacher, I am well aware of how children are utilizing internet lingo on a daily basis. Consequently, I consider it my responsibility to enusure that my students understand when this type of language IS and IS NOT appropriate. I set high expectations for each and every one of my students. Like most educators, I want them to be the best that they can be. Uilizing this online language, especially in an academic sense, is innapropriate and unacceptable. Do I expect my students to hold intense, intellectual conversations with their friends online, or even on the playground, complete with proper grammatical mechanics…of course not. However, if they are drafting a paper, speaking to an adult, or presenting a project, I expect that they use proper English. The fact that some educators are not recognizing that online slang when used within the classroom is inappropriate is quite disturbing to me. While I do not think that knowledge of how to use this online language is detrimental, I strongly believe that educators and parents must be aware of this trend and do what they can to ensure that children can identify when this form of expression is appropriate. So yes, change does happen, and as a society we must ‘deal with it,’ however, we must not settle for a language that is disrespectful and condones laziness.
February 13th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Having an alternate means of communication for our modern technologies is a great convenience and an effective way to send information quickly. However it has potential to dumb down and destruct proper written and spoken language.
” There is a time and a place for everything- keep it out of our schools.
As an educator I feel strongly that proper spelling and grammar should be used at all times. As my friends know this includes IM chatting. Many “slang” words have already been added to the dictionary and are acceptable in general conversation, but I do not want a doctor saying to me when I’m 80 ” dawg we thought u had cancer- JK! LOL!
February 13th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
A teacher that is celebrating the fact that kids can no longer spell and are taking pride in their slang should be stripped of their license. There is a difference between mispelling a word( I’m not the greatest speller) and internet slang. It should not be accepted in a school or any other educational environment. Technology and the internet is an amazing new way to communicate but I feel we will be seeing a huge back lash due to it all. Spelling is just a start. Anti-social, Socially akward, and detached issues will arise if we start allowing the internet to become a major form of communication. Letting kids turn in papers with ” ill get it 2 you lata. I 4got it,” is just the beginning. It’ll only reinforce laziness and bad grammer which I believe will only then tumble into a much larger problem.