Hw texting mks ur speln btter!: Experts Say Text Messaging “Improves Students’ Spelling Skills”

It has been hailed as the death of spelling and punctuation.

But in fact texting does not affect students’ grammar and spelling, a new study has found.

Researchers claim there is no evidence to suggest youngsters using textspeak – where young people miss punctuation and shorten words in messages – affected their understanding of English.

Instead, the results suggested the use of slang in text messages actually improved spelling and grammar among primary and secondary pupils.

The study by Coventry University and the University of Tasmania analysed text messages sent by 234 primary school, secondary school and university students over a two-day period.

Researchers then compared the messages to the students’ performance on five formal tests that measured their cognitive ability, grammar and spelling abilities.

This was repeated one year later to see how texting had affected the development of their language skills over time.

The results, published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, found that primary school children’s use of ungrammatical word forms – such as using ‘they is’ rather than ‘they are’ – at the beginning of the project were actually positively linked to spelling ability 12 months later.

Similarly, secondary school children’s use of ungrammatical word forms and omission of punctuation and capitalisation were all positively associated with growth in the children’s spelling ability over the course of a year.

SOME COOL ABBREVIATIONS WORTH KNOWING

LOL – Laugh out loud

OMG – Oh my God

ROFL – Rolling on the floor laughing

YOLO – You only live once

SMH – Shake my head

IKR – I know, right?

KWIM – Know what I mean?

F2F – Face to Face

W8 – Wait

2nt – Tonight

Gr8 – Great

B4 – Before

2moro – Tomorrow

Kwl – Cool

M8 – Mate

Bcuz/Bcos – Because