Thesis

Question: Is texting, lolcats, or other forms of online communication harming or improving people's ability to communicate in writing or in speech?

Thesis: Texting and other forms of online communication can both enhance and degrade the way that students communicate in written work and speech both in and outside of the classroom.

The study that I looked at used three different groups. One that believes that text messaging degrades writing, another which believes that it enhances writing and the third are those that do not think there is neither a negative effect nor a positive effect.  Throughout the study, the effects of text messaging are explored quite thoroughly. Many argue that each generation has its own form of slang or jargon and that text messaging has no effect on how students write. A third school of thought contends that text messaging has no effect on English grammar. Text messaging is seen as another language, or in this case, a new language. “Since learning a new language or slang words does not necessarily affect a student’s ability to use English grammar, text messaging as another language cannot either. They argue that each generation has its own jargon, yet English grammar has not changed.” (Dansieh, 2011). I believe that texting does not have an effect on how students write, if they are taught proper English first. If they grow up with text language to begin with, then their English written skills will not be up to par.  

Dansieh, S. A. (2011). SMS texting and its potential impacts on students' written communication skills. International Journal of English Linguistics, 1(2), 222-229. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1045843399?accountid=1343