Help Grandchildren Move From Texters to Writers

Too many grandchildren are using text-messaging language in their school work, and paying the price

You've see them on the street, at the mall and in line at the convenience store. The Japanese call them "thumb tribes." Most people here call them "texters." But you can just call them ... your grandchildren. Teens, pre-teens, and even pre-pre-teens are feverishly typing away on their cell phones or similar devices right now, communicating with each other by text-message while effectively tuning out the rest of the world and ignoring most of the rules of written English.

As people have always done with the advent of a new communication technology, texters have adapted the language to meet their new needs. Telephone users of an earlier generation developed new lingo for their "person-to-person" or "party-line" calls, and shorthand for their dialing exchanges like "Monument" and "Sterling." Today's texters have similarly devised a rudimentary form of English to save time and limit wear and tear on their fingertips and thumbs, converting the language into a set of acronyms, rebuses, and license-plate shorthand, such as LOL (laugh out loud), CUL8R (see you later), and the economical k (okay).

The new technology of texting is shifting the way grandchildren communicate with each other; new acronyms and phrases condense their thoughts down to something almost unrecognizable, unless you’re in the know. Of course, many adults text, too. Most do it for speed, efficiency, and to get on with the business of work. But grandchildren text to keep up with their social lives, and they're doing it faster and faster to stay on top of a constant stream of chatter. In what some see as a hyper-accelerated youth culture, that's of utmost importance. The problem, as parents, grandparents, and teachers have discovered, is that for some young people, the shorthand of texting has started to filter into other areas of their lives, areas where k is not at all okay.

In a study released in April by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, two-thirds of 700 teens surveyed nationwide confessed that text-style shorthand had made its way into their school assignments. Is this the beginning of the end of elegant, written English? That's debatable. On the one hand, Richard Sterling, former head of the National Writing Project, wrote in The New York Times that language has always taken altered forms in different settings and media, and so the rise of texting shorthand can actually be seen as a natural evolution of English. For teachers, a student who uses texting shorthand in a homework assignment presents a "teachable moment," an opportunity to instruct the class in what is and is not acceptable in formal, written communication.

On the other hand, many teachers who have witnessed texting style infiltrate student compositions firsthand believe the effects are more insidious. One such critic is Candice Kelsey, a middle- and high-school administrator and English teacher, and the author of Generation MySpace: Helping Your Teen Survive Online Adolescence (Da Capo, 2007). Kelsey says that "students' indoctrination into the use of letters for casual, quick, abbreviated communication has stripped them of any concept of writing with formality.” Middle-school and high-school students are not mastering the ability to write with an academic tone and they could suffer for it. "I explain to these novice writers that they are not merely 'showin' sum luv' to the reader but are, in fact entering into what I term 'the great academic conversation.' And their language should rise to that pursuit."

Teachers and parents have always faced the challenge of a student asking, "When will I ever have to use fractions when I'm an adult?" They now face the challenge of the student who uses texting shorthand in papers and argues, "You knew what I meant, right? So what's the difference? Everyone writes like this." If the adults in their lives fail to get across the importance of doing things right, students will face the consequences. Grandparents, with their considerable experience in the working and academic worlds, can help to reinforce these values. It doesn't hurt that you may be a little further from the daily style arguments at home or in homeroom. When grandchildren send you an e-mail littered with acronyms, gently suggest that they reconsider how they communicate with adults. Because it’s unlikely that a professor or prospective employer will LOL at a thesis or job application littered with shorthand.

To read an article by Candice Kelsey on the dangers of cyberbullying, click here. Elsewhere on grandparents.com, find five ways to help grandchildren become better writers, learn how to keep up with your grandchild's online activity, and join the debate over whether today's kids are "getting older younger."