Monday, January 25, 2010
Texting is good for kids!
Clare Woods, of Coventry University, has been conducting a number of studies of texting practices among 8 to 12 year olds, and is finding a strong correlation between texting and kids' phonological awareness and literacy development. This is a nice fly in the ointment for those educators who insist that textisms--those abbreviations, phonically-spelled, and iconic symbols used in text messaging--are killing written English. As Wood points out, "If we are seeing a decline in literacy standards among young children, it is in spite of text messaging, not because of it.”
A full report isn't available yet, but will be interesting reading when it is!
