Understanding How College Students\u27 Literacy Is Affected By Texting SMS Lexicon

Spelling and grammar have always been taught in schools as means of proper language mechanics (U.S.D.E., 2006). Recently, the use of correct spelling and proper grammar in writing among college students has seemed to weaken (Junco & Cotton, 2011). Although there may be many factors that could contribute to this decrease in proper language use, the development of new technologies may be playing an important role. Presently, one of the newest technologies, cell phones, is in the hands of many young adults. Most of these young adults are using their cell phones to send and receive instant messages, or text messages. In typing out text messages a new lexicon has developed that uses a pattern of short cuts to communicate complete sentences (SMS, 2010). The extent to which young adults or college students use this new lexicon may be affecting their ability to spell correctly and use proper grammar language within other arenas; most notably, academics. The purpose of the current study is to analyze the effects of high versus low usage of short messaging system (SMS) lexicon in text messaging on college students’ spelling and grammar abilities. Theory suggests that college students who participate in text messaging more often will have poorer spelling and grammar abilities due to the increase in using the SMS lexicon as opposed to proper English formatting (Hauck, 2003). The high number of text messaging that some college students send and receive daily will negatively correlate with their inability to spell correctly and use proper grammar

Smartphones

Many of the research approaches to smartphones actually regard them as more or less transparent points of access to other kinds of communication experiences. That is, rather than considering the smartphone as something in itself, the researchers look at how individuals use the smartphone for their communicative purposes, whether these be talking, surfing the web, using on-line data access for off-site data sources, downloading or uploading materials, or any kind of interaction with social media. They focus not so much on the smartphone itself but on the activities that people engage in with their smartphones

UNDERSTANDING FOOD LITERACY AND ITS USE IN A TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN NUTRITION EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR ADOLESCENTS.

One in three adolescents in the U.S. is overweight or obese. The dietary habits of this population are concerning as few meet current dietary recommendations for consuming fruits and vegetables. Equally troubling among this group is the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and the lack of physical activity. Studies that investigate the link between nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors have shown mixed results and new methods to investigate this relationship are needed. Food literacy is a new term that has risen out of the health and nutrition literacy fields. Food literacy seeks to examine the complex relationship between knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors from the perspective of food and not individual nutrients. Adolescence is a unique life stage when there is development of decision-making skills. Food literacy programs are ideally suited to this stage because the concept focuses on building capacity to operationalize healthy decisions regarding food. New methods are also needed, to help increase engagement and participation in food-related programs. Adolescents are digital natives. Eighty-seven percent have access to a computer, 88% have access to a cellphone, and 92% go online daily, from these devices. Driving the use of cellphones is social media and text messaging. In fact, 91% of adolescents use their cellphone for texting, sending an average of 67 messages/day. Adolescent’s pervasive use of technology, in particular cellphones, provides an opportunity to investigate the potential of this medium to engage participants in education about food. Another novel method to engage adolescents in food-related education is the use of community-based participatory research (CBPR). CBPR is a collaborative approach that includes community members in the research process. The approach incorporates sharing of ideas between community members and researchers, values mutual decision-making, and empowers participants to plan activities and make changes they see as beneficial to their community. CBPR is not often used with adolescents, and no current research has used CBPR to inform a technology-driven, food literacy program for low-income, ethnically diverse adolescents. Filling this gap will add to the understanding of the use of innovative programs and ideas to engage adolescents and help them develop healthy eating behaviors

Exploring the Effects of Text Messaging on the Spelling Skills of Ninth and 12th Grade Students

Text messaging has been criticized for a perceived negative impact on spelling skills of students and its increasing appearance in formal school papers. This paper presents a study of the effects of text messaging on the spelling skills of ninth and 12th grade students at a U.S. high school in a Chicago suburb. The 20 students – six in the ninth grade group and 14 in the 12th grade group – were given a questionnaire concerning their texting practices and a grade-appropriate spelling test. They also were asked if it is appropriate to use textisms in formal writings and to write a formal email to their principal. The use of texting showed no significance on spelling, either for high/low text groups or long/short history groups. I did find a spelling significance between ninth graders and 12th graders. All students responded that textisms are not appropriate for formal papers, though one student used two textisms in his formal note. This study should inform future research into the effect of text messaging on the spelling skills of U.S. youth given the scarcity of research on the subject

Middle School Literacy Educators\u27 Views About Student Texting and Its Impact on Student Writing

This applied dissertation investigated middle school literacy educators’ views about the impact of text messaging on students’ spelling and writing abilities. Specifically, the researcher determined educators’ views about the impact of text messages from Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and Short Message Service (SMS) on middle school student writing and spelling. The researcher interviewed middle school teachers about their experiences with student writing and whether text speak is present in students’ writing and spelling. Four research questions are posed: (a) To what extent do middle school teachers notice textspeak within student writing? (b) What do middle school literacy teachers report as the impact of textspeak on students’ written work? (c) What are middle school teachers’ attitudes about using features of texting, or textspeak, in written classwork? (d) How do middle school teachers describe student attitudes about using features of texting, or textspeak, in written classwork? Following individual interviews with 12 educators, the researcher analyzed the data in search of patterns and themes in the responses. The results were both positive and negative. The participants reported that textspeak was beneficial because it increased students’ personal efficiency in notes and group or team assignments. However, they reported the negative aspect of textspeak is it reduces students’ writing expertise and students’ grades. Future research could expand on investigating the effects of textspeak on students’ writing from kindergarten to 12th grade in all subjects. Additional research could determine if the use of textspeak in the media has influenced the quality of students’ writing. Furthermore, future studies could analyze the effects of texting and typing on students’ mechanics of penmanship and letter formation

iGeneration: The Social Cognitive Effects of Digital Technology on Teenagers

Into today’s world, digital technology changes so rapidly and integrates into our society at such an accelerated rate, it is hard to keep up with it, let alone reflect on the effects it has on our lives. Although Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, did not exist a mere decade ago, they are now ubiquitous forms of media and communication in our culture. Today’s generation of teenagers, born in the 1990s, aptly labeled the “iGeneration”, are the most connected generation ever. These iGen teens are digital natives growing up in an era of a massive influx of technology. They do not know of a world that does not include the Internet and easy access to technology. Parents of iGen youth, however, are “digital immigrants”. As immigrants, they struggle with a learning curve and lack the innate knowledge and ease with digital technology as that of their native offspring. There is little historical data or longitudinal studies of the social cognitive effects of digital media consumption to help inform and guide digital immigrants and natives alike in making choices about digital practices. Statistics change so quickly, it makes for an ongoing challenge to understand how to structure or regulate digital consumption. The intention of this research is to better understand how digital consumption effects teenager’s cognitive abilities and socialization processes, with the goal of discovering best practices and guidelines for educators and parents to implement with regard to their teenagers’ digital consumption, as we spin faster and faster into this digital era

A Case Study Examining the Reading and Study Habits of Gifted Readers in the Context of Deep Reading

New debates have been increasing about how technology is rewiring the infrastructure of the brain, especially among today’s teenagers who have grown up with computers. One of these debates concerns deep reading, a concept that stresses the brain’s need to concentrate undistracted on one thing at a time in order to maximally process and synthesize new material. One side argues that a computer with its dynamic interactions and multitasking demands robs teenagers of the ability to deep read and, as a consequence, disables the brain from properly developing and maturing. Another side argues that the very act of multitasking and interacting with a computer’s dynamics enables the brain to grow and mature in better ways than before. This qualitative case study closely examined the reading and study habits of four gifted readers, academically among the most successful in school, for two weeks. Findings show that each student practiced Three Common Cores of Control when they studied immediately prior to a test or project. All four students (1) needed to study in isolation in a Most Restrictive Study Environment, (2) needed absolute quiet or music to study in an Artificial Environment, and (3) needed to eliminate or sharply curtail all interaction with technology in a Retro Environment. This study found that deep reading was a part of each student’s success, and the implications are that each student must employ the Three Common Cores of Control to be the most successful. More research is needed in the area of deep reading to determine if the Three Common Cores of Control are prevalent among a greater number of gifted readers. In addition, deep reading practices or lack thereof need to be examined further with students of average ability or those with special needs

The Frequency of Texting on Middle School Students\u27 Writing Achievement

The purpose of this correlational study was to discover the impact of texting on writing achievement for middle school students. The theory guiding this study is Vygotsky’s Social Cognitive Theory (Newman & Holzman, 2013) as it explains that learning is influenced by one’s social environment. The data that will be collected consists of the scores of the writing portion of the 2014-2015 state standardized test (ISTEP), a student survey answering questions about texting practices, and student status information on Free and Reduced Meals. The multiple regression analysis will be used to analyze this data because as inferential statistics it can be used to predict whether this information can apply to other future populations. Texting is a common practice and so is utilizing textspeak, (the digital language developed in order to make written communication on cellular devices more efficient). Middle school students represent the largest demographic of frequent texters, therefore one may assume this practice has the potential to influence daily writing habits throughout one’s lifetime. This study must be conducted in order to determine how textspeak is impacting the evolution of language and document the changes in language on education and the world as a whole. This quantitative, correlational study analyzes state standardized test, writing scores and the effects of frequent texting of middle school students. The middle school has a population of approximately 1500 students and the sample will be selected by meeting the following requirements: any sixth through eighth grader who has a personal cellular device and who has returned a parent consent form. This study seeks to answer the questions: Is there a relationship between frequency of texting and adolescent writing achievement? and Is there a difference in the impact of texting between adolescents eligible for Free and Reduced Meals and those adolescents who are not eligible

Literary Reading on Paper and Screens: Associations Between Reading Habits and Preferences and Experiencing Meaningfulness

The increasing use of digital technologies has implications for reading. Online and on-screen reading often consist of engaging with multiple, short, multimedia snippets of information, whereas longform reading is in decline. Meta-analyses have identified a screen inferiority when reading informational texts, but not narrative texts. The mode effect is explained by reference to the Shallowing Hypothesis, postulating that increased screen reading leads to a propensity to skim and scan rather than carefully read, since digital reading material is typically composed of short, decontextualized snippets of multimedia content rather than long, linear, texts. Experiments have found support for the Shallowing Hypothesis when reading expository/informational texts, but the impact of increased habituation to screens on, specifically, literary reading, is largely unknown. It is plausible that shallow modes of reading, prompted by increased screen use, may compromise one's capacity to engage deeply with literary texts and, in turn, negatively affect readers’ motivation and inclination to engage in slower, more reflective, and more effortful reading. This article presents the results from three experiments exploring associations between reading behavior, medium preferences, and the reading of a short literary text on paper versus screen. Although mixed, the results revealed an overall pattern for the role of medium: more frequent reading of short texts on screen predicted less inclination to muster the cognitive persistence required for reading a longer text, and engage in contemplation on the deeper and personally relevant meaning of the literary text. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.publishedVersio

It\u27s just part of what we do : Adolescent interactions with multimodal texts across social spaces

This dissertation explores how adolescents are interacting with text across shifting social spaces, and how they learn to be literate across a range of social, academic, print, and digital contexts. The intent of the study is to help articulate the boundedness and fluidity of multiple discourses, and to better clarify how teens maneuver across these boundaries successfully. My research approach incorporates ethnographic methodology with a framework of critical sociocultural theory, drawing heavily upon Gee\u27s (2005) work in discourse analysis. New technologies have broken down bounded spaces and dichotomous views of what it means to be literate, creating interrelationships among literacies and modalities (Kress, 2003). They have complicated notions of adolescent literacy, shifting definitions away from static and print-centric views toward a contextualized framing of multiple literacies, using the tools and texts within situated contexts (Kress, 2000a, 2003; Luke 2000; Maybin, 2000). This study examines the embeddedness of these tools and texts in the literacy experiences of today\u27s Digital Natives (Prensky 2001a, 2001b). Because this study asks about lived experiences of participants, I chose an ethnographic approach (Agar, 2006a, 2006b; Schram, 2006; Silverman, 2007), relying on observations and interviews of student and teacher participants. My conceptual framework lies within critical sociocultural theory (Keller, 1995; Lewis, Enciso, and Moje, 2007; Moje and Lewis, 2007), with a consideration of the role of agency within dynamics of power. This work also deconstructs notions of literacy, discourse, context and text, and discusses the complications of these terms brought about by new Web 2.0 media. Major findings include the following: (1) Although teens are entrenched in a range of interactions with social digital text, they appreciate the value of academic literacies, and of teachers as conveyors of this knowledge. (2) While schools set rules that define appropriate behaviors with social digital networks, students and teachers frequently negotiate the boundaries through relationships founded on trust. (3) Teens are able to articulate and understand the boundedness of multiple discourse systems. This work explores pedagogical implications and delves into the complex issue of shifting power dynamics occurring in schools today