Author: ctwlee

Categories
computer-mediated communication Uncategorized

OMG txtin’

Litextracy?

In the current digital age, texting and literacy come together to form a paradoxical relationship. While our youth are reading and writing more than ever, their various forms of electronic communication are generally disregarded as “not real writing.” We have to understand that language is constantly changing, and texting has become the written lingua franca of our youth today. In “Instant Messaging and the Future of Language,” Baron argues that linguistic and behaviour innovation often begins with adolescents (30). Real writing or not, it is an inevitable change that is accompanied by changes in educational, cultural, and social attitudes and values.

Wts wrng w/ txtin’?

There is no doubt that texting is often perceived as a corruption of language and the root cause for our youth’s degrading literacy skills. Teachers notice texting language slowly creeping into formal writing assignments. Not only does texting affect student work, it also affects student performance and work ethics in class because of the distraction.

However, pushing those thoughts aside…

AFAIC, txtin cn b a gr8 thng

We have to reconsider what literacy means. As Carrington states in “Txting: the end of civilization (again)?”, we must understand literacy today to “extend beyond the ability to encode and decode print” (172). Literacy is the ability to decode information in various formats, make meaning from it, and encode it into ideas to be communicated to others. The language of text is a register in its own right, and it is not exactly dictated by Standard English grammar and spelling rules. In the wake of constant and rapid technological advancements throughout the past century, what we are witnessing is an evolution of language. In fact, I see potential in texting for literacy development.

We as teachers should understand that because texting is a mode of communication most common to high school students today, it would be almost ridiculous to disregard and ban the cellphone. While this new technology brings on new challenges for teaching and learning, new opportunities exist as well. The most crucial thing to do is to “make certain [our students] understand the difference between creativity and normative language use” (Baron 31). We have the responsibility to hold discussions with our students on the importance of knowing our audience and how that affects the language we use when we communicate in different contexts.

L8R,

Christina (blog post #2)

 

Baron, N.S. (2005). Instant messaging and the future of language. Communications of the ACM, 46(7), 30-31.

Carrington, V. (2005). Txting: the end of civilization (again)? Cambridge Journal of Education, 35(2), 161-175.

Categories
computer-mediated communication Seminar Prompts

Texting and the Future of Language

Summary:

“Instant Messaging and the Future of Language” by Naomi S. Baron

This article illustrates the notion of whether or not computer-mediated communication (CMC) is affecting the use of standard English among the young generation. The author demonstrates how the use of standard English has evolved through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the modern days. The author also conducted a study at American University in Washington, D.C., which investigated the use of instant messaging via America Online Instant Messenger (AIM) among undergraduate students. The research suggested that “IM conversations serve largely pragmatic information-sharing and social-communication functions rather than providing contexts for establishing or maintaining group identity” (30). The author suggests that parents and educators play a significant role in ensuring the use of formal English among adolescents and that IM is unlikely to have any profound role in changing the writing standards as long as the society does not accept this form of writing as the new standard.

“Txting: the end of civilization (again)?” by Victoria Carrington

This article begins with the author’s recent interview on an Australian radio channel regarding an essay that was fully written in text-language, submitted by a 13-year-old Scottish schoolgirl. The author was asked to discuss the issue of the “legitimacy” (or not) of txt as a form of text. Consequently, the author uses discourse analysis to analyze the initial article and another article regarding texting that was published the next day. The author finds that the articles contained fearful language regarding texting, which she described as a “rhetoric of crisis” (171). The author then illustrates how teachers play an important role in keeping this “correct” version of English and that teachers “are increasingly monitored and controlled” to fit this role of guarding the use of Standard English among teenagers (169, 170). In her conclusion, she proposes that txt should not be dismissed; it is one of many texts that students should become familiar with and fluent in.

Our Standpoint:

 Is texting really a threat?

  • No, texting is not a threat to the English language or to our students’ literacy.

  • Text language is just another register that students learn to use in the appropriate setting.

  • There are many different types of literacy, text literacy is one of them. Students need to be multiliterate.

  • Students should be learning and using forms of communication that are relevant to today’s technologies and ways of interacting.

  • There are many useful web tools that facilitate teacher-student discussion through texting, in which even shy students feel confident participating.

Connecting texting to Language Arts:

  • Writing dialogue through texts in creative writing:
    How to incorporate text-messaging into narratives? Has anyone read any new novels that incorporate text-messaging in the story? Writers are having interesting conversations online about how to represent text-messaging in their novels and short stories.

  • There is also the growing popularity of the “cell phone” novel genre.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are your thoughts towards students using texting as a form of communication with the teacher?  Have you had any experience in this context?
  2. Is using text-language becoming a more dominant way of how children communicate these days? Do you think this will affect their use of formal language?
  3. Do you think teachers are the “gatekeepers” of language? Why might they be perceived this way?
  4. Can you think of some other ways that texting or text-language could be used in the classroom?

Activity:

  • Use discussion question #2 as an example on Poll Everywhere and have everyone text in their answers.
  • Transfer responses to Tagxedo.

Our result: Communication Cat 🙂
Thanks for your participation!

References:

Baron, N. S. (2005). Instant messaging and the future of language. communications of the ACM, 48(7), 29-31.

Carrington, V. (2005). Txting: The end of civilization (again)?. Cambridge Journal of  Education, 35(2), 161-175.

– Christina Lee, Melanie McKenna, Dayonne Wegner, Sarah Wu

Multimedia Project #1 – Beowulf on Tumblr

For our multimedia project, we decided to create a tumblr page in response to Beowulf, specifically the battle between Beowulf and Grendel.

You can find it here!

You can also find a detailed explanation of our process here.

Thank you!

– Christina, Cristina, Dayonne, Melanie, Sarah

Categories
graphic novels

Response to Frey and Fisher: “Using Graphic Novels, Anime, and the Internet in an Urban High School”

Christina Lee – Blog Entry #1

Graphic novels may somewhat appear to be a recent phenomenon, but images have been telling powerful stories for over 40 centuries. It is exciting to see the gradual emergence of graphic novels in more and more English classrooms. Engaging with graphic novels is definitely an effective way to help students build the visual literacy needed for them to be successful critical thinkers in the 21st century, a time where we are constantly bombarded by images with mixed messages. It is our duty as English teachers to encourage students to detach themselves from the perception that graphic novels simply provide “nice” visuals to the narrative, and start really looking at the images deeply and reading it as a part of the language of the medium. Ultimately, students can become more self-aware readers, especially in how they interact with the text by seeing their own and the author’s perspectives in conjunction with each other. Discussions will arise where students are able to make reasonable assumptions and challenge preconceptions in society. Graphic novels enable students to understand that expressing themselves and telling their stories are not limited to printed words on paper anymore, which will instill in them a newfound satisfaction and feeling of success in using images to convey ideas.

On a side note, another interesting type of graphic novel that may add a whole new dimension to visual literacy is the silent or wordless graphic novel, or simply, the picture book, as Shaun Tan likes to call them. Shaun Tan is an Australian author and illustrator known for addressing a multitude of social, political, and historical issues through his wordless books. I am an absolute fan of his work, and I highly recommend The Arrival, a story about immigration and the struggle to survive in the land of the unknown. Another thought-provoking story is The Lost Thing, which talks about a boy’s journey to finding the origin of this lost “thing” or “creature”. It has also been adapted into a short animated film (with minimal dialogue), and is equally brilliant. (Disclaimer: I shed many tears reading/viewing both of them.) I have shown both to students whom I tutor, and the way they were able to engage with it emotionally was phenomenal. The fact that the novels had no text and only had highly evocative images empowered my students and provided them with the agency to wrestle with the deeper implications, which often led to the creation of their own meanings. Students whose English was not their first language were able to enjoy it just as much as students who were native English speakers because they did not feel threatened by any vocabulary or grammar structures with which they were not familiar. We had a fantastic time going through various images and scenes, holding discussions pertaining to the various emotions they had experienced and how the images manipulated them to feel a certain way.

However, as valuable and useful graphic novels are in building English language skills in various innovative ways, that is not to say that graphic takes precedence over traditional texts, or that traditional texts should be replaced entirely. We should aim to integrate graphic novels in our English classrooms in such a way where the visual and the written can work in tandem, producing the best learning environment possible for students of all skill levels.

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