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Text‐message abbreviations and language skills in high school and university students

Text‐message abbreviations and language skills in high school and university students This study investigated the use of text‐message abbreviations (textisms) in Australian adolescents and young adults, and relations between textism use and literacy abilities. Fifty‐two high school students aged 13–15 years, and 53 undergraduates aged 18–24 years, all users of predictive texting, translated conventional English sentences into textese using two methods: writing messages down and typing them into mobile phones. Participants produced a variety of textisms, and in both translation methods, adolescents and young adults used textisms in nearly identical ways. This was true for the proportion and types of textisms used, textism categories produced and consistency with which textisms were spelled. The use of textisms was negatively correlated with scores for reading, nonword reading, spelling and morphological awareness, but some of these relationships were accounted for by participants' usual text‐messaging frequency. For these age groups, concerns that frequent texting may mask or even contribute to poor linguistic skills cannot be dismissed. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Research in Reading Wiley

Text‐message abbreviations and language skills in high school and university students

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References (44)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 United Kingdom Literacy Association
ISSN
0141-0423
eISSN
1467-9817
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9817.2010.01466.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This study investigated the use of text‐message abbreviations (textisms) in Australian adolescents and young adults, and relations between textism use and literacy abilities. Fifty‐two high school students aged 13–15 years, and 53 undergraduates aged 18–24 years, all users of predictive texting, translated conventional English sentences into textese using two methods: writing messages down and typing them into mobile phones. Participants produced a variety of textisms, and in both translation methods, adolescents and young adults used textisms in nearly identical ways. This was true for the proportion and types of textisms used, textism categories produced and consistency with which textisms were spelled. The use of textisms was negatively correlated with scores for reading, nonword reading, spelling and morphological awareness, but some of these relationships were accounted for by participants' usual text‐messaging frequency. For these age groups, concerns that frequent texting may mask or even contribute to poor linguistic skills cannot be dismissed.

Journal

Journal of Research in Reading – Wiley

Published: Feb 1, 2012

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