Heyyyyy! wsup!
Yo wdup
@------- - Dat was sooooooo c00L da otha day..
(These are directly copied and pasted from facebook & twitter!)
It's a little scary when this "language" of technology invades the classroom setting. I'm currently taking a language and literacy course, and it's really opened my eyes to the different forms of communication used in different classroom settings. However, one type of language we've never spoken about is the language of technology and how it somehow sneaks its way into students' papers.
The commonly accepted misuse of capital letters, extremely slang-based vernacular, misuse of punctuation marks, and often times, horrible grammar, is affecting students left and right. As I grew older, I saw a lot less of this behavior, but once in a while a young acquaintance will friend me on facebook and I will see the way they type to each other.
Aside from the graphic language itself, there is an actual vocabulary used to connect with others on the internet, essentially creating a language of technology. Some of the following words are: memes, forums, FAQ, AIM, yahoo, google, etc.
I find it fascinating that the internet and the world of technology sort of created this new language. The trouble I'm finding here, though, is what do we do when it finds it's way into places they don't belong? How should we address this? If I were in the situation as a teacher, should I condone the usage of this type of language because it's influenced by technology? I really would hope that I shouldn't have to. However, I don't want to discredit the use of it, because... well, it is in fact a type of language!
What do you guys think?
Janet,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a very valid point about how the language we use on the internet and via text messaging is creeping into our formal school papers. As a future English teacher, this is something that makes me worry. What type of language will I be grading in my future papers?! Last semester I took a Grammar class and this topic was brought up. Our class was divided on whether we thought it was acceptable to incorporate this type of language in formal school papers. While I'm all for using it in personal text messages and even in emails or social networking, I think there is a time and place for it - and it doesn't belong in an school paper.
Janet, thanks for the thoughts. Personally, I wouldn't say that the technological influence should be the deciding factor. Rather, what are the academic/standard English rules and regulations that guide the type of writing you are looking for.
ReplyDeleteJanet,
ReplyDeleteThought provoking post. I agree that this language should be kept unacceptable in an academic setting, but what if we developed a lesson that was thought provoking, educational and informative about this topic? Since I'm not an English teacher I can't say what exactly this lesson would be- but as a starter it could be used as a Do Now for children to correct the grammar, punctuation and etc. similar to the Do Nows we used to have minus the technology language. Maybe this can even transition into a lesson on prefixes and suffixes/ where words come from and their meanings. I too don't want to completely close off the idea of it's existence and potential use, but it needs to be addressed thoughtfully. Commenting off of what Kevin said, and my previous idea of forming a lesson around it, maybe there is an effective, educational way to incorporate this concept into a lesson based on the lesson targets and standards. The trick is how to teach it, how to incorporate the standards, what standards are they, what will the evidence of learning be, what assessments will we use, what are the learning goals, is this lesson educational and effective and so on (many questions I cannot answer since I have little language arts background knowledge). In art I am not sure I can yet think of a valuable lesson that will fully involve standards and educational goals- but that is because this is a new idea, and with thought I'm sure I can develop one. I wonder how you'd even consider addressing this topic in music? Or would you? It's similar to an issue we address in our methods course which in summary asks us, as art educators, do we feel it is our responsibility to include concepts and concerns in lessons such as sexual and self identity, or economic and global issues? It all comes down to the personal belief and opinion of each individual educator.