Embracing Digital Literacy

    I, like most individuals my age, love to text. I rarely talk on the phone anymore.  I love the convenience of this form of communication.  I can easily communicate with friends and family members, while doing almost anything.  That being said, I am a stickler when it comes to texting.  I have an Iphone, which provides a full keyboard and gives me the ability to quickly write in complete sentences in standard English, punctuation included.  I hate when I receive a text message that is so weighed down with abbreviations and texting phrases (textisms) that I need a text message dictionary to decode it.  One would think that it is people my age or teens or adolescents that send me text messages like this, however, it is my mother.  No one's standard English communication is safe when it comes to texting.

    In a Voice of Literacy Podcast the host, Dr. Baker, has Dr. Michelle Drouin of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne on the show.  Dr. Drouin is an Assistant Professor of Developmental Psychology and was recently published in the Journal of Literacy Research for her research regarding the effects of new technologies on language and literacy learning.  In the podcast, Dr. Drouin discusses her findings.  She surprisingly found that people who have a high use of textisms still have a high literacy rate.  Dr. Drouin suggests a possible reason for this is that texting allows people to play with language.  People are able to move between standard English and textisms very quickly.  When reading a textism, a person has to translate it back into standard English. Dr. Drouin cautioned that a negative effect of frequently using textisms is the inability to recall standard English.  So what does this mean for teachers and parents with students that text?
    Both parents and teachers need to stress the distinction between when it is appropriate and when it is not appropriate to use texting language. Textisms are an informal communication between friends.  Dr. Drouin states that they are appropriate in text messages, emails, and other social media sites among friends.  She says that textisms are not appropriate in school work or communicating with adults.  I would have to agree with Dr. Drouin.  It is hard enough translating a text from my mother, I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to try and translate a student's essay written message language.  
    In the age of digital literacy, do text messaging and textisms have a place in school? Should teachers teach this new form of communication? Now I doubt Text Messaging 101 will ever find its way into the elementary curriculum, but I think it can be integrated in some format.  As a preservice teacher, I spend two days a week at a local elementary school doing observation.  What I observe is this, children are becoming competent in advance technologies at an earlier and earlier age. Teachers can help students embrace and further understand this digital literacy by giving them outlets to use this new language.  I am not suggesting that textisms be used in essays. However, I think they would be a great way to communicate in creative writing or poetry.  Or perhaps they are a new genre of writing itself. This gives students the opportunities to play with language, which as Dr. Drouin states in her podcast increases literacy scores.   

To listen to Dr. Drouin's podcast, simple click on Voice of Literacy Podcast above!