William Atkins
Thursday, 05 March 2009 20:27
Science -
Biology
Page 1 of 3
British researchers studied pre-teenage children and found that they excelled in school reading and writing tests and spelling bees even though they spell "what" as "wot" in text messages.
Dr.
Beverly Plester, of the Department of Psychology at Coventry University, U.K., lead the research of 88 children between the ages of ten and twelve years.
Each of the children regularly sent text messages and, in fact, were reported to use their cell phones more for sending text messages than for actual talking.
During the study, the Plester team asked the children about their texting habits, along with asking the young participants to translate words and abbreviations within text language into words of standard English.
As part of their tasks, the children were also given standard tests in spelling, reading, and writing.
Dr. Plester concluded,
“There is no evidence to link text messaging among children to a poorer ability in standard English.” [BBC News: “
Texts 'do not hinder literacy'”]
In fact, the children were identified by the researchers to be strong readers and writers when compared with children in a separate study that also focused on the reading abilities of children.
Page two talks about what the Plester team thinks about text messaging when directed toward children who are already well versed in reading and writing in English.
