Iz txt spk bad 4 U?: The relationship between text messaging and English grammar skills

Texting, techspeak, and tweens: The relationship between text messaging and English grammar skills

From New Media & Society

Throughout the world, cell phones have become omnipresent in classrooms, cafeterias, and hallways. This boom in popularity has led to diverse uses by adolescents. A 2010 report by the Nielsen Company found that American adolescent teens send more text messages than any other age group. This has led to an evolution in grammar, the basis of which we shall call ‘techspeak.’ This dramatic rise in popularity has led parents and teachers to question the effect of using this technology on adolescents’ understanding of English grammar during a developmentally critical period of language-skills acquisition. There is much debate among leaders in education, teachers, and parents as to the effects of techspeak on the grammar and writing skills of adolescents in the classroom setting.

This study considers if there is a causal link between text messaging adaptations and adolescent grammar. A survey was conducted to test the association between text message usage of students and their scores on an offline, age-appropriate grammar assessment test. The results of this study lend support to a general negative relationship between text messaging and adolescent grammar skills. The findings have many implications, especially in the classroom. Adolescents should be educated to understand the differences between techspeak and standard English grammar, recognizing that there is a time and a place for both forms of communication. It is impossible to stop techspeak entirely; indeed, it is a very useful form of communication when confined to places where formality takes a backseat to efficiency and speed. The study concludes that electronic technology usage for the purposes of teaching should be monitored to ensure that this does not allow adolescents to further habituate to using techspeak in the classroom.

New study suggests gender gap around homophobic bullying

Development and Psychometric Properties of the Homophobic Bullying Scale

From Educational and Psychological Measurement (EPM) 

This study found that when it comes to homophobic bullying, there could be a gender gap. While male victims are more likely to be bullied by male homophobic bullies, female victims are bullied by both males and females equally. Additionally, those surveyed for the research reported hearing a low number of verbal homophobic remarks towards gay men compared to other forms of non-verbal homophobic bullying.

Using a survey of 863 public high school students, the author obtained data from bullies of students who were perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT), witnesses of homophobic bullying incidents, and the actual victims themselves. Ten percent of the students surveyed were classified as homophobic bullies because they reported engaging in bullying behaviour based on sexual prejudice at least once a week. 3.5% of students were considered victims of homophobic bullying because they were harassed by homophobic aggressors at least once a week.

Academic giftedness and alcohol use in early adolescence

From Gifted Child Quarterly

Alcohol is the drug of choice among American adolescents, used by more young people than tobacco or marijuana. Alcohol is the leading contributor to deaths among youth. Each year approximately 5,000 young people die as a result of alcohol related injuries. In addition there has been significant research underscoring alcohol’s negative effects on adolescent brain development. A group of adolescents typically overlooked as being at risk are students who are academically and intellectually gifted. This group is thought to possess protective factors including high intelligence, strong problem-solving abilities, good insight, and perspective taking, which would likely inhibit initiation of or engagement in delinquent behaviour.

This study examined the extent to which gifted adolescents use alcohol relative to their nongifted peers. Results indicated gifted students have, in fact, tried alcohol at rates that do not differ from nongifted. It is suggested that a high desirability of gaining social acceptance or fitting in with non-gifted peers or distancing oneself from a “gifted” image may explain why some gifted students use alcohol and others do not. However, results also suggest that although some gifted students were experimenting with alcohol use at an early age, they did not seem be doing so on a frequent basis.

Until the underlying reasons of alcohol use/experimentation among gifted adolescents are better understood and researched further, it is not clear whether current prevention and intervention programs are effective for this subgroup of adolescents.