I am quite sure that those of us who use the Queen’s English would have shaked our heads and clucked our tongues at how the English language has seemingly deteriorated over the years, decimated by short forms as well as a mixture of numerals and letters in order to convey a message in the shortest manner possible – 140 characters or less most of the time. The question is, has the standard of English dropped amongst children with the advent of instant and text messaging? Research suggests that unorthodox spelling and grammar while texting is not detrimental to children picking up the basic rules of formal English.
Over 160 children who are aged between eight and 16, from the West Midlands, participated in snapshot study, where researchers performed a comparison between spelling and grammar in formal tests as well as in text messages, over a period of time. Apparently, the most creative texters ended up as the best spellers, and this conclusion was arrived at after the kids were required to copy out all their text messages across a two-day period, before participating in a range of spelling, grammar and cognitive tests. After a year, the process was repeated, and there seems to be an association between the higher spelling test scores and word reduction while texting.
I guess parents can now heave a sigh of relief if their little ones start to use Internet jargon when texting you, the rest of the extended family and friends.