IS TEXTESE A TYPE OF LANGUAGE VANDALISM?

          In our world today, texting has become an essential part of our everyday lives. It is very useful for us because it allows us to communicate faster with others. A high percentage of cell phone owners text every day and most of them are young adults. Since these young adults send almost 100 text messages a day, it is no surprise that their method of texting has found its way into the classroom. There are a great number of studies that talk about the way the informal language in texts hinder kids from understanding how to write and speak properly. While some young adults think that it helps them improve their communication skills, experts say that it ruins the English language.

          Many teachers are disheartened by this kind of technology for they believe that it destroys the students' comprehension in the English language. They claim that using abbreviated words in order to save space and time distorts their ability to use words properly and their ability to express themselves eloquently through writing.They also say that many students turn in papers with poor punctuation, misspellings, and bad grammar. But there are also some teachers that praise texting because it is opening up a new world of writing for students that the classroom was never able to. Simply put, it is developing its own kind of grammar. Some texting acronyms were even added to the Oxford English Dictionary and have been constantly growing for each passing year. It also seems that there are a lot of studies saying that texting increases reading skills and drives speed and brevity of communication.

           Even though I have my own cell phone, I never got addicted to texting. Yes I text very often but it was only because it was necessary or because it was for an emergency. If you ask me about whether texting ruins my knowledge on the English language or not, my answer would be no. Simply because I believe that learning another's language doesn't affect one's ability to use proper English as long as the person knows the grammar rules and therefore knows the difference between colloquial speech and correct English.