Technology

After reading the article, Is Chatspeak Destroying English, I have to say that I agree and disagree with both sides. The yes side feels that if younger students write in chatspeak all the time, that it will greatly hinder their normal, everyday speech and writing skills. According to Linda Howard, a supporter of the issue, “When students are thoroughly immersed in the culture of instant messaging, meaningful written expression may be hindered because their mindset is that of the shared culture of other students, and the common language is chatspeak, not traditional English.” What she is meaning is that students text so much, that they have become fully immersed in this “new” language which only offers them bad habits when speaking or writing correct English. She also believes that because they are starting this behavior at younger and younger ages, it will be more difficult for them to distinguish “between acceptable and unacceptable dialogue.” She goes on to say that in high school and college, students will need to have the ability to speak and write properly and she feels that “Students may very well become so familiar and comfortable with chatspeak that it will be difficult to switch gears and construct adequate, meaningful academic papers and other assignments.”

The ‘No” side is taken by a man named Greg Monfils. He believes that chatspeak is not destroying English and is nothing more than learning another language which schools promote. He says that he has students who email him all the time using chatspeak and then write very well done papers with proper English. He feels that the students know the difference. He states, “I strongly suspect, based on my experience at a laptop school where
kids communicate with each other and with their teachers in chatspeak, that their subversion of standardized
English has no appreciable effect on their command of written English. They code switch. Nor do I believe that their command of written English would increase appreciably if they would only forego chatspeak and strive to exhibit a command of written English at all times.” He feels that these kids actually have a better awareness of English through chatspeak because they are able to modify it for chatspeak and then change it back. He agrees that chatspeak can get extremely annoying and aggravating, especially for and English teacher, but he does say that the message of what they want to ask him does come across. He also feels that if chatspeak is seeping into written in English it’s due more in part to “rebelliousness as opposed to obliviousness.” He does not agree with substituting numbers for words or letters but he actually doesn’t quite understand why we don’t use different spellings for words. “Why shouldn’t “you” be spelled “u”? We don’t spell “I” “aye” or “eye,” do we? We could also agree to spell “eye” “I.” If you agree, you might say, “I I.” And I know no reason why we don’t spell “know” “no.” Indeed, Word wouldn’t let me spell “know” as “no” in the third word of the last sentence.”

Both of the people make convincing arguments. It is hard for me to decide on who I agree with. I also use chatspeak and I do find it difficult, at least when I first start writing, to transition from chatspeak into written English, but I do always return and write very well. However, I did not start texting until a few years ago. I was not immersed in the “new” language since I was young. I definitely feel that would have a stronger effect than starting when you’re older.