Saturday, September 05, 2009
Even More Research: Technology Is Making Kids Better Writers, Not Worse
Techdirt: "Every few months or so, we read about some freaked out reporter/columnist/pundit/politician complaining about how the internet and texting are destroying kids' ability to write. Yet, pretty much every study on the subject has found the opposite to be true. Study after study after study after study after study have all found that kids today are better writers than in the past."
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20 comments:
My reaction to texting, instant messaging, social networking, and I guess other modern uses for written communication has always been a fear that people will slowly begin to write the same way they talk since that's what at least texting and instant messaging emulates. I don't have the fear that slowly the English language will turn into a system of acronyms and words lacking vowels, I'm just worried that eventually I'll read a book or article that consists of nothing but run on sentences.
I think that the article accurately points out that the most fascinating transition is the need for people to write for an audience. The definition of good writing has become convincing writing, but I think that this has become a trend because of the ability of students to recognize bad writing. Because they have access to amateur writers and quality writers so easily at their fingertips it becomes easier to define what qualifies as "good."
I'm surprised that its been shown that texting, IMing, email, etc has actually improved this generations writing skills. However, I'm not sure that what they deem as an improvement actually is one. Language use is complex, and I'm certainly not one to say that I'm an eloquent writer in any way. I do find, though, that as I use faster ways to communicate though writing via texting or email, the range of my vocabulary becomes more and more limited. Many words are used to express something different than their original meaning so that they can fill the place of a less common term.
I definitely agree that the increase in the use of technology for communication has improved writing skills, mostly because it creates more opportunities to practice those skills. Instead of being a hassle, writing has now become a part of everyday life, and therefore creates more time to hone in on the necessary skills. Typically, the more someone practices, the better they will become.
I can easily see how writing could improve with advanced technology today. Does grammar improve with easy tools like spell check and online thesaurus? Probably not. Still, kids nowadays can find information about any subject almost instantly. It's so much easier to write creatively because there are so many more and easier resources to get a hold of.
I am slightly curious as to what this "studying" about students is. I would greatly appreciate some links to whatever these studies are to see the credibility of what the author is saying.
i agree that txting and other technology has made children wright more then they did before to. and this is having them wight more then they presume they are writhing.
Interesting study they have going on. The introduction to many new technologies do make it easier for people to communicate by writing. They mentioned texting and other digital communications that people use constantly nowadays. Things you used to have to call someone about, can now be taken care of by email or a simple text.
I can see how people would think that texting and the internet would make kids become bad writers. It reminds me how people use to think that watching too much tv would make children stupid. Well this has also been disproved. I think that people are just as scared of technology as they are dependent on it.
The idea of writing for an audience is a very important concept. All of what we do in theater is for an audience, so we should understand how much easier it is when we write to an audience. I know that when i'm writing for a class, just for the professor, it is a different kind of writing than if i'm writing on this blog, or writing an e-mail, or writing a proposal that i am truly passionate about. We would not have all the experts complaining about how technology is making us worse writers if those experts looked at the writing we don't do for them. In this case, the quantity of quality does make sense.
The proliferation of the internet has definitely had an impact on the evolution of people's writing as a whole. There is constant contact and need to express opinions and ideas effectively and efficiently now, not only on the internet, but through texting and other mediums. All of this is only possible through the constant writing down of ideas. I think it's interesting that this constant communication, since it often manifests itself in strange ways (txt spk, etc.), has actually helped to improve the writing ability of people and has contributed to greater literary development.
I would somewhat have to disagree with this study. There is probably a spike in creative writing but how much has it approved our grammer and vocabulary? I admit, there are certain words I never spell write because I've become accustomed to autocorrect on Word. In addition, it takes more than just writing more to become better writers. You need to couple that with reading. Granted, this might mean people are reading more but are they reading informal writings that eventually leads to the domino effect of incorrect writing standards or style? I find it hard to believe that we are better writers with technology. We are better writers because we have computers. Plain and simple.
The really interesting comment to me in this article is that in the past, outside of work and school there were not many reasons to write at lenght. This makes sense when you think about it, but it is hard to think how much and how often I write in a day. But outside of notes I take in class, I never really write at length without a computer. Its very interesting to think about how different the world is today from how it used to be, and it is releiving to hear of a way that it is actually getting better.
Finally, an article and study that isn't slamming new technology and its replacing of the "normal" forms of writing and research, and presents new ideas in a way that are somewhat logical. I saw an article the other day that a friend posted on Facebook that was about a private high school getting rid of books in the library and replacing them with Amazon.com kindles. It seems that people either are ALL for books or ALL for new technology--nobody seems to be looking into using both.
The point about instant messaging, blogging, and having the ability to voice yourself online actually surprised me. I just hadn't given it the thought. Whenever I am blogging online, I do seem to try and make myself sound intelligent, rather than stuffing a page with chat-speak and online lingo. If people want to be taken seriously, they'll write like they're serious. If they're talking with a friend on IM, they'll talk differently.
I really am anxious to see new studies and technological innovations in the coming years that are able to synthesize the two "old" and "new" world strains of thought.
I was reading an article on Digg this morning about how spell check is making us "dumb." However, I can't even imagine how this is true. I agree completely with the author of this article, and I've noticed it in my daily life too.
My mother is a high school teacher, and she has mentioned this before too. She says that all the other teachers in her school think that computers are making their students worse writers. Then, in a workshop, my mom asked her fellow teachers to find and bring in a sample of their own writing from high school or college. Those teachers that could find it were completely in awe of how much better their student's work was than their own.
Personally, I think the reason the younger generation values writing for an audience so strongly is that that's the way high school English classes are teaching these days. I can only speak for my high school experience, but I was taught in every English class that I took that whenever you write something you have to think of who your audience is and consider your opposition. I'm sure that the increase in Internet communication has also contributed to this trend, but for me I think it mainly comes from a change in teaching method.
I'd like to think a large part of this is due to the culture surrounding internet communities; participatory culture is something yet to be harnessed effectively as a creative force and yet when enlisted to do a commercial or artistic work, triumphs marvelously.
Technology and the way we interact with it changes the way our brains are wired. Ancient Greeks were wary of the written word; you couldn't argue with a text the way you could with a person. Texts could be altered. Readers were in danger of taking everything at face value and scholars were in danger of becoming lazy.Philosophers preferred to keep everything in their memories rather than on paper.
Now, such a mentality is almost unheard of as we place a huge sacristy on the written word. We just have to redefine our relationship with it as contextualized by the internet. It's changing us already.
Wow, an article that actually approves of current technology affecting our writing and generation. It's so interesting to find out that all the ways of communication we have now are actually making us better writers. Having computers and constantly being in contact with others through written words seems to actually be doing some good.
It will be interesting to see this study continue and be made more public. While students do use text speech on occasion, the overall level of writing going up is an amazing accomplishment. Thanks technology!
I think that the problem many people have with technology and child literacy is founded in the amount of time kids spend with technology. People have been claiming that children using the internet and aim and texting is inhibiting their language skills, but I think that the issue is with the children who spend hours and hours in these activities. They are not exploring other forms of entertainment like reading, which might explain some people's aversion to children being so immersed in technology.
I think that the problem many people have with technology and child literacy is founded in the amount of time kids spend with technology. People have been claiming that children using the internet and aim and texting is inhibiting their language skills, but I think that the issue is with the children who spend hours and hours in these activities. They are not exploring other forms of entertainment like reading, which might explain some people's aversion to children being so immersed in technology.
This is a really interesting viewpoint because I generally tend to view technology as a hindrance to education, but now that I've read this article, I can see how writing online can help our writing skills overall. If you think about the number of emails and texts that we send a day, we actually write a lot, and all for the sake of communication, so when we try to write something bigger like a research paper arguing a certain point, we are more able to communicate our ideas to our audience.
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