Does Texting Hurt Kids' Writing?

By Linda Morgan

Glanced at your child’s text messages lately? No? How about her e-mail or IMs? If you take a peek, you’ll find plenty of sentence fragments, emoticons and shortcuts like LOL (laugh out loud) and BFF (best friends forever). Punctuation? Forget about it.

Which begs the question: Where has all the good writing gone? Chances are, you won’t find it anywhere around the e-communication world. Even blogging tends to be informal, as do the observations and insights teens share on their Facebook pages.

Is this a bad omen for the classic research paper and the quintessential five-paragraph essay? Could be, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. While teens don’t think technology has an impact on their writing, many of the kids surveyed said e-writing style does filter into their schoolwork. “Overall, nearly two-thirds of teens say they incorporate some informal styles from their text-based communications into their writing at school,” according to the study. 

As if that’s not enough to induce panic in the hearts of parents and teachers everywhere, here’s more: Only about a third of the country’s eighth-graders are proficient writers, according to the U.S. Department of Education study “The Nation’s Report Card: Writing 2007.” The findings did note some improvements: The average writing score for eighth-graders in 2007 was three points higher than in 2002 and six points higher than in 1998. 

There’s a growing awareness among educators that kids need writing skills for life, not just to pass high school English or a state-mandated standardized test. “Our goal is to prepare kids to be good writers,” says Julie Manley, a language arts curriculum coach and teacher. 
Writing—in all its forms—matters, says Manley, no matter what field kids pursue. “A scientist needs to publish well-written papers. An employer expects employees to be able to write.” And yes, it’s even important, she says, to be able to compose readable, coherent e-mail correspondence. 

English and language arts teachers are downright passionate about teaching writing and literacy skills, and they voice frustration when parents don’t share their zeal. 

“We are a grade-centric society,” says Heather Hoffacker, Department Chair of language arts at the high school where she teaches. “Parents often worry more about how their child is doing than about what they are doing. And that’s not the point. If they’re not literate and critical thinkers, how do they expect to be successful?” 

How can parents teach young children to value writing? 

Language arts teacher Julie Manley offers these tips to help kids’ critical thinking skills and encourage their love of the written word: 

• Explain to your children that a story has a beginning, middle and end.
• Help them create and put together their own books.
• Examine the print features of written words out-loud with your little ones: Why is a title in capital letters? Why does the question mark go here?
• Ask your child why the author uses one particular word instead of another.
• Introduce your kids to different kinds of books and writing. Talk to them about the different purposes behind a science journal, a newspaper or a fantasy book.
• Read to your children frequently and play around with words.