Is The Internet Really Bad For Today´s Generation's Literacy Skills?
Is the Internet Really Bad for Today’s Generation’s Literacy Skills?
A POSITION PAPER BY: Philline Lopez April 8, 2013
The internet has been one of the – if not the most - major advancements in technology that this century had to offer. It has opened us to countless possibilities and it paved way for an easier means of communication and information-access. The internet is considered the largest information base. Because of the internet, access to information has become less problematic. Typing a word on a search engine can give you thousands of results that are related and somewhat relevant to your search query. Indeed, information has become just one click …show more content…
away. The Internet also provides us with efficient means of communication. Emails allow people separated by great seas to be in touch. Social Networking and Blogging have become a platform for discussion. We depend on the internet for updates and current news. Unknowingly, the internet has become an integral part of our lives (Oak).
The internet has affected various aspects of human lives. One of them would be literacy. Literacy is defined as the state of being literate or having the ability to make and communicate from the use of variety of socially contextual symbols (Bridgew.edu). In simpler terms, it is the ability to read and write. As much as literacy is usually associated with just the ability to read, we must be informed that writing and critical thinking are just as important in literacy. The increasing popularity of the internet has given rise to novel forms of literary presentation and self-expression. On the other hand, some believe that the internet harms the literacy skills of people, especially of children because they are more exposed to these online activities. Undoubtedly, a better understanding on the Internet’s impact on literacy, especially those of children, can give valuable insight into the future of the written word.
Looking back in history, we can see that literacy and technology change together. With technological advances in the past such as the invention of the printing press and typewriters, the availability of literary works has increased. Copies of books could be written and distributed easily (Saez). Now, with the internet, writing and distributing of essays, stories and various forms of literature have even increased dramatically. They are afterall shared and accessed easily.
A study conducted by the National Literacy Trust found that writing blogs and being active in social networking sites helped enhance the confidence of children in their writing abilities.
It also helped change the attitude of these children towards writing for the better. The survey of more than 3,000 children between nine and sixteen revealed that of these respondents, 49% consider writing as boring. However, students who use blogs found writing more enjoyable than those who do not have blogs, as seen from the results where 60% of the bloggers really enjoy writing and only 40% of non-bloggers actually find writing entertaining (Norman).
The study also revealed that students with blogs or are active in social networks have greater confidence in their writing ability than those who do not. Sixty percent of those who do blogging claimed to have “good” writing skills while only about 47 percent had the same claim for those who don’t use online formats. Having a blog also has an effect on the writing behavior of the children and teenagers. It was found out that youngsters who are active online have a greater probability of keeping a journal, writing short stories, letters or song …show more content…
(Teachers.ab).
Raising one’s self esteem is very important, be it in writing or in any other things. When you don’t have any self-confidence, you won’t even start doing something, probably thinking that you’ll just embarrass yourself. But what about your potential to actually make a difference if you actually do something? I believe many people out there have brilliant ideas but lack the actual skill to clearly express themselves. And they will continue to do so if they don’t get to practice at all.
Practice is very important in writing.
It allows you to discover new styles on your own. It opens you to the different techniques and it gives you the feel of how to write. Today’s generation is privileged to have an access to the internet where they can see various styles of writing and this exposure will help improve that writing skills of the students. Also, the internet is a place where everything they write down can be appreciated by their peers. And that is a major motivation for them to actually hone their skills so that they won’t sound dumb to others. It might sound shallow as it looks like they’re writing to impress but their intensive thinking can lead them to discover good ideas and that’s definitely a start. What’s important is that they actually get the motivation to start writing because in the long run, they will slowly improve in their writing as a
whole.
Imagine our parents or the parents of our parents. When do they actually get to write? Maybe those who already love writing keep journals or write short stories but how about those average people who don’t really have a passion for writing? They only get to write when their teacher asks them to! They’re just doing it because it’s compulsory. It can even just be a one paragraph essay that will just go straight to the teacher’s drawer after it is checked, never to be seen again. What then will motivate them to write more just for the sake of writing? Nothing.
Dr Spencer Jordan, a creative writing teacher in the School of Education at the University of Wales, notes that web technologies encourage young people to write confidently about things they enjoy. He said, “When I was a kid, I used to write in exercise books kept in a drawer, but now that young people write on the web, there’s a whole community out there to read their work. It’s interactive, and that makes it more appealing to them.” Jordan thinks that encouraging students to share their writing improves their confidence in their writing abilities. “In the old days of teaching creative writing it was difficult to share each other’s work without shuffling notebooks around. Now we just put all our work on the web and people can look at it whenever they want.” adds Dr. Jordan and then he continues, “It’s not just about creative writing either. A lot of our students write music reviews or set up their own web pages about their own interests. It means they’re practising writing both formally and informally and it’s something they enjoy.” (Norman). And what’s a better thing than learning and doing something you actually enjoy?
Text messaging is now the world’s most popular form of communication with 5 trillion SMS messages sent worldwide in 2009 – greater than e-mail and face-to-face conversations. In addition to this, more than 65 million Twitter messages are sent daily, along with 4 billion messages on Facebook. But the real problem starts with the character limit of each status or tweet.. Because of these limits, a whole new way of writing has emerged – Contractions, Acronyms, and Neglecting Punctuation Marks. For example, ‘great’ becoming ‘g8’, ‘you’ becoming ‘u’, ‘the’ becoming ‘da’, ‘because’ becoming ‘cuz’, ‘talk to you later’ becoming ‘TTYL’ and ‘laugh out loud’ being written as ‘LOL’. These contractions are at the heart of the concern about declining literacy (Debnam).
But are these concerns really justified? Contrary to popular belief, a research study in Midwestern University in USA found out that the literacy rate and the rate of mistakes in spelling was just about the same to those who do and don’t use “text-speak”. There are also studies by researchers at Coventry University in the UK on middle grade students that suggest that becoming good in text-speak has good effects because reading and writing using the internet still gives you equal exposure to the written word with reading and writing that word via the traditional book or paper. The researchers also state that the children are not only learning the traditional, old ways of writing but also the new, sophisticated ways of playing with language and this, if anything, actually helps increase their literacy (Debnam).
A well known linguist, David Crystal, argues that English has been evolving over the centuries and coining new words is nothing new. Some contractions in the past are even so established that they have been accepted in the Oxford English Dictionary! Words such as ‘exam’ and ‘bus’ are even too common that most wouldn’t even know they are contractions (Debnam).
Children and teenagers are pretty sophisticated. We know when to not use our contractions like when speaking to authority or writing in formal essays or schoolwork. We just use them for fun in social networks so there shouldn’t be much of a problem. Indeed, I might agree with the fact that we might sometimes slip up in Social Networks and sometimes compromise grammar and spelling. But I believe that’s what the English subjects in our childhood are for. They are there to correct our mistakes and to slowly mold our writing skills. I don’t think literacy skills center on the person’s ability to spell correctly or to write with no error in grammar. Isn’t the main purpose of writing is to be able to impart to others our thoughts and ideas? To be able to communicate with the people around you?
The Internet provides us a platform to express ourselves and to learn while still having fun. It helps us appreciate writing by exposing us to various stories online and allowing us to write for our peers. By simply expressing our opinion on our wants and our dislikes, we unknowingly learn how to write better. The desire to write is priceless. The want to express yourself and to share your ideas is worth more than technical correctness. Nothing good comes out when we are forced to do something. We must learn to love what we are doing. In writing, only when we are truly passionate in what we are writing can there truly be a great literary piece of work.
References:
“Can Social Networking Boost Literacy Skills?” Teachers.ab.ca. Alberta Teachers Association. 2010. Web.March
Clark, Laura. 2009. “Books Left on the Shelf: A Fifth of Pupils Only Read Blogs and Magaines.” Daily Mail (London, England).
Debnam, Mio. “Is the Standard of Children’s Literacy Declining Because of Testing or Online Social Networking?” November 26, 2010. Web. March 25, 2013.
MacLeod, Fiona. 2008. “Texts, Blogs and Facebook: The New Literacy.” The Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland).
Norman, Katie. 2009. “Facebook Can Help To Improve Writing Skills: Networking Boosts Ability and Confidence.” Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales).
Oak, Manali. “Positive Effects of the Internet.” Buzzle.com. 2013. Web. March 27, 2013.
Saex, Alex. “The Internet 's Effects on Literacy” eHow.com . Web. March 25, 2013
A POSITION PAPER BY: Philline Lopez April 8, 2013
The internet has been one of the – if not the most - major advancements in technology that this century had to offer. It has opened us to countless possibilities and it paved way for an easier means of communication and information-access. The internet is considered the largest information base. Because of the internet, access to information has become less problematic. Typing a word on a search engine can give you thousands of results that are related and somewhat relevant to your search query. Indeed, information has become just one click …show more content…
away. The Internet also provides us with efficient means of communication. Emails allow people separated by great seas to be in touch. Social Networking and Blogging have become a platform for discussion. We depend on the internet for updates and current news. Unknowingly, the internet has become an integral part of our lives (Oak).
The internet has affected various aspects of human lives. One of them would be literacy. Literacy is defined as the state of being literate or having the ability to make and communicate from the use of variety of socially contextual symbols (Bridgew.edu). In simpler terms, it is the ability to read and write. As much as literacy is usually associated with just the ability to read, we must be informed that writing and critical thinking are just as important in literacy. The increasing popularity of the internet has given rise to novel forms of literary presentation and self-expression. On the other hand, some believe that the internet harms the literacy skills of people, especially of children because they are more exposed to these online activities. Undoubtedly, a better understanding on the Internet’s impact on literacy, especially those of children, can give valuable insight into the future of the written word.
Looking back in history, we can see that literacy and technology change together. With technological advances in the past such as the invention of the printing press and typewriters, the availability of literary works has increased. Copies of books could be written and distributed easily (Saez). Now, with the internet, writing and distributing of essays, stories and various forms of literature have even increased dramatically. They are afterall shared and accessed easily.
A study conducted by the National Literacy Trust found that writing blogs and being active in social networking sites helped enhance the confidence of children in their writing abilities.
It also helped change the attitude of these children towards writing for the better. The survey of more than 3,000 children between nine and sixteen revealed that of these respondents, 49% consider writing as boring. However, students who use blogs found writing more enjoyable than those who do not have blogs, as seen from the results where 60% of the bloggers really enjoy writing and only 40% of non-bloggers actually find writing entertaining (Norman).
The study also revealed that students with blogs or are active in social networks have greater confidence in their writing ability than those who do not. Sixty percent of those who do blogging claimed to have “good” writing skills while only about 47 percent had the same claim for those who don’t use online formats. Having a blog also has an effect on the writing behavior of the children and teenagers. It was found out that youngsters who are active online have a greater probability of keeping a journal, writing short stories, letters or song …show more content…
(Teachers.ab).
Raising one’s self esteem is very important, be it in writing or in any other things. When you don’t have any self-confidence, you won’t even start doing something, probably thinking that you’ll just embarrass yourself. But what about your potential to actually make a difference if you actually do something? I believe many people out there have brilliant ideas but lack the actual skill to clearly express themselves. And they will continue to do so if they don’t get to practice at all.
Practice is very important in writing.
It allows you to discover new styles on your own. It opens you to the different techniques and it gives you the feel of how to write. Today’s generation is privileged to have an access to the internet where they can see various styles of writing and this exposure will help improve that writing skills of the students. Also, the internet is a place where everything they write down can be appreciated by their peers. And that is a major motivation for them to actually hone their skills so that they won’t sound dumb to others. It might sound shallow as it looks like they’re writing to impress but their intensive thinking can lead them to discover good ideas and that’s definitely a start. What’s important is that they actually get the motivation to start writing because in the long run, they will slowly improve in their writing as a
whole.
Imagine our parents or the parents of our parents. When do they actually get to write? Maybe those who already love writing keep journals or write short stories but how about those average people who don’t really have a passion for writing? They only get to write when their teacher asks them to! They’re just doing it because it’s compulsory. It can even just be a one paragraph essay that will just go straight to the teacher’s drawer after it is checked, never to be seen again. What then will motivate them to write more just for the sake of writing? Nothing.
Dr Spencer Jordan, a creative writing teacher in the School of Education at the University of Wales, notes that web technologies encourage young people to write confidently about things they enjoy. He said, “When I was a kid, I used to write in exercise books kept in a drawer, but now that young people write on the web, there’s a whole community out there to read their work. It’s interactive, and that makes it more appealing to them.” Jordan thinks that encouraging students to share their writing improves their confidence in their writing abilities. “In the old days of teaching creative writing it was difficult to share each other’s work without shuffling notebooks around. Now we just put all our work on the web and people can look at it whenever they want.” adds Dr. Jordan and then he continues, “It’s not just about creative writing either. A lot of our students write music reviews or set up their own web pages about their own interests. It means they’re practising writing both formally and informally and it’s something they enjoy.” (Norman). And what’s a better thing than learning and doing something you actually enjoy?
Text messaging is now the world’s most popular form of communication with 5 trillion SMS messages sent worldwide in 2009 – greater than e-mail and face-to-face conversations. In addition to this, more than 65 million Twitter messages are sent daily, along with 4 billion messages on Facebook. But the real problem starts with the character limit of each status or tweet.. Because of these limits, a whole new way of writing has emerged – Contractions, Acronyms, and Neglecting Punctuation Marks. For example, ‘great’ becoming ‘g8’, ‘you’ becoming ‘u’, ‘the’ becoming ‘da’, ‘because’ becoming ‘cuz’, ‘talk to you later’ becoming ‘TTYL’ and ‘laugh out loud’ being written as ‘LOL’. These contractions are at the heart of the concern about declining literacy (Debnam).
But are these concerns really justified? Contrary to popular belief, a research study in Midwestern University in USA found out that the literacy rate and the rate of mistakes in spelling was just about the same to those who do and don’t use “text-speak”. There are also studies by researchers at Coventry University in the UK on middle grade students that suggest that becoming good in text-speak has good effects because reading and writing using the internet still gives you equal exposure to the written word with reading and writing that word via the traditional book or paper. The researchers also state that the children are not only learning the traditional, old ways of writing but also the new, sophisticated ways of playing with language and this, if anything, actually helps increase their literacy (Debnam).
A well known linguist, David Crystal, argues that English has been evolving over the centuries and coining new words is nothing new. Some contractions in the past are even so established that they have been accepted in the Oxford English Dictionary! Words such as ‘exam’ and ‘bus’ are even too common that most wouldn’t even know they are contractions (Debnam).
Children and teenagers are pretty sophisticated. We know when to not use our contractions like when speaking to authority or writing in formal essays or schoolwork. We just use them for fun in social networks so there shouldn’t be much of a problem. Indeed, I might agree with the fact that we might sometimes slip up in Social Networks and sometimes compromise grammar and spelling. But I believe that’s what the English subjects in our childhood are for. They are there to correct our mistakes and to slowly mold our writing skills. I don’t think literacy skills center on the person’s ability to spell correctly or to write with no error in grammar. Isn’t the main purpose of writing is to be able to impart to others our thoughts and ideas? To be able to communicate with the people around you?
The Internet provides us a platform to express ourselves and to learn while still having fun. It helps us appreciate writing by exposing us to various stories online and allowing us to write for our peers. By simply expressing our opinion on our wants and our dislikes, we unknowingly learn how to write better. The desire to write is priceless. The want to express yourself and to share your ideas is worth more than technical correctness. Nothing good comes out when we are forced to do something. We must learn to love what we are doing. In writing, only when we are truly passionate in what we are writing can there truly be a great literary piece of work.
References:
“Can Social Networking Boost Literacy Skills?” Teachers.ab.ca. Alberta Teachers Association. 2010. Web.March
Clark, Laura. 2009. “Books Left on the Shelf: A Fifth of Pupils Only Read Blogs and Magaines.” Daily Mail (London, England).
Debnam, Mio. “Is the Standard of Children’s Literacy Declining Because of Testing or Online Social Networking?” November 26, 2010. Web. March 25, 2013.
MacLeod, Fiona. 2008. “Texts, Blogs and Facebook: The New Literacy.” The Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland).
Norman, Katie. 2009. “Facebook Can Help To Improve Writing Skills: Networking Boosts Ability and Confidence.” Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales).
Oak, Manali. “Positive Effects of the Internet.” Buzzle.com. 2013. Web. March 27, 2013.
Saex, Alex. “The Internet 's Effects on Literacy” eHow.com . Web. March 25, 2013