The Effects of Text Messaging and Instant Messaging

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The Effects of Text Messaging and Instant Messaging on Literacy Lieke Verheijen

To cite this article: Lieke Verheijen (2013) The Effects of Text Messaging and Instant Messaging on Literacy, English Studies, 94:5, 582-602, DOI: 10.1080/0013838X.2013.795737 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2013.795737

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English Studies, 2013 Vol. 94, No. 5, 582–602, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2013.795737

The Effects of Text Messaging and Instant Messaging on Literacy

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Lieke Verheijen

This article reviews empirical studies published in the last decade on the effects of text messaging and instant messaging on literacy to determine whether they positively or negatively affect literacy. Although the majority of studies found a positive correlation between texting and/or instant messaging and literacy, others found a negative correlation, while still others report conflicting findings or no significant correlation at all. The studies reveal that literacy scores may correlate differently with frequency of texting, use of textese/textisms and knowledge of textisms; that there may be different correlations for reading, writing and spelling; and that the correlations may differ for formal and informal writing. The mixed results could also be caused by differences in the designs and populations of the studies. In addition, the correlational analyses conducted in most of the studies do not warrant conclusions about causality. All this suggests that there is a need for further research, preferably longitudinal studies with experimental intervention, on the relationship between text messaging or instant messaging and literacy.

txtin iz messin, mi headn’me englis, try2rite essays, they all come out txtis. gran not plsed w/letters shes getn, swears i wrote better b4 comin2uni. &she’s African Hetty Hughes1

Lieke Verheijen is affiliated with Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Email: liekeverheijen27@hotmail. com 1 Hughes.

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The Effects of Messaging on Literacy

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1. Introduction

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1.1 The Language of Texting and Instant Messaging The poem presented above by Hetty Hughes was the winning entry in the first year of the text poetry competition of The Guardian, which required competitors to write poems no longer than 160 characters. It strikingly embodies three aspects that are crucial for the issue discussed in this review paper. First, the language in which text messages are composed may be quite different from standard spelling and grammar conventions. Second, the language of texting has become so widespread that a respected newspaper has even organized a poetry contest dedicated to it. And third, as the first four lines reveal (“texting is messing my head and my English; try to write essays, they all come out textese”), this electronic writing has become so influential that it may even affect conventional writing skills. The last decade has seen a massive and rapid increase of short message service (SMS) text messaging and instant messaging (IM or IMing) among the younger generations due to increased ownership of mobile phones and personal computers, even by schoolaged children. Let me first explain what these phenomena entail. Texting, which originated around the turn of the century, is the exchange of brief text messages between mobile phones. IM became popular in the beginning of the twenty-first century. It is the online exchange of text messages between two or more individuals (i) using a mobile phone application or an Internet application, (ii) through a social networking site or (iii) within an online game. Both are forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC), the difference being that IMing is real-time, that is synchronous CMC, whereas texting is asynchronous CMC. These two forms of communication use a language which has many features in common. It is referred to by a variety of terms, including “SMS language”, “text language”, “SMS speak”, “textspeak” and “textese”; I will use the term “textese” throughout this paper. In such language, standard spelling conventions and grammar rules are often disregarded and the use of “textisms” is prevalent. These orthographically unconventional language forms are used for a number of reasons. They function as shortcuts to reduce writing time for a quick response. They achieve the brevity and economy required by the confines of a 160-character text message limit, a small screen and an alphanumeric keypad with several letters assigned to each key.2 In short, they can save time, space and money. Plus, they are considered “cool” by many young people. Textese can include the following types of textisms, many of which are exemplified in the aforementioned poem:3

2

See Kemp. It has to be noted, though, that the screens of mobile phones are becoming increasingly larger to facilitate use of the mobile web and that more and more mobile phones include a QWERTY keyboard or touch screen, a text entry method which does not require the use of multiple keystrokes. This takes away some of the reasons for using textisms. 3 Taxonomies of textisms and terminology used to describe them differ considerably among studies: the number of categories distinguished varies and the same phenomena are referred to with different terms.

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orthographic abbreviations/contractions (e.g. msg for message, tmrw for tomorrow); phonological abbreviations (thru for through, skool for school, thanx for thanks); acronyms/initialisms (ttyl for talk to you later, omg for oh my God, brb for be right back); clippings/shortenings (goin for going, feb for February, xam for exam); single letter/number homophones (c for see, u for you, 2 for to/too, 4 for for); combined letter/number homophones (NE1 for anyone, 2day for today, l8r for later); emoticons/smileys (:-) for happy, :-( for sad); typographic symbols (x for kiss,