It's interesting to see that people have started to revolt against netspeak or textspeak, with a Facebook page created for people against talking "lyk dis". Many of the people I have seen join this page are people I went to school with who I used to get annoyed at when talking to them on messenger. Personally, I've never been a fan and I have gotten much flack from people who ask me why I insist on using full English text in phone messages and chat windows - the answer is simple; I've worked hard to become fluently English, so why should I discount that? I don't think there is a place in school for using netspeak, despite what David Crystal might say. It's not necessary, especially when it seems that it is being phased out (in terms of microblogging, I rarely see abbreviations of vowels in people's Twitter feeds). The basics of English are still having to be taught to many year 7s and above, so I really can't stand up and defend using Netspeak in the classroom at all.
On another note, I'm less enthusiastic about wikis now, as I tried setting one up earlier and got a headache!
Hopefully, a more lighthearted post will appear during the break (I did see Chicago the other week and I'm eager to give a review), so until then...
Happy travels!
Bee scientific
1 year ago
Given the relative newness of the txtspk phenomenon, I think it's important that each individual teacher makes his or her own decisions about its use in the classroom. Just a couple of quick points:
ReplyDelete- The reason for a codeswitching approach is not to teach txtspk but rather to emphasise when/how/why it's important to switch out of it; in other words, it's about setting boundaries.
- Many of the big TESOL textbook publishers have already begun to include some txtspk exercises along with other exercises on register and digital literacy. I suspect we'll see a similar movement across most textbooks in the coming few years. That doesn't mean any individual teacher has to do such exercises with students, but it makes it an easier option if you wish to do so.