What Should You Do If Your Students Start Using Chatspeak in Assignments?
Guest Writer: Agatha Singer
As it always is with the matters related to teaching, your reaction to some issue should be determined on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, if your students start using chatspeak in their creative writing assignments you should stop and think. Why exactly are they doing this? In some cases, this can be considered a legitimate method of expression. But there are also situations where you’ll need to correct this issue before it turns into a bad habit.
Is Chatspeak the Enemy?
There is this trend for demonizing chatspeak today. Demonizing anything social media and Internet-related really. You can see hundreds of articles and hear dozens of impassionate speeches on how children are wasting away staring at smartphone screens, how they make dangerous connections through social media, or how hanging out online, in general, lowers the IQ of an entire generation.
It’s sad to admit that in a way, all of that is true. However, if you stop and think on the matter a bit more, you might remember that a few decades back you could hear all the same things about television.
And before that, there were radio programs, which ‘corrupted the innocent minds’ with scandalous stories.
And before that, people invented print and book burnings came right after that. During some of those, scholars, authors, and printers were CONTINUE READING: What Should You Do If Your Students Start Using Chatspeak in Assignments? - Teacher Habits
