I do not think that Chatspeak is destroying English whatsoever. The concern I am hearing is that students will become accustomed to Chatspeak and their written and verbal English skills will deteriorate. This makes no sense to me.
Chatspeak is reactionary; it was invented to best suit the medium it is used for (text messaging, instant messaging, etc.). I do not think that just because students text their friends using shortened and abbreviated lettering, they will in turn not know how to use the English language properly for other mediums.
I speak differently to my friends than I would to a supervisor at work; we frequently modify our use of the English language in our everyday lives to best suit the situation. Greg Monfils in the article says, “Yes, we’ve standardized grammar, spelling, and so on since Chaucer, but kids live to challenge standards. It doesn’t mean that they don’t know what the standards are.” I agree with that statement. I think they understand the standards and if they are using Chatspeak inappropriately, it’s our job as their teachers to help them understand when to use it and which situations call for a more formal approach to the language. Using it appropriately is the issue, but I don’t think Chatspeak is actually weakening their ability to use the language to express deeper meaning.
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