But not really. I believe that chatspeak is destroying the language of students today. I have a younger brother, he is 19, who occasionally uses chatspeak when we are talking. Usually he will throw a "LOLZ" into the conversation and start cracking up because he knows it will bother me. I do not feel that it is necessary for people to use these phrases in conversation. By sending text messages or IMs people are already saving time by cutting out a face to face conversation. How much time does it save a person to write out "wut r u doing?" versus "What are you doing?" NO TIME AT ALL.
Linda Howard, a student working toward her Master's of Education, believes that chatspeak has effected other areas of student's learning. She writes, "Chatspeak is destroying students’ command of written English, in the sense that whatever we engage in for a long period of time will most likely become commonplace." Because students are using chatspeak so often, it has started to infiltrate their formal writing.
On the opposite side of the argument, teacher Greg Monfils does not believe that chatspeak is destroying the English language. He works in a school where each student uses a laptop throughout the day, to communicate with students and teachers and also as a learning tool. Monfils believes that students use chatspeak because they know it aggravates adults. It is almost like their secret code. When he sees teachers get upset at the usage of chatspeak,he observes that "to the extent that we rail against it, well, that makes it even more attractive to kids." He believes that we cannot fight its usage; it is going to happen whether teachers like it or not.
I have lots of questions about this topic. Unfortunately, I do not see an immediate solution. How can teachers stop students from using chatspeak? Teachers do not have access to students' cell phones or emails, which means they cannot monitor the usage there. Teachers must make it clear at the beginning of the school year that chatspeak is not acceptable in the classroom. But what about the teachers who do not enforce that idea? How can one teacher combat the usage of chatspeak if everyone is not on board to get rid of it in school?
After reading this point-counterpoint, I feel the same way about chatspeak. I think it is lazy and annoying, but I will make sure not to let my students know how I feel!
I would agree that it is ruining our language. However, I see the long term picture. Our language has changed drastically over the last century and is becoming more informal all the time. The more "lazy" language that we tolerate in speaking the more it will become the norm and the faster it will become more and more informal. We want to say that people can translate socio-economic class structures, yet we make these dividing lines more and more vast by the informalities we allow or do not allow in our different classes. If we want to give our students the best chance to better themselves, we need to expect more out of them.
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