Chatspeak
There is an interesting article in the Nov ‘07 edition of the “Learning & leading with technology” journal entitled “Is chatspeak destroying English?”. Linda Howard takes up the Yes position, with Greg Monfils arguing for “No” in the debate.
Linda’s main argument is that chatspeak “is destroying students’ command of written English”, andthat is no place in either academic, business, formal writings in in society at large. She says that even though there are many differences in our lingustics due to ethnicity, family and friends, the “English language must be used effectively to understand and be understood”.
Greg, who is an English teacher in the US at a school where every child is given a laptop upon enrollment, argues that children know the difference between formal English and chatspeak., and can “codeswitch”. He says this is standard practice amongst emails/chat between students and teachers. He gives the analogy that “we don’t fear that a Spanish class will diminish a student’s command of English”. He also makes the point that even though we have standardised English since Chaucer, there is nothing wrong with children pushing boundries and perhaps updating our language along the way.
I would be interested in other people’s thoughts on this, especially in regard to education
