Current Event for the Week of 2/12
Students use IM-lingo in essays
Teachers are seeing a whole new era of language being used by their students. They come across words like "b4, dat, 2, and ur" in homework assignments and papers. Many teachers think the IM language is becoming too prevalant and mistakes are everywhere. Other educators find this new language fascinating and think teachers should give the students credit for the new communications in the high-tech world.
Read the article here.
Do you think some teachers and administraters are making too big of a deal out of IM language use? Or do you think the IM language is getting out of control? Are you and/or your friends guilty of using IM language in homeworks and papers? Can anything be done to limit the amount of this language used?
Teachers are seeing a whole new era of language being used by their students. They come across words like "b4, dat, 2, and ur" in homework assignments and papers. Many teachers think the IM language is becoming too prevalant and mistakes are everywhere. Other educators find this new language fascinating and think teachers should give the students credit for the new communications in the high-tech world.
Read the article here.
Do you think some teachers and administraters are making too big of a deal out of IM language use? Or do you think the IM language is getting out of control? Are you and/or your friends guilty of using IM language in homeworks and papers? Can anything be done to limit the amount of this language used?
posted by phs_sociology at 5:41 PM
15 Comments:
We have never been able to use slang in our essays, and introducing IM language is putting in slang. Great, kids want to express themselves with their own language, but there is a time and a place for it. Personally, I don't find it difficult to separate these two ways of writing. It's easy enough to move from IMing to essay writing.
I don't think teachers should make a big deal about it though. Warn students before hand, and then take points off for spelling. Students will just have to adapt to different writing styles.
IM language is not getting out of control in any manner. It's great we have it, it makes communication faster and easier and is probably being put into dictionaries. When it does get out of control, teachers need to make it plain and simple that it is not acceptable in school.
"IM lingo" is simply a gross over-simplification of the English language. As a teenager I can't even stand it when people use this to chat with me over IM. I can't imagine how an English teacher would feel about this.
With that said, the use of it isn't a huge deal. Just take a few points off for every "Ur", "LOL" and "'Cuz" used. It's just like any other slang out there. It's annoying but can be kept under control by letting students know how stupid it makes them look.
lol
I do not find teachers and administraters are making a big deal. In fact, I agree with them.English and schooling in particular is something we all need. Proper English is an area we as a society lack. It helps with grammar, spelling, reading, and even public speaking skills. Superior educators can bring the importance of English back into classrooms. It is an educators job to correct this fab breaking out among students today. If someone worked for an important company and used this "slang" language he or she would be fired. If we as a student body continue to use this slang language, we won't be able to correct our own errors and will never learn the imporantance of English. At times I am guilty of IM chat. I am usually guilty of this when I'm in a hurry or too lazy to type something out or write something. Because I want to be an English teacher, however, I try to refrain from AIM chat as much as I can. I see my peers use it a lot though. In my opinion, I would take off a point each time a student uses slang language in a paper. Students won't learn until something like this occurs.
i thik that the Im language is getting far out of hand. I have some of my friends, even my mom, speaking in acronyms. O-M-G. L-O-L. it gets sickening. I mean, nothing bothers me more then poor grammar, i mean the small things in writing:their, there, and they're.. is, are. was were. theres alot out there already english teachers are whinning about. Now students are starting with a whole new lesson. An extra day is taken out of learning just to go over the rules of MLA and grammar... again. thats all we need is more lessons to drag on. School cant be right to the point anymore.
Sorry about the typos. Not used to the homecoming nails =]
Essays are the one thing that you should not be able to use slang in because you must be proper in your essays because you never know who will be reading them. using slang in IM is a whole different thing. Then your talking with your friends and not doing something thats going to be looked at by many people possibly.
I dont think that it is a big deal at all but if i was a teacher and i had to correct words in papers all the time it would piss me off. I dont think its out of hand but a lot more people use it because it is faster than writing the whole word out. I have used im lingo before but i always corrected myself and fixed it on my paper before i gave it to my teacher. I really dont think any thing could be done because nobody can tell you how to write besides your english teachers so most people wont write it in english but maybe in other classes.
Using IMING when chating or e-mailing your friends is ok. I don't think you should bring it to school. I think it is a sing of lazyness. When you get a job in the real world you won't be doing it when e-mail your co-workers or managment.
IM lingo and slang are basically the same exact things. We aren't aloud to use slang in school essays so why should we be able to use IM lingo in them. I agree with the administers that kids shouldn't use IM lingo in their work. It makes bad habits for when they grow up. Honestly, I don't even know why kids would be stupid enough to put in IM lingo. None of my friends use the IM lingo at school. The only reason I use it occasionally is if I need to write something quickly just as a draft or if I'm taking notes. I would never use it on an actual paper or essay.
I was reading a paper I found on the floor of my house today written by my 14-year-old sister. Immediately I noticed a hundred different mistakes, but the ones that stood out to me were 'U' for 'you' and 'y' for why? It irked me more than the typos. *Is a very literate person* Teachers shouldn't make exceptions for this kind of thing. People who write good, well-thought-out papers go back to check to see if they left typos or any such thing. IM language should be the same. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing overall. I use it sometimes, but when it counts I'd appreciate not having to decipher text I can hardly understand. When it comes right down to it teachers should mark it as a misspelling and move on. It's up to the student to realize that their personal lingo preference should not clash with their school work.
The use of IM Lingo in papers is inappropriate. I don't know how people skip over them after rereading an assignment before turning it in. I also don't know that many people who still use the lingo but I do think teachers and administration should make it a big issue and deduct points from the assignment. The continued use of the IM Lingo should result in the the student's assignment being rejected until corrected.
I don't understand why people can't just write things normally. It's one thing when you are IMing or texting, but not on essays. In don't use it because I think that it's stupid. The only thing that you can really do to stap it would be to deduct points from the paper.
i don think ders a prob w/ dis tipe o lngge. u jus got 2 lrn it, das all. da teach in dat stry n33ds 2 chill sum, its not lyke ppl use dat in der hw n skool neways. peece
Actually, this article brings up a good point about abbreviations, but I think that it is wrong about the issue of IM speak. Abbreviations and other forms of short hand are great when used in proper situations. Being a debater, I use short hand all the time. In rounds, I have time limits to follow, and it is inefficient to write out large words. I believe that there is little purpose in abbreviating short words like "the" and "this." The article indicates that people often use "da" and "dis" to shorten the words "the and "this", respectively. Each of those IM-speak words only drop one letter from the original word. That is not much of an abbreviation. Words such as "dis", "da", and "wit" probably are byproducts of poorly spoken English, not instant messaging and emails.
I think teachers and administraters need to sit back and relax. Stop making sucha huge deal about something soo little and easy to take care of. If you dont want your students using it then take points away for every word that is used and see how fast it changes! Teens really do know how to seperate IMing and essay writing, but if you dont enforce the fatc that you dont like it, we will continue to use it. umm hello, wake up, we have always worked that way!
also, i am guily of using it to a certain point. I use things like &, lol, cuz, b/c, etc. But that is about as far as i go with it in papers, and normally i catrch myself before hand.
i also see IMing in essay as a form of laziness! Teens now-a-days are getting to be soo lazy and thats why we come up with these short-cuts or "the easy way out" or slang usage. we are a bunch of creative little minds running around wild! and need somehow to let it all out!
HEHE :)
We are not allowed to use IM lingo in our essays, or anything for that matter at school. I am like Brandi, i use it when i am writing a rough draft just because its quicker and not graded, but there is no way i use it in formal papers. I dont believe it's getting out of control at all. It is just up to the student to care enough about the work they are working on to make it sound good, as well as look good without having numbers and letters together like (b4). If you think about it, its really not that hard.
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