It’s Not What I Said

That article from Associated Press is circulating again, and I’m finding the need, once again, to correct my quote there. The impression people seem to have from the article is that I am suggesting that we should celebrate IM-speak as a new grammar. That’s not what I said. I believe that we should celebrate that our children invented it, how they invented it, and why. They found themselves with a new avenue for communication and needed a new grammar. So they invented on, casually, in collaboration. That is what impresses me,
that they did it,
together,
without us.

All that said, I think that we should respect IM-speak and understand that it is a part of their future. What they need us to do is to teach them how to decide when it is appropriate to use formal language to accomplish their goals and when it is appropriate to use IM-speak to accomplish their goals.

9 thoughts on “It’s Not What I Said”

  1. A-men David. I’ve been working with my fifth graders recently, trying to impress upon them the need not only for tact, but appropriate chat lingo in a personal, friends-only environment versus a wider, peers and work environment. It’s difficult given the large amount of time they’ve “taught” themselves how to behave in chatrooms, but hopefully with at least a few chat experiences with the entire class (while I’m there to moderate and model appropriate behavior in a public chat), enough students will begin to understand the need for decorum when they converse with their peers, teachers, and not just their friends.

    And no worries about being misquoted, or rather mis-interpreted. I found myself in the exact same place a few months back, but I’ve found that it was a great way to address how I express myself in this public arena of blogging (an excellent real world example of showing students how to tactfully chat in a public setting).

  2. I totally agree with you, David. As a former linguistics student, I believe that all new expressions and vocabulary should be respected and should not be discarded as “ungrammatical” or “incorrect.” What is important is, as you said, that the people can use it appropriately – to appropriate audience and in an approriate situation. I often encounter college students sending me an IM-like messages by e-mail. I really don’t mind IM, but I’m not their peers, and it’s also e-mail, so they should use another language/mode.

  3. Not to be flippant, David, but should we give the same respect to Ebonics, i.e. Black English? After all, this was a language created during U.S. slavery, language pieced together from mainstream English and their own tribal languages. I would also enter hip hop language into the equation, which was also created by young people.

  4. I agree it is notable that a language form has come about, and is quite widely used and understood. At the same time, in educating young children about standard language and writing forms, it is a hindrance as I watch the younger ones show their confusion between standard and IM speak. I also am wondering about how this kind of “coded” English will impact how students approach, understand, and learn other languages.

  5. I feel that the main part of this whole discussion comes down to teaching students the time and place for everything. The focus comes down to students using IM-speak or many people would add the straight lack of grammatical rules when communicating over any electronic medium. I have seen in the post-secondary environment how the reach of this epidemic reaches farther and farther every year. (Now into research papers and assignments some) Miss Profe mentions a couple other “languages” or “dialects” that have been created in the past and I think that should be treated similarly. I think that Dave talks about celebrating the process of creation, which is fine. But, the focus needs to be on helping students decifer the time and place to use different language practices. I think that technology has brought the electronic medium of IM-type conversation and interaction into the classroom, and if we want to continue to use it, then it must make sure that students start to understand early its limitations for use. Many educators are getting frustrated with this topic these days, but without giving them knowledge and education about how to communicate, the problem cannot be addressed.

  6. I agree, David, that it is our job as educators to teach students how to decide when it is appropriate to use formal language versus IM-speak. I teach a college course with a required weekly discussion board. I was amazed at how many students submitted posts in IM-speak. It was like I had to interpret every line! It was disappointing that the students found my classroom a place to use IM-speak, but I turned it into a great learning experience about professionalism and formal language. Everything has its time and place.

  7. Interesting, there definatly is a new languege that has evolved in our society as a result of Instant Messaging. I dont use it however some of my peers do, and I rag on them every time they do. However, I am a 22 year old student and it is a bit out of the norm for peers of my age to use this type of language but I can see a younger crowd, elementry, middle, and high school student mainly using IM language in their daily conversations. I dont think its a bad or good thing, its just a thing, or perhaps just a fad if you will.
    A site for those not consumed in LOL’ing and TTYL’ing: http://www.careersandeducation.com

  8. Language is what we use to communicate.

    We communicate to accomplish a goal.

    If we accomplish our goal, then we made good use of language.

    — dave —

  9. I was quoted in that article too and here is what I as an educator got out of it– it is about context. I was talking about formal writing papers and that items for publication as a final work should not use imspeak. You were talking about the creative writing process — when it should come out as quickly as possible. Indeed, there is a difference. Creative writing is often step 1 and part of brainstorming and final product is, well, the final product.

    I did not view your comments as endorsing IMspeak in term papers, however, it could perhaps be inferred from the article. I have felt that often reporters have their angle decided before they interview anyone and I’ve started digitally recording every conversation I have with a reporter after being badly misquoted in several recent articles.

    So, that is my thought. I did not see any disagreement in our two viewpoints — it is all in the context of how it is used.

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