Stdnt wrtg in the age of txtspk: A pilot study of the prevalence of txtspk in formal student writing
Abstract
This pilot study examined whether or not txtspk was prevalent in formal student writing at the high school sophomore level. The study was based on Plester, et al's (2008) study that broke down txtspk into five different categories. The study was done in as scientific a method as was possible given the time constraints of the teachers who cooperated with their students to participate in the study. The findings suggest that there is no indication of txtspk transferring over into the formal writing of high school sophomores. This supports the ideas that researchers in technology and learning have posited indicating that despite the new word that have come into the English language because of technology, students are aware of when it is proper to use txtspk and when it is not. There are some limitations to this study, a few of which include the depth of training of the proctors of the writing sample, the training of the readers, and the number of writing samples that were collected. However, this pilot study offers an glimpse into what other, more in-depth studies might show.
Degree
M.A.
Advisors
Boiarsky, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Education|Rhetoric
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