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We’ve all heard the saying “never judge a book by its cover”, but let us be genuine for a second no matter how hard we try we still make judgments about every person we have met. The way they look, dress, hairstyle, and even the way they talk or write. It gives us an idea of how that person carries him or herself. We all know proper English exists so why do we purposely butcher the English language? The words you choose say something about you; are you intelligent or uneducated. The proposal at De Anza College to let students use improper English in their writing assignments is something that should not be passed. Although texting is changing the English language, disregarding Standard English in an academic setting is not a great idea, since everyone needs to understand how to speak English correctly in order to succeed. To begin with, using Standard English is a great way to succeed in the workforce. Whether it is a corporate, retail or food service job it conveys education and intelligence. It shows you have the ability to express yourself clearly. When you talk people will pay attention to you and what you’re saying rather than being distracted by your poor grammar. For example, when I went for a job interview at Foot Locker I was hired on the spot for the way I spoke and carried myself. The hiring manager was impressed with the way I answered each question. It was said in such a sophisticated manner that it set me apart from the other candidates who applied for the same job. You do not have a second chance at a first impression. Poor English skills can make a bad first impression. It conveys that you are poorly educated or simply do not care. In my case it can make the difference of whether you get hired for a job or not. A... ... middle of paper ... ...emic world you’re going to take with you in the real world and if learning these bad/ uneducated habits is what you learn in school then that translates into your work/personal life. Slowly but surely, you’ll end up wishing you had never ever used improper English in school. As John Humphrys stresses, “Now I find myself slipping into sloppy habits, abandoning capitol letters and using row of dots” (Humphrys, 75). What Humphrys is trying to get across is texting in these short abbreviated words it made him slip into the bad habit of not caring about the simplest of things in a sentence such as capital letters or even completed it since the row of dots is equivalent to that. Although, some might say texting is changing the English language for the better in fact it is actually changing it for the worse because of how difficult it is to decipher the shortened meanings.
This is where she uses ethos to provide the reader with an understanding that she is a credible writer. First she uses the National Center for Education Statistics information to provide a strong base of knowledge regarding the topic that is already available. The article from the National Center for Education Statistics includes a quote from a teacher stating “the use of acronyms and shorthand in text messages for students’ inability to spell and ultimately to write well” (pg. 2). She goes on to explain teacher’s viewpoints and their beliefs on the topic after seeing a decrease in writing abilities. There is a quote included by Naomi Baron, a professor at American University, in which states “so much of American society has become sloppy and laissez faire about the mechanics of writing” (pg.2). This quote provides evidence that everyone should be concerned about the effects because our society is facing the issues as well not only students. As she continues to provide a foundation for others ideas regarding the topic, she changes viewpoints to those who see the positives in texting. Cullington uses an author to elaborate on the positives that increased texting can have on individuals. David Crystal explains that students “sharpen their diplomatic skills . . . [because] it allows more time to formulate their thoughts and express them carefully” (pg.4). This is something that is important in today’s day and age where people want the short and sweet version, not something drawn out that can be hard to understand. In her background information regarding the positive aspects of texting, she uses emotions to connect with the reader when she discusses children who struggle with writing. Texting can help students “overcome their awkwardness and develop their social and communication skills” Crystal states (pg. 5). The use of emotion is key to capturing
Three years ago, linguist John McWhorter spoke at a Ted Talk conference about whether texting is killing language and went so far as to question the definition of language itself. His video, “John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!!” distinguished to the reader the difference between writing and speaking and how texting was one in the form of another. Texting, he said, is a way of writing as one speaks, or specifically fingered speech, rather than as many believe, a mutilated version of the English language. According to McWhorter, texting is becoming a second language for many people, and those who do text are actually, in a sense, being bilingual. Texting itself is not very different from a foreign language, other than for its strong
“Our generation doesn't ring the doorbell. They text or call to say they're outside,” this line is from one of the well-known social networks, Tweeter, which shows how the way of communication has change in this modern life. According to 2013 statistics by Business Insider, in United States alone, smartphone owners aged 18 to 24 send 2,022 texts per month on average — 67 texts on a daily basis — and receive another 1,831 texts (Cocotas). Nowadays, technology such as text messaging has practically replaced traditional face to face communication among the society primarily in young generations because texting allows messages to be sent fast and effortless. In order to quickly type what they are trying to say in text messaging, people are frequently using textspeak; the language created by using abbreviation rather than complete words. Based on this phenomenon, David Crystal, an honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales has published an article entitled ‘2b or not 2b?’ in the Guardian on July 5, 2008 comes out with the research and studies that state texting can actually improve the literacy of children and create creativity of writing. However, by observing more critically, texting do decrease a person’s ability to switch between textspeak and the normal rules of grammar and adversely affect formal writing and conversational skills.
In the article, “Does Texting Affect Writing?”, the author Michaela Cullington conveys her speculation that texting does not correlate to how students write formal essays. At the beginning of the article Cullington introduces the term texting and the convenience texting brings. Later expressing her concern that the texting language “Textspeak” is actually affecting students writing; then contradicts these views by using primary and secondary sources (news articles, books, her own surveys and research). In addition, she uses an anecdote to tell of her own experience with texting and writing. Together with other evidences and research put together, she uncovers the debate between textspeak and formal writing. On the basis of her research, she concludes that the state of texting does not interfere with writing or writing abilities.
Many speakers of AAVE are able to also speak in standard english in situations that call for it, but many are not as fluent in it or do not know how to use it at all. Job interviews are one of the most common formal situations and most people going would want to present themselves in the best way that they can. This for most includes dressing well, acting composed, and speaking in the most refined way they can, but job interviews are also one of the most common stressful situations to be in. Stress may cause the people that do not commonly use Standard English to have more trouble with it then they would otherwise and reverting to AAVE can cause intelligent people with acceptable credentials to get denied jobs in favor of more fluent standard english speakers. This is only one situation and there are many other reasons a person might speak in AAVE at a job interview but the larger issue is that the people that do speak AAVE even minimally are judged harshly by employers on something that does directly affect job performance in most cases.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, it is reported, "25% of high school seniors are proficient writers" (Cullington, 362). Jacquie Ream, a former teacher and author for K.I.S.S. expands on this statistic by stating, "we have a whole generation being raised without communication" (Cullington, 362). By this, Ream means that we as people are not physically socializing with each other, but yet using devices to replace the way we talk and express our feelings to one another instead. Ream then goes on to blame the use of acronyms and shorthand in text messages as the downfall of writing skills. Here, Ream means that because of lack of proper language we have become careless when writing. Naomi Baron, a professor at American University, states that America as a whole has become sloppy with the mechanics of writing due to texting. Both teachers in Michaela's article agree that the essence of texting is responsible for the oversight of punctuation, lack of emotion, and lastly a rise in grammatical errors in formal
Therefore, having limited English skills in speech or writing can have a short or long term effect on an individual’s self-esteem and opportunities. Judgment should not be placed nor should one’s worth or potential be judged based off of test scores or stereotypical sayings. Society plays a major role in what its citizens of today think of each other. Therefore, it is up to society to educate individuals who place judgment on those who have limited English skills. Individual’s with limited and temporary ability to speak or write, should not measure that individuals potential in life nor limit his/her opportunities.
Text messaging has become a norm in our generation, as technology rapidly advances and gives way to more efficient forms of communication in a fast-paced world; and many are skeptical about the influence this new form of interaction is having on our society, especially with our younger generation. David Crystal, a professor at the University of Wales, writes “2b or Not 2b?” in support of text messaging. He insists, despite those who underestimate or negate the beneficial influence text messaging has on language proficiency, that “there is increasing evidence that [texting] helps rather than hinders literacy” and that the fairly recent form of communication has actually been around for a while and “is merely the latest manifestation of the human ability to be linguistically creative and to adopt language to suit the demands of diverse settings. In contrast, Jeffery Kluger argues in “We Never Talk Anymore: The Problem with Text Messaging” that text messaging is rapidly becoming a substitute for more genuine forms of communication and is resulting in difficulty among young peoples of our generation to hold a face-to-face conversation, engage in significant nonverbal expression, and ultimately build effective relationships with family, friends and co-workers. Both writers’ present valid arguments, however, my personal experience with text messaging has led me to agree more with Crystal’s view on the matter. Text messaging is indeed having a positive effect on society by making frequent texters primarily aware of the need to be understood, as well as offering betterment of spelling and writing through practice, and reinventing and expanding on a bygone dimension of our language through the use of rebuses and abbreviations.
The use inventive spelling, abbreviations. As high school students start to use short texting, some of their grades dropped due to the spelling errors they make. So many teens get used to wing abbreviating that they just begin to write that that way. Some teenagers writing skills have turned into sentence fragments, because of the limited space they put into text sentence. In my research how does texting affect teen literacy the percentage was 64 percent of students who say they incorporated text language in their writing, 25 percent said they did so to convey have used text shortcuts a lot of students, vocabulary and grammar is also affecting their literacy. The outlook of the teachers is that. Text plus recently released results of its own survey of 1,214 teens that use their services. 43 percent of which have texted in class, they seem to pay more attention to their phone than what the teacher is teaching. They seem to have the phones that will spell the word for them so they have to worry about spelling. In the age of text message, where words are reduce to no stand abbreviating, symbols, But in my research I pointed out that technology has put new emphasis on reading and
Plus, English is accepted worldwide as a tool for communication, for example, according to Charles Alderson, “the language of international aviation communication is English” (Alderson, Abstract). While it may tread on non-English speakers’ feelings, there are multiple reasons for enforcing the use of English when on the clock at work. Implementing English in the workplace is not discriminatory because it is used as a tool for communication to ensure the quality of work and to protect the workers and the management. To start, a fast food position is a common beginning job.
Step onto any college campus and take a look around. You will find clumps of students standing around in circles, phones in hand, typing away. What is it they are doing? Texting. Ever since the first text message was sent in 1993, the use of text messaging as a means of communication has spread like wild fire, especially amongst the adolescent generation. And with this new form of communication a new language has appeared; text-speak, the shortening of common words into abbreviations and acronyms (Drouin 49). While texting and the text-speak language seem to have been welcomed by many, what affect is this new technology having on the way we communicate? Is it possible that texting is negatively affecting our ability to use formal written communication, or is this idea just a myth perpetuated by negative media attention? And what changes has texting brought to the way we communicate person-to person? Are these changes positive, negative, or perhaps a mixture of both?
John Humphrys say that he finds himself slipping into sloppy habits. He has been accidentally abandoning cappital leters and using rows and rows of dots. He writes “ I am cross…Lynne Truss”. Lynne Truss is an English writer who wrote Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Puncuation. The book discusses the importance of punctuation and why it needs to be used properly. Thus his reasoning for calling her the “guardian of our language.” He himself doesn’t enjoy falling into those sloppy habits that is written in Truss’s book.. John Humphrys also believes that the English language is disappearing to the use of textese. Our literacy decreases as our use of textese increases. This leads to our incompetence. On the other hand David Crystal has his own idea on this topic. “Children could not… of your textese” David Crystals is simply saying before you can use the textese you need basic understanding of the English language. Children understanding how to properly text is due to the fact that they understand the English language which is actually competence. He also states “the children who were better… higher their test scores”. This is a pro-text statement. Texting actually increases literacy in this statement rather than decreasing like John Humphrys stated in article. He also states “The language as a whole… in evolution”. Texting will not lead us to decline but it leads to progress. Our language shall increase and
According to Hudson, a variety is ‘a set of linguistic items with similar social distribution’ . Since the term dialect has acquired a negative connotation throughout the years, academics have started to use the term variety, which is considered more neutral, instead.
Susan Adams and Kyle Weins have both written articles on the importance of using good grammar in the workplace. Each article gives numerous compelling reasons why this is a good practice. Susan Adams’ article first reason for doing so is in regards to how other people would view someone who uses bad grammar. She brings out that someone’s image can be damaged when they have improper speech habits; consequently their chances of advancing at work could be limited. Second, she shows how using poor grammar could cause a manager to view an employee as unorganized or unable to perform more advanced tasks. Finally, she brings out that someone who has poor speaking habits could be perceived as not having a firm grasp on the subject they are speaking about (Adams). Kyle Weins article also brings out some important points on bad grammar in the workplace. First, he shows that in today’s world people’s intelligence is judged based on what they say or what they type. The second point relates to how a manager could perceive someone with poor grammar. A manager could see an employee who uses poor grammar as someone who struggles to concentrate on tasks and doesn’t show attention to detail. Finally, he shows that peo...
English can be easier to understand among the suppliers, buyers and intermediates. Businessmen are more likely to conduct their transactions directly rather than rely on interpreters. Many U.S. and Europe companies have moved their production facilities to other countries like Asian to expand their business. There is a numerous of Asians are attending college in the United States and Europe country. These circumstances have served to improve the use of the English language. It is already the well path to becoming the world language and English is one of the language that totally lead to the businesses use. The use of English for the specific purpose of advertising in countries where it is not spoken as an official (first or second) language has become increasingly widespread. (Gerritsen, 2007). By studying English in promotional genres aimed at non-English-speaking target groups, students of, for example, international business communication and international marketing and communication management, increase their “awareness of the way in which English is present in the world around them” and their “understanding of how language in general, and English in particular, can be used by the business world in promoting their products”