Teachers putting texting to use

CHARLOTTE -- Texting, beloved by teens, has long been a source of friction with parents and educators.

But now some teachers in Charlotte are seeking to harness its power. Researchers back this approach with new evidence that texting teaches some positive language skills, and pragmatists argue that a war on texting is unwinnable.

In the words of teacher Annie McCanless of Providence High School: "It's here to stay."

The average number of texts by U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 has reached 2,900 a month, according to Nielsen, the media and marketing information company. And The New York Times reported in May that physicians and psychiatrists fear texting is taking a toll on teens' sleep patterns and ability to think for themselves.

But McCanless, a civics teacher and swim coach, believes texting has become "an established part of teens' lives" and can be used as "a real tool as opposed to a hindrance."

Alan Vitale, who teaches journalism at Renaissance School at Olympic High, says, "Some teachers are actually embracing it," and "the students really appreciate you meeting them at their level."

One long-held fear about texting has been that its shortcuts such as OMG (for "oh my God") seep into teens' language use, along with mangled, abbreviated and simplistic syntax. But some researchers and teachers dispute it.

"Writing is good. Writing is expressing thoughts. Expressing thoughts is good. We just don't like their modality," argues Larry Rosen, an author and researcher at California State University, Dominguez Hills, whose coming book is titled "Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn."

Rosen and four colleagues surveyed more than 700 teens and aggregated multiple findings in a new study that suggests texting may actually help teens' writing in informal essays and other assignments. In a conversational essay, teens who used more texting shortcuts performed better than colleagues who did not.

The popular press has reported much on "textisms" entering students' schoolwork, Rosen says, "but research shows it's very, very rare."

"I definitely concur," says Jim Scott, an English and journalism teacher at Myers Park High School. "They're thinking in language terms," he says, noting the positive aspects of texting.

"Kids are far better at mode-shifting. People talk about texting abbreviations seeping into the language. I hear it in the press. I think that's fear. I don't think it's research-based."