Also, for your reading leisure, here a site with survey information and stats concerning technology that I have found very interesting but have not been able to work into my blogs:
http://web.mit.edu/invent/n-pressreleases/n-press-04index.html
Enjoy!
Before my blogging days are up, I want to get back to the basics. Thanks to a classmate, I found this online lecture by Steven Pinker concerning language and thought. Pretty cool stuff, very intellectual!
As I was watching it, I couldn’t help but think how much I don’t think, or at lease I don’t think that I think that much, about what I am saying and hearing…
Anyways, since the purpose of my blog is to examine ways technology has affected language, I wanted to backtrack a little and look at what technology is changing. Language, yes, yes I know, but I want to incorporate some points Pinker makes about “language as a window into human nature” and relate them to the idea of affecting language.
One of the first points Pinker makes is that “language emerges from human minds interacting with one another.” His idea of interacting focused on face-to-face conversation, which is logical. In order to get someone to do something you want, you need to be able to convey your ideas to that other person. People were communicating with each other verbally before written word came into play. Now, people are interacting in a way that needs no verbal input. Through email, texting, IM, etc. people are still interacting but in a different way. A new “language” is emerging – shorthand, abbreviations, emoticons – that was not part of written vocabulary 10-odd years ago.
To go along with his first point, Pinker says that language emerging from human interaction is “visible in the unstoppable change in language.” Some specific examples he gives include, “Slang, jargon, historical change, dialect divergence, [and] language formation.” I would say that language used in texting fits into all of these examples. Any shorter form of a word is welcomed in the world of texting. This language is also different from any one before it so there is a historical change (although Shakespeare did use his fair share of abbreviations and jargon). As for dialect divergence, email has been around long than texting an instant messaging, so it has kind of diverged off of that but it is also something entirely different. “brb cu l8er luv” wasn’t common few years ago but now most every adolescent knows. (fyi: brb, cu, and luv are all okay according to spell check! Crazy!)
Another point Pinker makes that goes along with written communication is that “vagueness is a language.” How true, since texting does not include voice inflection of facial emotions. People can read into anything they want in a text. (No matter how many haha’s or lol’s or smiley faces you put after a message, it can still not feel like a joke.) To go along with this, Pinker says that language has two forms: literal, and implied. For the latter, the listener is “counted on.” Implications in a text message or any written word can be deadly for they do not have the emotion behind them as when spoken.
So why have I written all of this? To get you and myself to look at written language as compared to spoken language. They do not seem that different, for they are both forms of communication, subject to their environments, and constantly change.
Through Pinker’s interesting yet over-my-head intellectual approach to language, it has hit me that language is no small thing. It is something crazy to wrap your mind around, yet it is present every single day of our lives. We are just going to have to embrace it in all its unlovely yet mesmerizing nuances.
Outdated technology had been modern once and it probably was scandalous!
When I found this article in the Slate database, I was intrigued and thankful. One, it brought into perspective how often these technological scares occur. Two, it was rather humorous. The article went through history and pointed out multiple occasions where society feared for the younger generations’ safety and health with the introduction of some new-fangled technology.
Now as we look back on history, we laugh because their worries seem so trivial compared to our “modern” technology. “Oh come on! It’s only a radio!” But let’s back up; they were in the same position we are when it comes to more advanced technology like laptops and cell phones. (How scandalous these products would be for Conrad Gessner who could not stomach the printing press? But he apparently invented pencils.)
This goes to show that what we are experiencing today is old news. No, it does not excuse students from LOL-ing in a paper (to paraphrase the last article I looked at) nor let them off the hook for not capitalizing the beginning of a sentence (or even the letter i! How long have we known that, people? Since forever!!) However, it should give people peace (or a stroke) to know that this will not be the end to scandalous technology.
Up until this point, I have had the mentality that texting has had a negative effect on written English. However, after reading this article in Newsweek, which I discovered thanks to a classmate, I should address the position opposite of my own.
The article focuses primarily on texting in Britain and research from there, but I think the same principles apply to America: people are concerned about the effect texting has on the English language. “Those raising the alarm aren’t linguists. They’re teachers who have had to red-pen some ridiculous practices in high-school papers and concerned citizens who believe it their moral duty to write grammar books.”
As I said in my first post, my Spanish teacher was my inspiration for the direction of my senior exit project. She thinks that texting and internet communication (i.e. Facebook chat, IM) are negatively effecting how students write. Many others agree with her, but there are some who do not. They are, surprisingly, “linguists” as the article refers to them. I would think that they would be the first to protest, but it is not the case.
The article discusses the ideas presented by English linguist David Crystal in his book Txtng: the Gr8 Db8. (I found the title rather funny, I must admit.) It said that the book makes “two general points: that the language of texting is hardly as deviant as people think, and that texting actually makes young people better communicators, not worse.”
Whoa! Stop right there. Texting actually helps, not hinders? This is a new thought, indeed. Nevertheless, the article, with the help of Crystal, does make a good argument that I want to consider.
Concerning the first point, language has been changed, shortened, and altered for years, “from the ancient Egyptians to 20th-century broadcasting”. For example, Shakespeare used plenty of short-handed writing techniques, “elisions, novel syntax and several thousand made-up words.” Oddly enough, the article points out, Shakespeare signed his name at least six different ways. I must agree – Shakespeare does use a lot of apostrophes and abbreviated words, which is hard to understand but a similar idea to that of texting.
As for the second point, Crystal claims, “the American Revolution had much greater consequences for the English language than texting has had thus far.” In addition, according to certain experiments, “last year, children who texted—and who wielded plenty of abbreviations—scored higher on reading and vocabulary tests…. The same study also found the children with the highest scores to be the first to have gotten their own cell phones.” Crystal says that texting helps literacy, not hinders it. It seems that this is sort of an oxymoron, but I guess not.
After reading the article, I will concede that texting and other instant messaging do encourage writing and communication although I still feel that many students do not know or they have forgotten or they have not been taught many rules of the English language.
Cell phone novels are not just seen in Japan; they are also gaining popularity in Africa but to a different extent, according to a BBC article.
The Shuttleworth Foundation has started this thing called “m-novels.” The purpose of these stories, which have been especially created for cell phones, is to get students to start to “engage with books and literature.”
The Foundation does this by posting 400-word chapters a day for three weeks for students to access on their cell phones. They can comment and the best comment gets “air time” as well as 100 rand- worth of credit to their phone.
This is a similar approach to the keitai novels of Japan but focuses more on reading that writing. M-novels like keitai novels address present-day issues students are facing so that the readers connect with the stories.
The story the BBC article focuses on is entitled Kontax. “The story is about ‘Kontax’, a group of four friends whose passion is graffiti.” As stated before, the stories incorporate issues that students feel passionate about so that they will comment on the site and get involved in the story.
Another thing the stories incorporate is vocabulary. According to one fan, Sugar, “We really do learn from the stories to improve our vocabulary.” However, she does admit that she felt no need to go out and buy the book for herself.
At the end of the BBC article, Bernard Kedge, manager of Galloway and Porter in Cambridge, says, “This is sometimes how education works. Anything that actually encourages people to read more is a really excellent idea.”
So I leave you with this question: Should we be satisfied with just getting people to read or should we strive for something more?
As of May 2007, about 2 billion people in the world have a cell phone (San Francisco Chronicle). That is almost a third of the entire population! This article also claims that cell phones have made a greater cultural impact on society than phones, television, personal computers and the Internet, and I have to agree.
Not only do cell phones allow constant conversation but constant information as well (i.e. texting, emailing, Internet). People not only receive information through their phones but they also give it.
One primary example is cell phone novels. It is quite fascinating really. I had never heard of these novels – called “keitai” novels – until last week but they have been around since 2000, started by a web design company in Japan, Maho no irando (New York Times). Young Japanese women are the primary authors and readers of these novels; however, a man from Tokyo was the first to have his cell phone novel published, although most authors use a pseudonym (Wikipedia).
This article brought to my attention the new literary genre of cell phone novels thanks to a fellow classmate. Last year a 15-year-old Japanese girl, known by the pen name Bunny, is now a published authoress because of her cell phone. She wrote her three-in-one novel Wolf Boy x Natural Girl “in between homework assignments.”
She first started writing a keitai novel after she saw an ad on TV. People can post stories for free (or at a very minimum cost) and sometimes the most-read stories are published! Many keitai novels have made the bestseller list in Japan.
“When keitai novels started to emerge in the last decade, many of the stories were gritty and based on real-life events,” (Los Angeles Times). Reoccurring subjects of these novels include relationships, lovers, rape, love triangles, and pregnancy. “These are like Harlequin romances for young girls,” says Kenro Hayamizu.
Keitai novels reflect pop culture in what is written as well as in what is read. “Over a year ago, readers started rejecting sad stories. They turned to novels depicting the ideal, make-believe world,” a trend possibly triggered by Japan’s economic recession,” (Los Angeles Times).
Not only is subject matter being affected by current culture but also language. “Recent stories are noticeably being written in a more colloquial style with adolescent-speak,” (Los Angeles Times). Therefore, the impact of technology on language is not limited to English (which is an obvious conclusion); it extends worldwide.
I hope that in my next blog I will dig further into this cross-cultural issue.
Robert Godwin-Jones is a Professor and Associate Director in the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, and he wrote an article entitled Emerging Technologies. He takes the ideas Marc Prensky presents about digital natives and digital immigrants and focuses on technology uses for language learning.
Like Prensky, Godwin-Jones believes that educators should start incorporating technology their students are accustomed to into their lessons. “Clearly these are aspects of the net generation’s created ‘third space’ (neither home nor school/work) which are central to many of their lives and which could prove instructive for educators seeking ways to connect to their students.” He also reflects that while modern technologies like “instant messaging, video games, and peer-to-peer file swapping,” were not created to enhance language learning, they can be used for that purpose.
“Instant Messaging and Mobile Communications”
Godwin-Jones starts by saying that “the use of pen pals for language practice and intercultural learning has a long history.” I had a pen pal a few years ago for this very reason. She lived in Germany, and we started writing when I took German back in eighth grade. We wrote in English (thankfully!) and got to know each other through letters. I found out about her some of traditions and life that were interesting and good to learn. He offers many sources of digital communication, including “e-mail, fax, telephone, video conferencing… instant messaging… SMS… moblogging or mobile blogging.” He talked about digital sources that many European and Asian countries are experimenting with and using.
“Peer-to-Peer Networking and the Ipod Phenomenon”
In this section, Godwin-Jones relates the Ipod fad and language learning by way of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Ipods and mp3 players have been used to swap music for a few years now but since the Ipod is getting so fancy and high tech these days, Godwin-Jones suggests that educators use the notes or photo function on the Ipod for language leaning. Ipods have been used at many colleges and universities to teach different languages including English – French, Spanish, Farsi, and Italian.
“Some language educators have recommended use of P2P for sharing of teaching resources.” One in particular, Bittorrent, is especially good at transferring large files. If you want further information about P2P systems, I would suggest visiting Godwin-Jones’s article.
“Gaming”
A lot young people spends long periods of time playing video and online games, so many researchers are starting to study how these games are affecting language learning. Not only are these sites taking up a lot of people’s time but also they do encourage good communication and problem solving as well as collaboration. Another researcher examined how anime games promote writing and reading skills.
“Serious games” are also trying to tie education and technology. “The central idea behind serious gaming is the promotion and creation of video games for use in education and corporate or military training.”
Godwin-Jones ultimately says the same thing as Prensky: “If the millennial generation is increasingly drawn to the digital third spaces, it behooves us as language educators to do as we have done in the past, use technologies and tools intended for other uses, to create richer opportunities for language learning.”
I think that my high school is doing there best to teach students through modern technology. One way they are doing this is the smart board. They were first introduced when I was a sophomore and they have made things so much easier. At first, teachers did not know how to use them but now they are completely integrated into the classroom. I can barely remember school without them since they are so helpful. Technologies like these benefit the students as well as teachers because of their many capabilities.
I will focus first on the effect technology has on young people. This is not English directly; however, young people are the future of English. If they start manipulating and forgetting certain aspects of language, English will be changed for posterity.
An article by Marc Prensky, speaker, writer, and game designer, caught my attention because it addressed how technology has affected education. He is a forward thinker concerning effective teaching practices. He founded two companies – Games2train and The Digital Multiplier, which are dedicated to creating games for teaching use.
In this article, Marc Prensky deals with the issue of technology knowledge between generations, how this gap effects teaching and learning capabilities, and offers a positive outlook on the use of technology to teach.
Prensky recognizes there is a gap of digital knowledge between educators and students. “[Students] have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age.” This is the reason he uses the terms “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” to describe the younger and older generations. Parents and teachers are learning this new “language” now so most have not mastered it yet.
Because digital natives are used to the instantaneous results of technology, we (I include myself in this) “like to parallel process and multi-task… [We] thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards.” He connects this mindset to the structure of our brains or our “thinking patterns”. According to Dr. Bruce D. Perry of Baylor College of Medicine, “’Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures.’” Growing up with technology has changed how we learn best compared to older generations.
This poses a problem for teachers, Prensky points out. They learned one way and now teach that same way. Unfortunately, that way is not the most effective method nowadays. “[We] have little patience for lectures, step-by-step logic, and “tell-test” instruction,” says Prensky. “Digital Immigrant teachers assume that learners are the same as they have always been, and that the same methods that worked for the teachers when they were students will work for their students now.” But no more.
Prensky goes on to suggest a solution to this prominent issue: adapt teaching styles to fit learning styles. “Today’s teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students.”
He gave a personal, real life example of what teachers can do to help their students learn. A group of professors came to his company because they had this great program but their targeted audience – digital natives – did not want to have to read and instruction manual. Prensky and his team developed a video game, which incorporated aspects of the program into the game; players had to use the program to complete the levels of the game. It served its purpose splendidly.
When I read this, I immediately thought of Quia, used by Spanish teachers at my high school, which is an internet site of interactive and educational games, like hangman, flashcards, and jeopardy. It is a wonderful tool for studying and reviewing what we learned in class.
Another way I see teachers at Penn adapting for their “digital native” students is using blogs. Thank you so much, Teachers, for this wonderful, accessible resource to keep track of homework, due dates, and lesson plans!
Before I read this, I had a more negative perspective on technology’s influence in society, but now I see it is inevitable. In some instances, quick fixes and instant information is necessary and wonderful but other times, I wish society could slow down and take a breath.
So this discussed the influence of technology on learning, but what about English specifically. How does technology hinder, or help, language? How does technology help other languages influence English?
As I have thought more about this project and have looked for sources of information, I have come across Spanglish. I have heard of the movie and kind of get that it is a mix of Spanish and English, but I did not know much about it.
The more I looked through the various sources I came across, the more interested I became. I am in my fourth year of high school Spanish, and sometimes I mix Spanish into my daily speech (not often), so I guess I use Spanglish. What do you know!
My question is could this be an expansion of my senior exit project? Would it be beneficial to look at multiple influences on English than just technology?
The purpose of this blog is to bring to light the influences of technology, namely the Internet and cell phones, on the English language.
Inspiration came from my Spanish teacher as she claimed that these sources were to blame for her students’ lack of knowledge of the English language. I could not agree more with her because of how much resources, like Facebook, instant messaging, email, and texting, have infiltrated society. I do not know if I can name anyone who does not have his or her own email address or cell phone.
Many students do not know the basics of English, for example good vs. well. I do not know if I get them right all the time. “Are” is being replaced by “r” in most Internet chats and texting conversations, and who knows the difference between “there,” “their,” and “they’re”? A record few, I am sure.
Suffice it to say, I see an issue in our society that many people might not be aware of or concisely think about. In this blog I will be addressing multiple facets of this topic, maybe even some tangents, but I want to get some concrete data has to how much technological advances have permeated our everyday lives and affected English.
Your comments, recommendations, and insights are most welcome. I will not pretend to know all the answers, so we will be learning together.
Let’s begin the quest of illumination as we leave the suppressive darkness. (Is this a bit overdramatic? Maybe so.)
Thank you.
Macshank's Blog 