OMG! Txtspk in action!

'Hey Lexi. How r u? Sry dint txt u bak. bin busy.' 

The above extract may (or may not) be the kind of text message which I usually receive from my brother. I am not a fan of text speak, I actually find it incredibly difficult to understand. 

I have two reasons for my stance: 

i) I feel as though I am reading a foreign language (I was never particularly good at languages)

ii) I find it difficult to understand why people wouldn't just send the text out over two messages, the 140 character barrier is easy to defeat... stand strong. 

However, I am not saying that students are 'dumbing' down the English language. Instead, they are altering it in a way that makes sense to them and to their friends. In a way, they are creating their own language which they can use to communicate with each other. Text speak is a form of language, as it is understood by a group of people and assists in communication within that group. 

I think that it is important to realise that there are many different types of literacies. My focus has mostly been on print literacy and I have applied this knowledge to information technologies, instead of perhaps taking on some of the information literacies. Text speak is a form of literacy and has just as much validity in the lives of our students as academic literacy, but I do think that there needs to be a distinction within the classroom. Students understand when text speak is appropriate and utilise it outside of the classroom in social settings, such as sending a text message, on facebook or on twitter. It is important that students understand the distinction between academic and non-academic writing. At the same time, I feel as though it is important to acknowledge students language and culture, as it is part of who they are and it would be demeaning to degrade or to ignore it all together. Potentially, if teachers are facing difficulties with students confusing text speak with academic literacy, they could place the two versions up against each other and allow students to compare and contrast and to make their own decisions about which language is appropriate for different contexts. I think that it is important that students become critical of all literacies and that they are able to think and to analyse different sources and to realise the place of each of these literacies and know how to engage with them. It then becomes the role of the teacher, to provide students access with a range of resources and experiences to develop confidence in the different literacies.

My name is Lexie and I am a twitter convert. At the beginning of this year, If I had been told that I would not only have my own twitter account but would also enjoy using it, I would have laughed and not given it another thought... oh, how times change! I have actually taken to twitter and my twitter knowledge has developed mostly through collaboration with friends. Just last week, I discovered what trending was and found this to be truly was one of the most exciting elements. If everybody is talking about a particular topic (or person), then this topic may then emerge on the trending list. I think that had a huge part to play in the promotion of one Miss Rebecca Black and the "Friday" song, which had spread over the internet in less than a week! So, twitter is an almighty powerful force to be reckoned with!

What I find fascinating about twitter is that anybody can communicate with anybody around the world. Twitter, when compared to facebook is much, much simpler. While facebook has a element of microblogging, in that users can update each other with their status', it is also concerned with sharing relationships, photos and interests with your 'friends.' Twitter allows you to follow, or be followed by others from around the world. Twitter also allows users to send out short posts (140 characters), which can be directed to ALL of your followers, or directly to specific users, by using the @ symbol. My only criticism of twitter, is that it feels a little voyeuristic. I understand that users allow people to follow them and can choose to make their posts public or private but I still don't feel completely comfortable with the idea that potentially anyone in the world has access to my posts and I also have access to theirs. Still, I think that twitter has a huge part to play in connecting people around the world and to promote the wide-spread sharing of information and discussion of ideas, in a way that wasn't possible before.