Help! My Students Write Like They Text by Jennifer French

Author:Jennifer French
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Consultative: similar to formal but in conversation (how you might speak to an employer on a job interview or a teacher)

Casual: hand gestures used in verbal exchanges, slang, incomplete sentences, colloquial (talking with friends, textspeech)

Intimate: terms of endearment or intimate conversation (between lovers)

Teaching students the language registers and brainstorming with them various contexts when each would be used will help students to begin to identify and connect language and context. Payne also mentions that although it’s not advised, it could be acceptable to move up or down one register. (When talking with a teacher, a student may get by with speaking in the casual register.) However, moving two registers is unacceptable and inappropriate. (When talking with a teacher, a student uses terms of endearment.)

Students relish opportunities to explore and share their cultural identities. Language is often the greatest evidence of an individual’s geographic and ethnic culture. Allowing students to explore their identity through the language they use can be an experience in self-awareness and a connection back to a culture they love.

Ask students to identify which register is used when thinking. This will encourage students to reflect and identify their primary language. Primary language, usually defined by what language you speak every day or were taught by your parents, does not have to be limited to English, Spanish, or Arabic. Drill down to the actual dialect and register in which students communicate. That is the space where their primary language lies, that voice they hear when they think. Many students will write how they hear things, just as a Hoosier kid might spell “warsh” if that’s the dialect used at home.

Allowing students to write, brainstorm, and journal in a language with which they are most comfortable, whether it’s textspeak or Spanglish, creates a classroom environment of acceptance and cultural appreciation. If students are journaling or collaboratively brainstorming for a research project, then their primary mode of communication should be acceptable. For most students, this will most likely not be Standard English. Students may find it easier to get thoughts out if they do not have to translate to formal language during the process.

During a research writing process, students will read excerpts from articles and peer-reviewed journals. Examine the writing of these documents, and contrast the language used with your classes’s previous work. How does it differ from higher academic writing? What does the writing style, vocabulary, word choice, and tone say about the author? Students quickly identify the expert tone of the formal writing style and the credibility easily given to works with specific and well-thought-out academic word choice. This can be done in every subject area and with any writing assignment.

Translating text calls upon a student’s highest order of thinking. To translate, one must decode, read for meaning, synthesize the information, formulate ideas, and then reassemble the information in a new way while keeping in mind appropriate vocabulary and tone. This function is an excellent form of formative assessment to gauge the depth of student understanding. One way to engage students in this task is to ask them to pull up recent text messages or chat history.

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