TXTNG - new language - new literacy

Txtng is an advantage in today’s world; it lends itself enormously to this established practice of using the first letter of a word or phrase as an abbreviation, particularly at the professional level.

DG of QH reporting to CMC on PHC in NQ

(Director General of Queensland Health reporting to the Crime and Misconduct Commission on Primary Health Care in North Queensland)

These uses of language forms have been around as long as people have been writing and the objection is usually not to the form - the abbreviations and acronyms - but to the fact they are new, and often outside the experience of those who are annoyed by them:

LOL - laughing out loud
AAMOF - as a matter of fact
ASLMH - age sex location music hobbies
g2g - got to go
HAGN - have a good night
CWOT - complete waste of time
GF - girlfriend
DL - download
OMG - Oh my God

The creators of these new forms use all the symbols available to them - and they have been highly inventive with punctuation forms to indicate emotion. Punctuation, per se - like the apostrophe - is on its way out!

:) smile
;-) wink
:-@ screaming
(*o*) surprised
(^_^) cute

New literacies for new times

None of these adaptations of language are new although the particular examples might not previously have been in daily use. They are an expansion of the repertoire: new literacies for new times. And educators would be better served by treating txtng as a serious literary/language form and by studying its potential and limitations.

Such study would be far more engaging and relevant than the constant carping that txtng is vandalism, the mark of the illiterate, and a pernicious way of undermining standards.

The new book bag

Some educators are aware of the valuable contribution that txtng (and the mobile phone) can make to teaching and learning and are even calling it the new book bag.

Far from undermining literacy, studies demonstrate that txtng is linked positively with achievements in literacy - particularly for those who have been disenchanted with the old forms. And Melbourne University has found that for some students who find writing difficult, txtng can lead to enthusiasm for learning and improved literacy.