From the British Psychological Society (BPS) press release via AlphaGalileo:
Just because children use ‘text speak’ doesn’t mean they have a bad grasp of grammar.
This is one of the findings of a team of researchers at Coventry University led by Prof. Clare Wood being presented at the British Psychological Society’s Developmental Section Conference today, Wednesday 5 September, at Strathclyde University in Glasgow.
The research (funded by the Nuffield Foundation) examined whether there are links between the tendency to make grammatical errors when texting and standard grammatical understanding in children.
83 primary school children and 78 secondary school children provided samples of their text messages and completed standardised assessments which measured their IQ, spelling and understanding of written and spoken grammar. They were then reassessed one year later, to enable the team to consider the nature of any relationships between texting and grammatical development over time. The participants’ text messages were analysed for evidence of grammatical errors made at both time points.
The main finding was that there was no evidence of any significant relationships between the tendency to violate grammatical rules when texting and understanding of standard written or spoken grammar. The only significant associations showed that for the primary school children, there was evidence that the children who made fewer punctuation errors when texting tended to have better standard spelling performance and better ability to process writing rapidly.
Professor Wood explained: “In recent years there has been widespread concern about the impact that children’s texting behaviour may have on their developing understanding of written and spoken language conventions. However, surprisingly little research has been undertaken to examine such claims.
We found no evidence of a link between poor grammar when texting and the actual grammatical understanding of UK children. Therefore there is no reason to assume that just because children play with the representation of written language when they are texting that this will somehow damage or undermine their appreciation of standard grammar over time.”