From “LOL” to “OMG,” texting abbreviations are often used by students, both on their phones, and more recently, in person.
Many psychologists from older generations have the concern that these “shortcuts” will inevitably lead to bad grammar and spelling for Generation Z, or the generation in which many of the students now enrolled in high school belong to. However, for the majority of high school students, texting does not have this effect.
At Lawrence High, many of the statistically “avid” texters are enrolled in advanced or AP English courses and are unaffected by their texting habits. In these classes, students are taught proper spelling, a wide vocabulary and helpful grammar skills.
Junior Annie Odrowski, a self-proclaimed text-a-holic, has consistently taken Advanced English courses since her freshman year.
“When you use proper grammar, it’s more formal,” Odrowski said. “It’s important because if you’re using the wrong words all the time, you’re not really speaking English, which is our native language.”
Psychologists of the X and Y generations have attempted to prove the effect of texting on grammar; however, their results can’t be completely proven. Although grammar scores are at an all time low, this is more likely an effect of how grammar is being taught in English classes.
Although grammar is taught in many of the Advanced or AP English courses, in the grade-specific classes offered, this is rare.
English teachers Keri Lauxman, Kim O’Brien and Sue Donnelly have a reputation for teaching grammar, but these and a few other teachers are a minority in the nation as a whole. English teachers have no curriculum requirement to teach grammar to their high school students.
Many teachers choose not to teach grammar, but this does not mean the students have no interest in learning how to write and speak in the professional world.
Sophomore Matt Mantooth sees texting as the ideal way to practice use of correct grammar.
“If I’m talking to someone and they don’t use proper grammar, I will not reply,” Mantooth said. “I’d actually say my grammar has gotten better because over text I use proper grammar.”
When representatives from each of the four grade levels were given a grammar test, the average score was six out of seven.
Using these statistics, it would seem Lawrence High students’ grammar is superior to most in the nation, as many of our academic scores reflect.
Although studies demonstrate the lack of grammar being taught at school, because of the talented teachers of Lawrence High, texting has had little to no effect on the students’ grammar.