Monday, February 26, 2007

Walrick

"What these and many other educators fail to understand is that these children have invented a new grammar specifically designed for a communication avenue that is unque to their generation. We should respect this and even marvel at how well these kids have adapted a new tool to their tasks and lifestyle and to enriching their personal relationships." (Warlick, 64)

I honestly do not agree with this quote. It is one thing to admire, if you will, the fact that children have created their own language to communicate. On the other hand, how much should we admire them for it? It is not correct English and certaintly not the type of grammar I would allow in my classroom. For a long time I used slang and all of the terminolgy that is listed on page 64, but I have made it a fact now not to use it. I complete each word and do not shorten it in anyway. To me, it seems unprofessional and it is not something I would encourage students to do simply because it is not correct.

What do you guys think?
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kris, doesn't it depend on the audience? Why is it inappropriate to use shortcuts when you are communicating w/your friends?

I certainly was doing that as a teen in the old-fashioned way--through handwritten letters to friends who were at camp during the summer.

I wish I had those letters now!!

I agree w/Warlick that teens inventing their own language is pretty neat.

What we need to teach them is how to communicate with a variety of audiences.

Check out the notion of language "register" at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_(linguistics)

I agree that when you are communicating with professors and other persons who have authority over you (and there are lots of those people in our lives) you need to use a language appropriate to that communication.

February 26, 2007 at 6:20 PM
Staci said...

Kris,
I understand your frustration with this topic. Even in classes here at SUNY Cortland, I have heard professors say that the new "language" is a media-type language. That students use AOL lingo as a new language, and teachers should learn to work with this because language always changes, and this is a new change.
But I do not completely see this new "language" as a positive. I can see students like to use it, but I do not think that in the classroom it is appropriate. Students need to be taught about target audiences. In the classroom, where professionalism and creativity is supposed to be fostered, teachers have to make it clear who the audience is. Teachers may need to go into more depth about tone and how to use it.
Students who focus too much on this "lingo language" will not do well in the real world. I certainly believe that. They need to be taught when certain tone is appropriate and inappropriate.

February 27, 2007 at 6:41 AM
Chris said...

Kristin,
I am in ENG 407 (Study of the English Language with Washburn) and this conversation came up during the first day of class. And it was summed up that everyone had used (some still do) the IM language at least sometime in their life. I know that I have never been one to drop an 'lol' or a 'c u l8r' in a conversation. I would like to think that I am above using this degraded and perverted slang that some people like Warlick praise as a new dialect. I completely agree with you; this is nothing to smile at, I can only shake my head whenever I converse with people who abbreviate everything to the point of not understanding (don't even get me started on improper spelling). It is one thing to n\avoid punctuation, but like you, I always spell everything out and as judgmental as it may seem, actually look down upon people who fell victim to this terrible epidemic.

But for educators, this is nothing we should encourage. But you know this, we all know this. Warlick is just trying to make it seem like he is accepting of everything, but if he does believe what he says, then maybe we should be concerned what we are trying to learn from him.

February 27, 2007 at 6:23 PM
Jo Tutko said...

I always thought that contractions with out apostrophes was a pretty novel idea. I agree that the audience should be taken into consideration.

I am also waiting to see how this impacts the creative process, creative writing and poetry. I think if the slang expands or if someone takes the concept and just runs with it, there would be great promise for new forms of bi-texuality to appear in print.

February 27, 2007 at 6:31 PM

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