[ShepherdsDog]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story ... weens.html

$1:

Drew Cingel, who studies media, technology and society, said tweens adapt language in order to text but can’t seem to re-adapt how they communicate when it comes to formal situations, such as writing an essay for school. Cingel says they use many shortcuts which are great for efficient texting but don't impress teachers.

“They may use use a homophone, such as gr8 for great, or an initial like LOL, for laugh out loud,” noted Cingel. He added they often cut out letters such as wud for “would.”

S. Shyam Sundar, who worked with Cingel and is co-director of Penn State’s Media Effects Research Laboratory, said these shortcuts may hinder a tween’s ability to switch from techspeak to the normal rules of grammar.

It's not just the tweeners, that are semi-literate.

[EyeBrock]

Yep, e-mails from colleagues are very telling. A good majority of the current crop of graduates have a hard time with proper grammar, spelling and anything related to English.

Look at some of the plonkers who come on here every so often. They can barely string a sentence together. Capitals seem like a mystery as is punctuation.

It’s not being ‘grammar police’, your words say who you are. We have a widening gap of literacy and the latest generation are failing in a big way.

[Brenda]

Correct spelling and grammar is SO important.
Typo's, fine, everyone makes them, but I certainly hope you guys will point it out to me when I make grammar errors that I am not aware of.
In my case, it is ESL, and I don't like making mistakes in something that I think is important.

[Xort]

[Guy_Fawkes]

My wife recently had to write a speech to the bride of a wedding, she gave it to me to proof read. Now we are pretty much the same age, but I went to school in Alberta and her in New Brunswick. Technically I am a highschool drop out (had the credits but not the required courses for a diploma) and she has gone to collage and at one point was a qualified vet tech. What she had strung together was atrocious, and after 20 min of trying to find out what she was trying to say we had a speech. Which brought the tears to the bride's eyes. Now I dont know what condition Alberta education is in now, but there is no way in hell I am letting my son go to school in New Brunswick.

[Xort]

Guy_Fawkes Guy_Fawkes:

Now I dont know what condition Alberta education is in now, but there is no way in hell I am letting my son go to school in New Brunswick.

A study sample size of one is basicly useless to make an accurate study of a population.

From the logic that a single person is a useful study group you could also come to the conclusions that married women are terrible at written communication. Or that you have a selection bias to relations with people that have poor communication skills.

[ShepherdsDog]

Guy_Fawkes Guy_Fawkes:

My wife recently had to write a wedding speech about the bride. She gave it to me to proof read. Now, we are pretty much the same age, but I went to school in Alberta, and she in New Brunswick. Technically, I am a highschool drop out (I had the credits, but not the required courses for a diploma), and she had gone to community college. At one point, she was a qualified vet tech.

What she had strung together was atrocious. After 20 minutes, of trying to find out what it was she was trying to say, we had a speech. It brought tears to the bride's eyes. Now I don't know what condition Alberta education is in now, but there is no way in hell that I am letting my son go to school in New Brunswick.

Fixed for clarity.....and for shits and giggles

[Guy_Fawkes]

Touche Shep

Xort I have talked to many people in NB, and have talked to other parents from outside of the province with children in school here. They all have told me the school system in NB sucks.

[ShepherdsDog]

I run most of what I write, for work, past my wife.

[Strutz]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

Yep, e-mails from colleagues are very telling. A good majority of the current crop of graduates have a hard time with proper grammar, spelling and anything related to English.

Look at some of the plonkers who come on here every so often. They can barely string a sentence together. Capitals seem like a mystery as is punctuation.

It’s not being ‘grammar police’, your words say who you are. We have a widening gap of literacy and the latest generation are failing in a big way.

Agreed EB. I find it annoying to read some people's posts in here. It's one thing for some to communicate with friends using abbreviations and ignoring grammar and capitalization, but sad that they cannot use proper English when it comes to school, work-related emails and posting in forums such as this one. These are places you want to be taken seriously.

Brenda Brenda:

Typo's, fine, everyone makes them, but I certainly hope you guys will point it out to me when I make grammar errors that I am not aware of.
In my case, it is ESL, and I don't like making mistakes in something that I think is important.

ESL-type "oopsies" are a whole other thing! At least you are willing to ask for guidance and you know that many on here will help you out with that.

[Lemmy]

My colleagues and I used to complain to one another about how bad freshman essays were. We'd commiserate over the agony in marking them. The freshman papers we laughed at 10 years ago were better than the ones we get from seniors now. The decline is significant.

[raydan]

I'm usually pretty good in English but the only practice I get now is television and here. I do sometimes translate French expressions to English without thinking about it, as some may have noticed. I have also spelled some words in French... I remember once wanting to write "peach" and actually spelling it "pêche".

I don't text or tweet, so I write everything the long way.

[ShepherdsDog]

I have a few Chinese English teachers as students, who requested that I correct any and all mistakes they made. It's just not possible. Usually, when we are speaking, I tell them it's more important that you are able to convey the idea effectively, than getting hung up on the grammar.

With written English, I'm a bit more 'picky'. Not using proper spelling, punctuation and grammar(verb tenses really confuse most non native speakers, as do prepositions)can really screw up what it is you are trying to say, and I don't feel like rewriting someone's work, unless I'm being paid to edit a paper...in most cases, it's not really editing, it's actual writing because what they are trying to convey is so convoluted(which may be the improper adjective because it means complex, and what they've written is shite), that I have to do actual research on the material, and present my own findings based on what I think they wanted to say.

I don't understand how some of these graduates of western universities were actually able to graduate from our schools with such atrocious English. I made it through two Canadian universities and a graduate degree here, where most of the profs were English speakers(Anglos and Euros). I was always careful about what I wrote.

[ShepherdsDog]

$1:

I remember once wanting to write "peach" and actually spelling it "pêche".

That isn't misspelling something. Writing it peech or pech is.

[raydan]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

$1:

I remember once wanting to write "peach" and actually spelling it "pêche".

That isn't misspelling something. Writing it peech or pech is.

In my last post I wrote "texte" (French spelling) but caught it before submitting.