CARS intro

Growing up in the age of technology, text messaging has such an impact on our generation. Having such a great impact on individuals themselves leads to having an impact on their personal literacy. Does the knowledge of text abbreviations affect the way individuals create issues within their scholarly duties? Many people would automatically assume that text messaging would hinder students’ learning abilities and affect their progress in the classroom. Others might believe that text messaging and being in the classroom are two different things and students are able to distinguish the difference between the two. People tend to think that texting is just a form of technology, but little do they know that even texting can be considered a type of literacy. To further understand the relationship between texting and literacy many tests have been conducted on students to see how the text abbreviations, or “textisms”, have made an impact on their reading and writing skills. The purpose of my research is to explain to readers if texting has created an impact on literacy and if it is a good or bad affect. I will explain my research findings and the results of the tests done on students. With all of the research I have found hopefully by the end of my paper readers will be able to understand how texting has made an impact on literacy and also be able to agree with my standpoint.

Does the knowledge of text abbreviations affect the way individuals create issues within their scholarly duties? There are many different opinions, facts, and research that have gone into this question and in order to find out an answer, different type of research has to be done. In researching this topic I have found many different views on this topic. Most of the research and articles that I have found can fall under the category of an argument of fact. The articles that I have found have conducted surveys and studies on people to get numbers and statistics to prove that texting has some sort of affect on students and their literacy, whether it is positive or negative. According to Lunsford in order to develop a factual argument you must first identify an issue, then research your hypothesis, refine your claim, decide which evidence to use, and finally present your evidence. In the article I found “Children’s use of mobile phone text messaging and its impact on literacy development in primary school,” it is clear that this is in fact a factual argument. In the beginning they introduce the issue, what they believe the outcome will be, conduct research, and then provide evidence. On the other hand, another article I found by Steve Vosloo falls under the category of an argument of definition. In order for Vosloo to prove that texting has some sort of affect on literacy, he must first define what literacy is. Rather than giving a dictionary definition of literacy, Vosloo in his own way expands the definition and explains how other means of reading and writing can fall under the broad topic of literacy. “Literacy today refers to more than reading and writing printed language,” (Vosloo 2), and continues to talk about how it is the ability to transform text into English. Once Vosloo provided the definition of literacy he is able to develop his argument of definition and present facts on how texting can affect personal literacy. Since the research topic I am inquiring is looking for a yes or no answer the bulk of my research can be considered an argument of fact. In a factual argument you must “offer substantial and authoritative evidence to support your claims,” (Lunsford 194). Going along with what is discussed in the readings of Lunsford, my research articles that have conducted some type of study or survey have clearly proven to be factual arguments by doing as Lunsford says and offering enough evidence to support the claim. In the article by Clare Wood, Emma Jackson, Beverly Plester & Lucy Wilde from Coventry University, they provided evidence by showing graphs and statistics which is “evidence that can be measured, counted, computed, or illustrated” (Lunsford 193). Even throughout this source, there are times where they turn their factual argument into a definition argument by stating the definition of literacy. For this specific paper I feel that the research that I have found that is more factual than definition will be more useful, although, the articles that do have a definition argument will also assist in the clarification of the definition and perception of literacy and its relationship with text messaging.

Reflection Of Research

The research progress so far for my question has been rather easy. There are many different studies that have been conducted to see whether or not texting has an impact on students reading and writing. Using the questions provided in class, the article that I found that would serve most effective was from the Coventry University. This article did the studies that were the most related to my topic. This article was very detailed and specific. The research I have found has greatly help answer the question of the affects on students writing skills due to texting. Most of the views that I have found agree with my stance on the issue which is that texting does in fact create an impact on literacy, but it is not necessarily a bad impact. I would not say that I am having trouble finding research I think the only issue is that all of the research done is conducted on younger students when they should be focusing on older generations. Besides that, I feel that my research progress is going well and will continue on!