Forms of interactive media are anotherpotential culprit in declining classroom performance and writing ability
Media and social media are part of why writing is dropping.
25 Matching Annotations
- Nov 2025
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word processors, it seems intuitive that students would spend more timeon the quality of writing content. Spelling, grammar, diction, andpunctuation are all easily corrected on a computer.
Tech makes writing easier but also sloppier.
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academic standards in general have declined. Following results from alongitudinal study of 2,322 college students at various colleges, Richard Arumand Josipa Roksa argue in Academically Adrift (2011) that reading and writingstandards have decreased significantly.10 Arum and Roksa report that a thirdof students sampled were required to read less than forty pages per weekin any class the previous semester; half were required to write less thantwenty pages for any course. The reduction in required reading haslikely also contributed to mediocre writing
Lower standards + less reading = worse writing.
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There is substantial evidence that grades have becomeinflated over time, especially at the university level
Grades going up even when the writing isn’t good hurts the problem.
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students are evaluated less and less fortheir ability to answer questions in written form.
Kids don’t write as much on tests anymore, so they get less practice.
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Plenty of research shows that student writing skills have been poor forsome time, at least since 1970.2 Moreover, there is evidence that studentwriting is getting worse.
This Says writing is still getting worse.
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ome even graduate from college with limited ability to express themselvesin writing
This shows how far the writing problem goes.
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Students at all levels of education and in all disci-plines struggle with their writing skills
Shows writing issues are common, not just in one subject.
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what matters more than the DV tools is thestance teachers take with those tools.
It depends on how teachers use tech, not the tech itself
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Our visual, aural, spatial, andkinesthetic ways of understanding allow more inclusive access and invite more active participation
Modern learning uses a lot more than writing.
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the technology isubiquitous with tablets and smartphones
Tech is everywhere now, influencing how students communicate instead of through writing.
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Students show highinterest and aptitude with DV
Students prefer digital composing; this might affect their writing habits.
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Digital video (DV)—one of the multimodaltechnologies typically associated with the emergent New Literacies—is an important and excitingliteracy tool for use in English education.
DV is treated like a real literacy. Shows how writing isn’t the only main skill anymore.
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using images, sounds, gestures,space, and movement to represent meanings is becoming the new human condition in the digital age.
Shows how communication today uses more than just writing. Connects to modern factors changing writing skills.
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k. I felt that suc-cumbing to the shortened "u"for "you" and writing in frag-mented, seemingly unintelli-gible sentences was contributing to what mybrother humorously calls the "downfall of the En-glish language
She starts off worrying that texting is ruining proper writing. I get that. A lot of teachers probably felt that way at first.
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I myself have devel-oped the ability to code-switch effortlessly betweenthe text speak I use online and the Standard EnglishI use in my academic life
I like that she practices what she teaches. It makes her point stronger because she lives it too.
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ely. Ifteachers and parents can ac-knowledge that text speak isindeed appropriate in the digital world that stu-dents navigate daily, then perhaps we can see its usein school as a difference, rather than a d
This sums it up perfectly—text speak isn’t a problem, it’s just a different language style. What matters is knowing when to flip the switch.
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Issues of correctness cannot be ignored, and stu-dents must be expected to polish drafts of theirwriting using conventions of Standard Englis
I agree. You can express yourself however you want, but Standard English still matters in school and work. Knowing both gives you more options.
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viting students to look critically at their writing, Ibrought the issues of vernacular and standard cor-rectness to the forefron
She lets students figure out their own writing habits instead of just marking errors. That teaches awareness instead of fear of being wrong.
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This type of activity introduces the idea tostudents that language varies by con
Exactly, it’s not about what’s “right” or “wrong.” It’s about understanding when to be casual and when to be formal. That’s a skill, not a rule.
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, "Hey . . . how r u?
Funny example but it makes sense. It shows how easily you can switch tones once you know your audience.
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To begin the Flip the Switch lesson, teachersask students to identify settings in which they com-municat
This lesson is smart, it helps students realize they already switch how they talk depending on the situation. She’s just giving that a name.
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t. The authors suggest that teach-ing students to navigate between home and schooldiscourses, a task they call code-switching, privi-leges both language
This is her main point: students can use both styles, but they need to understand which one fits where. That’s what real communication skills are about.
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Because digital language represents such a largepart of the primary discourse of today's adolescents(Prensky), it is not surprising that the style of elec-tronic communication is "seeping into their school-work
She’s explaining why texting shows up in schoolwork, it’s what students do all day. It’s not bad writing, just habit, and that’s an important difference.
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- Oct 2025
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."However, I quickly realized that most texters,and especially those who were sitting in my class-room as students, did not view text speak as ademon sent to destroy Standard En
She realizes her students don’t see texting as wrong. It’s just how people communicate now, which changes how teachers have to approach writing.
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