Chatspeak 'does not affect spelling'

Published on 24-09-2009

Summary:

Parents who allow their children to take their mobile phones to day camp may be worried that 'text speak' could damage their spelling ability.

However, research from the University of Alberta suggests that the language variations used in mobile phone texts do not impair this ability and could actually be a good thing.

The study, which is published in the Reading and Writing journal, looked at around 40 children aged between 12 and 17 and compared their SMS texts and instant messages to a standardised spelling test.

Explaining the findings, lead author Connie Varnhagen revealed: "Kids who are good spellers [academically] are good spellers in instant messaging and kids who are poor spellers in English class are poor spellers in instant messaging."

In addition, study co-author Nicole Pugh said that it was interesting to see how inventive children can be when creating new words to use in texts and instant messages.

Earlier this month, childcare resource CreativePlayPlus.com may have offered a good reason for day camp attendance, when it claimed that creative play is a vital part of a child's development.