Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Digital Errors in a Digital Age
This week, one of the most visited topics in all of my classes was on the growing trend of blogging, texting, and posting replies to discussion boards. The debate that grew out of this was whether or not it is a good thing to accept errors in posts as the nature of the age, or if this trend marks something that needs to be fixed. On one side, it is brought out that blogs and responses are meant to be based on feelings and immediate impulses, and that the act of 'cleaning them up' would deteriorate their purpose. On the other side of the debate is the thought that language is currently being degraded, and that, if this were allowed to continue, the trend will grow until speech and even formal writing will have lost much of its richness and grammer. Thoughts?
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My thoughts: I think of language as the defining factor of humankind; it has been the staple of communication throughout history and represents the most effective way to get ones ideas out among the world. The proper use of semantics is, in my opinion, the only way to make sure our ideas are not misconstrued, and the inproper use and interpretation of words, even in very informal settings (such as blogs and forums), can lead to horrible misunderstandings. Mistakes in grammer and spelling also have the tendency to discredit the author, even if the writer has made worthwhile contributions to the discussion.
ReplyDeleteIn a teaching situation, I believe there is a time and place for grading spelling and removing points for grammer, but if mistakes go completely unnoticed and uncorrected, the student will not be encouraged to take the time and think before submitting their work. I believe it is always the responsibility of a teacher to promote the proper use of language in all learning situations. If blogs are used in a classroom, they should not be openly scrutinized, but perhaps they could be used at the end of the week as English lessons, where the student collects and lists all their posts, corrects them, and then writes a summary of their ideas from the week, all to be graded for proper English, grammer, and spelling.
I agree its important to maintain language even in todays tech world but more important than the grammer and mechanics is the ideas. The ideas are whats important and what should be focused on in blogs and discussions.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is TIME! When I used to proof every e-mail and IM that I sent (including to my own sister) I was doubling the time that it would take me to communicate to her.
ReplyDeleteI have since learned to filter. I don't proof e-mails to father, boyfriend, sister, friends. I do proof e-mails to business relations, clients, other professionals, etc.
I think it's a sad consequence of this evolution.
It's funny that teachers are promoting an immutable language standard. The history of language is one of constant change. This is an exciting time in which to live, when language appears to be changing even faster. Let's face it: The role of written language is being eclipsed by the better media of audio and video, both of which are more easily available and better at conveying those all-important ideas.
ReplyDeleteFollow-up: I should have added that writers will need to continue to cater to the standards of the audience, so in this post I'll stick with teacher friendly language and not resort to phonetic spelling. I guess you could say I'm a language Darwinist, in that the skilled in a given niche will survive. lol!
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