Txting Cld Help Kids Read Reg Eng

Will children who grow up in the age of excessive text messaging see their spelling and reading skills suffer as a result?

Not necessarily, according to a new study from the British Academy. In fact, in an examination of schoolchildren’s texting habits, the kids who used more “textisms”–abbreviations such as “plz” (please) and “l8ter” (later)–showed higher scores on some spelling, phonetics, reading comprehension and other English language competency tests.

“We have found no support in our research for the negative media and public speculation surrounding mobile phone use, text language and its effects on literacy development,” wrote study authors Beverly Plester and Clare Wood, both psychology professors at Coventry University in the United Kingdom.

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