In the article ‘Why Kids Can’t Write’, Dana Goldstein, an education writer for The New York Times, reports on how teachers are avoiding basic grammar and writing skills in the classroom and how some teachers are going to do to change that. Judith C. Hochman, Founder of an organization called the Writing Revolution, displayed examples of students work. She says, “It all starts with a sentence.” Hochman focuses on the fundamentals of grammar but many educators are less concerned with sentence-level mechanics and more concerned about children drawing inspiration from their own lives for their writing. According to the most recent study done by the National Assessment of Educational progress three-quarters of both 12th and 8th graders lack proficiency…
In Michaela Cullington’s “Does Texting Affect Writing?” Cullington discusses the views individuals have on texting and how it impacts student’s writing. The growing popularity of texting has caused external and internal dissonance amongst several groups with different perspectives on how it affects writing. Some defend that it has some positive effects on writing in general. Others argue that it has a negative impact, specifically on formal writing.…
One of my quirkiest traits―and a consistent topic of laughter amongst my friends―is my ever-present and never-fading habit of texting with perfect grammar. Semicolons, commas, and colons all make an appearance in my texting, a side effect of wanting to be a book editor when I grow up. Some might argue that because I use texting as a form of communication, my writing skills have regressed. Others argue that texting has actually benefitted my formal writing skills. In Michaela Cullington’s article, “Does Texting Affect Writing?”…
School writing has no substance. “Yet when I look back I see only a young girl intent on getting it right, eager to produce flawless prose, and not a trace of the woman who years later would write that school writing is to writing as catsup to tomatoes: as junk food to food” (Brodkey 528).…
As technology advances, the preference for what is quicker and easier grows. People are so busy, and caught up in life that sitting down, and writing a long, formal document is not as simple as it should be. In today’s time, we use text messaging to get quick messages to the people they need to be. Due to the excessive use of this technology and the textspeak dialect that we create with it, researchers say our writing skills are weakening. Marywood University student Michaela Cullington, shared her view on how texting affects writing in her essay “Does Texting Affect Writing?”…
In the article Does Texting Affect Writing? Michaela Cullington argued the sides for and against texting affecting writing and gave examples from many sources such as teachers, articles, books, and magazines. In Cullington’s article, she included many literary devices trying to gather the reader’s attention to help support both sides of the argument allowing the reader to understand the two sides of the argument. Cullington starts her paper by opening it up to draw the reader’s attention by asking “Does Texting Affect Writing?” and in fact, that is her title.…
I hypothesised that all the teachers were going to say the same thing; that texting is what makes our writing terrible. Surprisingly this hypothesis was wrong. I asked my current history teacher for his opinion and he had no doubt in his mind that texting has the most impact on our writing. That with his students he see the use of short text and incomplete sentence very frequently. Strongly disagreeing with him, I asked to see some examples of this.…
There are good writers and there are good writers who work hard to become better. Mrs. Fiske, my English teacher junior and senior year of high school always told me that I was one of the best writers in my class but I could always be better. Spelling has always been one of my strong suits and I always get bothered when people can’t spell simple words. I’m pretty good at writing essays but I do not enjoy writing them at all.…
Technology has vastly improved how we go about our daily lives. From the early civilization days of handwriting letters to someone to now, when we can send that same message to the person in a text message, faster than ever before. It seems now, almost everybody in the world has a cell phone, computer, and possibly multiple ones per household. Technology has helped improve the standard of living in America. With the rapid growth with technology, is there a price to pay?…
Writing proficiency is below grade levels across the country; therefore, teaching practices must be a concern when looking to improve students’ writing abilities. This article mentions something that Santrock also stated, finding effective ways to teach writing can be difficult because students are all at different skill levels. (Zumbrunn and Krause, 2012, 346). To determine the best way to teach writing, interviews were done with important authorities in the area of writing who concluded…
The article of concern here is Does Texting Affect Writing? by Michaela Cullington. The research paper examines the effects of texting on students’ academic writing. In Cullington’s findings, she concludes that texting has a minimal effect on writing.…
Parents and teachers often have trouble deciphering what they wrote, and also students struggle with reading their own notes sometimes. Graham remarks that, “All beginning writers struggle with fluency and legibility to some extent, and that inevitably affects their approach to composing. Young writers typically cope with the multiple demands of handwriting and composing by minimizing the composing process (planning, organizing, etc.)” (Graham, 2010, p.50). If there is early attention put into handwriting about student’s legibility there will be a decrease in the likelihood of them becoming poor writers in the…
Dear professor Gillan, as second language English language speaker, taking an English writing class is different for me comparing to taking other courses. Personally, I do not have any struggle while taking science courses, but this course even if I tried to read and understand different modes of writing, I always struggle with writing. Even though I am rich in vocabulary; I always struggle with putting up different ideas together in a paragraph. Various thoughts come to my mind and finally I end up mixing ideas in one paragraph.…
Different styles of writing can be created but you cannot change the grammar. In his essay “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words”, Paul Roberts shows us we can correctly use the English language in our writings. He believes “the principles of good writing should remain constant”. (Roberts). In most colleges, most students do not possess the level of writing and reading skill that is necessary to be successful in their courses.…
Many believe that they can’t write, that writing is stupid, and it won’t be used in the “real world”. They can’t be any further from the truth. Writing is a 21st century skill that is essential to being successful in whatever post-secondary atmosphere students find themselves in. This study helped provide many students with confidence about their ability to write. The impact we have on students’ confidence will have a ripple effect on to another area where they feel less confident.…