Cullington On Texting

Cullington tries to achieve her goal of showing texting is not harming kids writing but comes short of it. The author shares valuable information from her research. She insists, “My research suggests that texting actually has minimal effect on students writing. It showed that students do not believe textspeak is appropriate in formal writing assignments” (134). Her research could have proven her goal of students using textspeak in their writing, but she only asked her close friends and teachers she had in the past. Making her goal fall short by the lack of research done. Cullington later found a study that took place in Midwestern research university. The research was over eighty-six students over how they wrote in relation to textspeak. They …show more content…
Cullington included this research to reach her goal in proving texting is not affecting students’ writing. The research did say they still need to watch the effect on texting because of how rapid texting grew. By including that statement, ruined Cullington goal of showing textspeak not affecting the overall writing process. The author then wrapped up her story by talking about the results of her research she conducted. Cullington admitted, “On the basis of my own research, expert research, and personal observations, I can confidently state that texting is not interfering with students’ use of standard written English and has no effect on their writing abilities in general” (136). By concluding the story up with her opinion, makes her overall stance on texting, lack credibility. Cullington should have concluded her story with facts to leave the reader convinced. But by stating her research, which is not an asset to her story, leaves the reader not convinced. Making Cullington overall goal of persuading the audience that texting does not affect students writing, look …show more content…
While Cullington did give valuable points throughout her writing, her trustworthiness is lacking when conducting her own research. Cullington wanted to conduct her own research to back up her theory on texting. She explained, “To let students speak for themselves, I created a list of questions for seven high school and college students, some of my closest and most reliable friends” (133). The author put in this information to show how she is conducting her research. She wanted to prove that the people she interviewed, were trust worthy. Cullington’s research cannot be trusted because she only used seven students that were all her friends. The fact that they are all friends with her, ruined the research. It is hard to trust only seven students on their intake of textspeak. The author then used their surveys and went through college student’s papers to find textspeak. Cullington did not find textspeak in the students’ writing. She insists, “Many experts would agree that there is no harm in textspeak, as long as students continue to be taught and reminded that occasions where formal language is expected are not the place for it” (134). Language abbreviation was not found when looking through college students’ papers, showing the readers her credibility. The question with this quote is who are the experts agreeing with her? There are no creditable sources listed when stating that experts agree with what she believes.