EAST Auckland teachers are divided over whether texting is changing the younger generation’s approach to English.

PLEASE TRANSLATE: R U LIKE THIS 2? Some teachers say the influence of texting on students' English is a real concern. Photo supplied.

Following a recent cell phone survey, Telecom denied claims that texting has negative effects on English ability. Yet some local schools spoken to by the Times show that for many students the issue is a significant problem.

Ian Thomas, English and media studies teacher at St Kentigern College, says many students’ written English has become bland and simplistic as a result of texting.

“A lot of students rely on shorthand like ‘u’ and ‘2’. They’re using them in their essays and they don’t realise – it’s become subconscious.”

Mr Thomas says a lot of colour and poetry has been lost, especially in younger students’ language.  He says when those students are asked to write in text language and then translate it back into English, they often manage to identify only 70 per cent of text words as incorrect.

Paul Daley, principal of Sancta Maria, says students may be using text messages as often as they are writing actual English in assignments.

“I’ve a real concern with the over-familiarity with texting. It’s going to be more difficult to appreciate the significance of full English language.

“We’re not going to be able to turn back the clock. You’ve got to be able to draw a line in the sand now.”

 He says it is important that all teachers focus on correct spelling and punctuation, which is already in decline.

“My fear is the NZQA – they will accept texting as long as the answer is clear.”

Telecom recently said its online survey of 2000 cell phone users “squashed the claim that New Zealanders were losing the ability to write and understand traditional English”.

Yet the survey found almost a fifth of adults (17 per cent) surveyed said text language made them feel English was too complicated, and almost a quarter (22 per cent) thought text language should be in the Oxford dictionary.

Telecom spokeswoman Rebecca Earl says the discussion over texting is “certainly interesting”.

“We expect that there will be differences of opinion across the fraternity, and it will be good to see how results of the debate pan out.”

Other schools were less concerned about the specific influence of texting.

Richard Dykes, associate principal of Pakuranga College says there are many factors affecting English at the school, especially the influence of other languages, and students speaking English as a second language.

He says the college’s goals are “raising fundamental literacy” and teaching students to express themselves appropriately. Mr Dykes calls texting another variant of language.

“If it helps expression, fine. But as soon as you start truncating English, you limit it.”

Ivan Peter, head of English at Edgewater College, says text language was not a particular concern for the school and only occasionally slipped into students’ writing. He says the school makes it quite clear what written language is acceptable.

Mr Thomas says students at St Kents, where every student has a personal laptop, tend to be better with visual texts than written ones, and often shy away from reading because they assume it is too hard for them.

He says getting students to debate texting early on in their education is a helpful way to make them think about it. He advises parents who communicate with their children via texts to use predictive texting to make full words and not use abbreviations.