Critical response
CRITICAL RESPONSE: “MOBILE PHONES AND LITERACY” by Samuel Tsung
AND “TEXT MESSAGES AND THE DECLINE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE” by Louise Dite
As SMS messages has brought significant changes to our lives by revolutionizing the way people communicate, using abbreviations in texting has become more popular than ever as a quick and convenient choice to exchange information. Yet, there remains some disagreement as to whether this useful and powerful tool of communication has been positive or negative on literacy in the long-term. According to the article “Text messaging and the decline of the English language” published in The Fulchester Times on 25 August 2012, Louise Dite states that texting can lead to reducing students’ literacy ability. In the article “Mobile phones and Literacy” published in The Daily Planet on 8 August 2012, Samuel Tsung, meanwhile, argues that using SMS messages not only is a useful tool to practice English skills but also improve students’ results. This essay will critically evaluate to both arguments in these two articles.
In her article, Dite claims firstly that texting bring detrimental effects on both reading and writing English skills in the long term. When using abbreviations frequently, students easily make mistakes on writing exams; as a result, this habit leads to low academic results which directly affect their career opportunity. However, Tsung states that SMS messages are helpful for young students to improve their language skill as they also practice English when using SMS. As a consequence, their ability to read and write in English will improve faster. Moreover, he notes that students are intelligent enough to understand the importance of writing appropriate academic English in exams and other situations in order not to be a failure in the workforce.
Tsung’s opinion that texting has brought numerous positive impacts on upgrading students’ English to higher level seems convincing and logical. It is indisputable that if a person
AND “TEXT MESSAGES AND THE DECLINE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE” by Louise Dite
As SMS messages has brought significant changes to our lives by revolutionizing the way people communicate, using abbreviations in texting has become more popular than ever as a quick and convenient choice to exchange information. Yet, there remains some disagreement as to whether this useful and powerful tool of communication has been positive or negative on literacy in the long-term. According to the article “Text messaging and the decline of the English language” published in The Fulchester Times on 25 August 2012, Louise Dite states that texting can lead to reducing students’ literacy ability. In the article “Mobile phones and Literacy” published in The Daily Planet on 8 August 2012, Samuel Tsung, meanwhile, argues that using SMS messages not only is a useful tool to practice English skills but also improve students’ results. This essay will critically evaluate to both arguments in these two articles.
In her article, Dite claims firstly that texting bring detrimental effects on both reading and writing English skills in the long term. When using abbreviations frequently, students easily make mistakes on writing exams; as a result, this habit leads to low academic results which directly affect their career opportunity. However, Tsung states that SMS messages are helpful for young students to improve their language skill as they also practice English when using SMS. As a consequence, their ability to read and write in English will improve faster. Moreover, he notes that students are intelligent enough to understand the importance of writing appropriate academic English in exams and other situations in order not to be a failure in the workforce.
Tsung’s opinion that texting has brought numerous positive impacts on upgrading students’ English to higher level seems convincing and logical. It is indisputable that if a person