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WP: IM shorthand slips into schoolwork Students use ‘b4,’ ‘b/c’ and ‘culd’ in essays
By Lori Aratani
The Washington Post
Updated: 6:08 p.m. ET Dec 25, 2006
Zoe Bambery, a senior at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, might send more than 100 instant messages – IMs – during a typical evening. So during the SAT exam, the 18-year-old found herself inadvertently lapsing into IM-speak, using “b/c” instead of “because” as she scrambled to finish her essay.
She caught herself and now is careful to proofread before hitting print. But she is hardly the only student to find IM phrases creeping into schoolwork.
“They are using it absolutely everywhere,” said Sara Goodman, an English teacher at Clarksburg High School in Montgomery County who has worn out many purple and red markers circling the offending phrases in papers and tests.
Wendy Borelli, a seasoned English teacher at Springbrook High in Silver Spring, finds photo captions for the school yearbook sprinkled with shorthand such as “B4” and “nite.” A student who left on a brief errand to the office announced he would “BRB.”
In 2004, 16 million teenagers used instant messages to communicate, up from 13 million in 2000, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Students say IM language has become so ubiquitous they often do not realize they have lapsed into it.
“It’s just natural. I had to learn not to do it” in papers, ChiChi Aniebonam, 17, said about her proficiency in IM. “I’m in AP literature, where you just can’t put it into your writing, but when I’m writing something informal, now and again I use it.”
How much more abuse can the poor English language take?
WP: IM shorthand slips into schoolwork Students use ‘b4,’ ‘b/c’ and ‘culd’ in essays
By Lori Aratani
The Washington Post
Updated: 6:08 p.m. ET Dec 25, 2006
Zoe Bambery, a senior at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, might send more than 100 instant messages – IMs – during a typical evening. So during the SAT exam, the 18-year-old found herself inadvertently lapsing into IM-speak, using “b/c” instead of “because” as she scrambled to finish her essay.
She caught herself and now is careful to proofread before hitting print. But she is hardly the only student to find IM phrases creeping into schoolwork.
“They are using it absolutely everywhere,” said Sara Goodman, an English teacher at Clarksburg High School in Montgomery County who has worn out many purple and red markers circling the offending phrases in papers and tests.
Wendy Borelli, a seasoned English teacher at Springbrook High in Silver Spring, finds photo captions for the school yearbook sprinkled with shorthand such as “B4” and “nite.” A student who left on a brief errand to the office announced he would “BRB.”
In 2004, 16 million teenagers used instant messages to communicate, up from 13 million in 2000, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Students say IM language has become so ubiquitous they often do not realize they have lapsed into it.
“It’s just natural. I had to learn not to do it” in papers, ChiChi Aniebonam, 17, said about her proficiency in IM. “I’m in AP literature, where you just can’t put it into your writing, but when I’m writing something informal, now and again I use it.”
How much more abuse can the poor English language take?
