Matthew Lynch, in his article, “The Writing Decline: Tweeting, Texting, and Horrible Grammar in K-12,” writes about the outbreak of informal diction almost entirely devoid of any adherences to proper grammar. Lynch claims that phones and the internet have resulted in a new media centered culture. Research from the Pew Research center has supported the claim that the internet and cell phones have begun to have a more prominent part of today’s schooling in the United States.
According to this research center, the interviewed teachers replied that the internet greatly encouraged the creativity of their students. Additionally, many subscribed to the belief that collaboration was also greatly supported through the use of electronics and similar programs. Lynch, then, argues that students are graduating from high school and showing up to college with only rudimentary writing skills to show for their schooling experiences. He claims that these students are attending college “without the skills needed to write well and with schools assuming they already know the basics” (Lynch).
Last year, I worked as a teaching assistant with three sections of Freshman English at Cleveland State University. In my time spent working with a wide variety of students from different backgrounds, high schools, and even states, I noticed that they grammatical skills were severely lacking. Many of them could not properly use semicolons, commas, or even properly find their way around an apostrophe. Last week, I worked with my younger brother, a junior in high school, on one of his reflection essays. The run on sentences in his paper were numerous and of extraordinary length. He regularly texts, plays strategy games online, and messages others through apps like Snapchat and Instagram. He possesses intelligence and a capacity for learning, so I am at a loss as to why he does not also possess basic knowledge of grammar. He has told me that his teachers in school do not spend time on these facets of the English language.
This is a prime example of Grammar 1, because my former Freshman students and my brother all speak English natively and can easily communicate with others around them without having to try too hard (Module 2). They all follow an innate and almost instinctual practice of speaking and writing English as native speakers (Module 2). The Transformational Generative Grammar theory could also apply to this as we fully observe and experience language change due to factors like technology and social media culture (Module 2). Although what can also be affecting Lynch is the ideology of prescriptive grammar in that he clearly thinks students and adults should speak or write English a certain prescribed way (Module 2). However, as the world changes and evolves, so does the language. Language change is completely natural, and the main question here is whether we must accept these changes or challenge them.
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