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View Full Version : New Zealand Permits Text Speak in Exams


Darius Wey
11-12-2006, 04:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/11/11/nz.text.ap/index.html' target='_blank'>http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiap...t.ap/index.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"New Zealand's high school students will be able to use "text-speak" -- the mobile phone text message language beloved of teenagers -- in national exams this year, officials said. Text-speak, a second language for thousands of teens, uses abbreviated words and phrases such as "txt" for "text", "lol" for "laughing out loud" or "lots of love," and "CU" for "see you." The move has already divided students and educators who fear it could damage the English language. New Zealand's Qualifications Authority said Friday that it still strongly discourages students from using anything other than full English, but that credit will be given if the answer "clearly shows the required understanding," even if it contains text-speak."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/we-20061112-txtspeak.gif" /><br /><br />Um, lol, r u jking?

OSUKid7
11-12-2006, 04:05 PM
That's just terrible. No good will come of this. English is a complex language, with some problems, but using these types of shortcuts will never help it in the future. What were they thinking? :roll:

SteveHoward999
11-12-2006, 04:39 PM
I don't like it, but the world will not implode because of this.

We use language, abbreviations and grammatic abbhorations that our parents' and grandparents' teachers would be horrified, yet we manage to fumble our way through life just fine.

JesterMania
11-12-2006, 09:21 PM
That's so bad, I can't imagine who approved of this. Pretty soon 1337 speak will be prevalent in the academic systems. I could just see a teacher writing a comment on a failed test like - "WTF!! j00 r pwned nublet! gg". :|

MitchellO
11-12-2006, 10:23 PM
Yeah I think this is a pretty stupid idea.

But I mean people who are righting essays like SMSes are probably not getting terribly good marks anyway :P

jaytee
11-12-2006, 11:58 PM
Laziness.

ctmagnus
11-13-2006, 12:41 AM
I don't like it, but the world will not implode because of this.

I agree. But the planet may explode as a result. ;)

Pdaholic
11-13-2006, 04:38 AM
I feel sorry for the poor teachers that have to read this crap. Can you imagine trying to read an essay with these abbreviations? It's sometimes a struggle for me to read a post in a forum, let alone an entire essay.

OSUKid7
11-13-2006, 06:32 AM
I feel sorry for the poor teachers that have to read this crap. Can you imagine trying to read an essay with these abbreviations? It's sometimes a struggle for me to read a post in a forum, let alone an entire essay.
Well, while I agree that this is a terrible decision to allow students to use these abbreviations in school, but once the teacher gets used to reading the new type of English, it will become second nature. Think about it... take a common abbreviation used online: LOL. I sure don't think to myself "laughing out loud" every time I read it, but rather I just subconsciously understand it to mean a funny remark. This is done by all of us with every single word and abbreviation. The same is true with all txt abbreviations and even 1337 5p34|&lt;. ;)

I still don't like that this is being used in schools now, but hey, languages change, and people adjust.

gnad
11-13-2006, 08:30 AM
Where I lived many students are still struggled with spelling and comprehension - (based on the latest results of basic skill test). These people must be out of their mind or they went out of their way just to save paper and ink!!!. English is not my native langue, but I enjoyed reading novels and I believe that words are descriptive. Shortening them will remove the image/feeling in books/novels.
Frankly, I do not want the language ruins by a bunch of .... :evil:

aroma
11-13-2006, 05:24 PM
Anyone who would actually use "lol" in an essay should be shot! ROFLMAO!

SteveHoward999
11-13-2006, 06:17 PM
I find myself wondering how many of the people complaining here about this are American.

With city signs saying "No Thru Road", MacDonlad's signs for the "Drive Thru", adverts for "Drinks half price Friday nite" etc etc it's already clear that Americans are happy to toss aside any semblance of 'preserving' the written English language.

Brad Adrian
11-13-2006, 08:47 PM
I've always thought that this kind of thing is a bad idea, probably because my dad is a retired English professor and he always taught us the importance of expressing ourselves well. These things used to bother me a lot, and then I realized that all it does is allow the ignorant in this world to reveal themselves.

However, I wouldn't have expected this kind of decision from anyone associated with education.

Janak Parekh
11-13-2006, 11:39 PM
With city signs saying "No Thru Road", MacDonlad's signs for the "Drive Thru", adverts for "Drinks half price Friday nite" etc etc it's already clear that Americans are happy to toss aside any semblance of 'preserving' the written English language.
Please, give this general anti-American commentary that you do so often up. First off, we're not all of one voice, so don't lump us with one brush of the stroke. Second, it's one thing to label signs with contracted or informal forms of the English language, either for space (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thru) or to convey a sense of "informality"; it is entirely another to teach or sanction illiterate concepts in a school environment.

As it stands, I can barely tolerate posts on web communities that are written in this manner. Heck, my friends and I don't even use these contractions in our SMSes and IM messages. In my case, part of the reason is the Treo's thumbboard, which obviates the need. I must therefore obviously not be American, despite having been born in New York State. :roll:

--janak

SteveHoward999
11-14-2006, 12:04 AM
Please, give this general anti-American commentary that you do so often up. First off, we're not all of one voice, so don't lump us with one brush of the stroke. Second, it's one thing to label signs with contracted or informal forms of the English language

The comment was not anti-American. I can't stop you from choosing to see it as that.

You missed my point. By emblazing such contractions on signs 100 feet high and 50 feet wide, then advertisers and illiterate sign writers are absolutely sanctioning contractions and bad spelling.

Also, by emblazing such contractions on signs 100 feet high and 50 feet wide, arguments about trying to work within limited space are without substance.

My wife is American. I asked her what "Ped Xing" meant as we drove through a WalMart parking lot a couple of years ago. She didn't know. It took us a little while to realise that it meant "Pedestrian Crossing". This is the very sort of contraction that we are complaining about in this thread. It is not only difficult to translate, but is actually impossible for anyone but a reasonably literate person to understand.

Janak Parekh
11-14-2006, 01:44 AM
The comment was not anti-American. I can't stop you from choosing to see it as that.
You should reread your post. It comes off as such... "Americans are happy to toss aside any semblance of 'preserving' the written English language." That's as broad a generalization as one can make.

You missed my point. By emblazing such contractions on signs 100 feet high and 50 feet wide, then advertisers and illiterate sign writers are absolutely sanctioning contractions and bad spelling.
Many of them are done for contractions, to enable larger size fonts on a large sign. I don't necessarily like them (although I always prefer larger-font signs, having suffered with small ones for much too long), but I fail to see the connection to academia. There are plenty of poorly- or colloquially-written materials everywhere in the world, but that does not mean we should progressively stoop to that level. And, if anything, the classroom is the one environment we should aim higher than any perceived societal norms.

My wife is American. I asked her what "Ped Xing" meant as we drove through a WalMart parking lot a couple of years ago. She didn't know. It took us a little while to realise that it meant "Pedestrian Crossing".
Interesting. I've seen X-ing for decades, and never thought twice about it. If it's a commonplace misunderstanding, someone should complain about it. &lt;shrug>

This is the very sort of contraction that we are complaining about in this thread. It is not only difficult to translate, but is actually impossible for anyone but a reasonably literate person to understand.
I disagree. There is a significant distinction between signage abbreviations and the ones you see in SMS chatter.

--janak

SteveHoward999
11-14-2006, 04:33 AM
This is the very sort of contraction that we are complaining about in this thread. It is not only difficult to translate, but is actually impossible for anyone but a reasonably literate person to understand.
I disagree. There is a significant distinction between signage abbreviations and the ones you see in SMS chatter.


Of course I am biased towards my pwn perspective here. However it seems like you are trying so hard to see some sort of personal or national insult in my simple observations that you are not willing to see how badly-spelt signage is the same as any other badly-written language.


Toodles!

Janak Parekh
11-14-2006, 05:50 AM
However, I wouldn't have expected this kind of decision from anyone associated with education.
Well, after giving it some thought, it becomes more obvious: as school boards often consist of members of the community, it's probably inevitable that things like this will happen. Just look at stuff that's happened in school boards in the US or elsewhere in the world (the whole zero-tolerance phenomenon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_tolerance_%28schools%29) comes to mind). :? I still refuse to accept it, though, and I hope that the negative publicity will encourage those responsible to reconsider.

--janak

kiwi
11-17-2006, 07:28 PM
on behalf of my country, I am embarrised :oops: