Belvidere looks to improve student writing, raising questions about the impact of electronic communications

Wednesday, December 30, 2009
By BILL WICHERT
The Express-Times

BELVIDERE | OMG R U 4 real?

For those not fluent in text messaging, that's shorthand for: Oh my God, are you for real?

While such code may be acceptable for cell phones, Belvidere School District officials fear students' texting has dulled their writing skills.

In response, the district has stepped up writing exercises in the wake of disappointing language arts test results.

The percentage of Belvidere students who posted advanced proficient and proficient scores in language arts fell in grades two, three, four and six. Language arts scores also dropped slightly among seventh-graders.

"We're just committed to improving standardized test scores," Superintendent Dirk Swaneveld said. "We're just not pleased with the scores overall."

Teachers have already begun incorporating more writing exercises in the classroom, including an extra emphasis on daily journal writing, according to Karl Rice, principal of Oxford Street Elementary School.

The school district is considering the purchase of test preparation materials, but that part of the test improvement plan hinges on the availability of money, Rice said.

"We don't want to be complacent," Rice said. "We want our students to write, write, write."

Rice said electronic formats affect how students at his school write, but Nancy Coco, director of the Penn State Lehigh Valley Writing Project, said digital media presents an educational opportunity. The project offers programs for administrators, teachers, students and families.

By exposing students to various writing styles, they can learn about the conventions important to different formats and how to communicate with diverse audiences, Coco said.

"You have to give kids a range of practice" with writing, she said.

Other experts say new technologies -- from the printing press to the launch of the text message -- have always raised questions about their potential impact on the written word.

"These are long-running debates about how you experiment with language and whether experimentation is legitimate or not," said Lee Rainie, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Internet and American Life Project, which has researched writing and technology.

"The older generation is always worried about the competence of the younger generation," Rainie added.

Rainie said research on the influence of electronic media on writing remains limited, though some studies suggest that the most prolific electronic writers receive the best grades.

The uncertain effects of technology turned up in a national survey conducted by the Pew initiative and the College Board's National Commission on Writing.

In that survey, 73 percent of teenagers said their electronic communications had no impact on their school writing.

Sixty-four percent of teenagers, however, acknowledged that informal styles from those communications sometimes filter into their writing for school.

"We're still at the very early stages of figuring out what this all adds up to," Rainie said.