Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature This chapter presents the review of related literature and studies, which serves as guide in the conduct of the study. This chapter is divided into three parts. (1) Texting, (2) Spelling and Spelling Skills and (3) Synthesis. Texting Mobile phone is one of the technologies in communication that grows really fast nowadays. People can be found anywhere talking on the phone while walking or driving. One of the features of a mobile phone that also becomes popular is the text messaging, or it is usually called SMS or Short Message Service. This feature allows a mobile phone user to send short messages to other mobile phones, handhelds, computers, and even landline telephones. Text messaging is very popular in Europe, Asia, Australia and now is also in America (www.teacherlibrarian.com). There are many reasons why people like to use the text messaging feature. First, it is a practical tool to communicate with other people. Next reason would be because text messaging is quick. Once the sender sends the message, in only less than ten seconds, the recipients will receive it in his or her mobile phone. “The speed of text messaging is one reason why it is becoming so popular with business people. Cheap cost might be the main reason why text messaging becomes popular very quickly. One can send a single message to any mobile phone in the world and just in a spilt of a second, the message gets delivered to the recipient (www.teacherlibrarian.com). Despite all of the benefits that the text messaging feature provides, it also gives some certain impacts to the society. One of them would be the impact on students’ writing skills. Since the message is limited only to 160 characters, the users have to abbreviate most of the words if they want their messages to fit into a single text message. This makes many teenagers create a whole new language of abbreviations and shortcuts such as “G2G” for “got to go” or “U” for “you”; and it does have some effects on how they write a paper. According to Adger, innovating with language is not wrong and is not dangerous; however the problem arises when people, especially students, use that language into a formal communication (eSchool News 2). In addition, this issue does not only raise in the educational level, but also in the corporate level; for instance, using text messages to fire employees would be inappropriate and unethical because that matter should need a lot of concerns, and should be done formally. Another impact is that these text messaging can be addictive for some people. Some teachers and parents also express concern that text messaging increases opportunity for cheating at school. They can share or discuss answers of the exam with each other via text messages. These are examples of how text messages can lead into unethical behaviors such as cheating (www.teacherlibrarian.com). According to Briggs, (2006), the popularity of cell phones, and their use of text messaging, opens up brand-new issues for universities, as with any new technology. During exams, for instance, classrooms need to be monitored for illicit cell phone use, since both text messaging and IM-ing are fast and silent. Examiners issued a new warning on text messaging, saying that abbreviated phone texting and street slang are to be blamed for deteriorating levels of spelling and grammar. Even bright pupils were making "almost unforgivable" mistakes with simple words (http://news.scotsman.com). People using email and SMS text messaging were unconcerned about grammar and punctuation. Grammar rules used to be an indication of social class and literacy in the past but today’s society are doing thing differently because language today serve the purpose of speed and social interaction (Carr, 2004). This is true to the theory of the Malaysian director of education that attributes students’ falling grades in English to SMS. (The Star, Malaysia). Rafie (2003) blamed text messaging and the Internet for the decline in English language passers in the Penilaian Menengah Rendah examination this year (Malaysia's New Straits Times)." Students were "economizing words and phrases" in their answer scripts as they were used to doing so via the SMS and in their messages over the Internet. The scripts clearly show they have overlooked the basic rules of English. Students used short form when writing (www.textually.org.) Cheng (2004) proposed the conduct of a quantitative study on the impact of SMS on languages to understand the matter deeper so that corrective measures can be employed to stop the drop in the standard of English (The Star, Malaysia). Haste, (1998) said that texting is replacing speech for much communication among young people. It is immediate, accessible, private and gives them unprecedented control over how they communicate with friends and family. (www.smh.com). In many cases, text messaging has replaced letter writing, said the Roar report, a study of the social habits of more than 1,000 teenagers and young adults that was sponsored by Channel 4 and magazine and newspaper publishers. Most preferred to text rather than speak. Four out of 10 would send a text to show they were thinking of someone but only one in six would phone (Telegraph, November 2003). However, another professor quoted in the story says that the decline in English grades has nothing to do with SMS, and SMS is a good thing (www.textuality.org). Dawson (1999) said that texting is used as a tool for learning literature. Her innovative use of texting in the classroom may soon spread, as she has been asked to speak about her novel study unit, which includes composition of a text, at the New Zealand Write Conference in Palmerston North in September. Using texting as a medium in class captured the students' interest and inspired them to do better work. "They don't like to be talked at for a long time and they don't like to write for a whole hour. This is something that's perceived as being different and more fun”. While she admitted she had issues with the spelling style of texting, the onus was on teachers and parents to be proactive about making sure children learn to spell correctly (www.nzherald.co.). A study conducted by Raval (2004) showed that children’s punctuation and spelling does not suffer from using abbreviation to text each other on mobile phones. The study, which was carried out at City University’s department of Language and Communication Science, concentrated on a group who ‘text’ on their mobile phones, and then half of whom do not. The study found that neither group had noticeably worse spelling or grammar than other, but both groups made some mistakes. What did become clear, however, was a difference in the amount of written language produced between texting and normal writing. Based on Raval’s study, children use an entirely different language to text, and they switch, and that they switch back to ‘normal’ speech for written and spoken exercises and for everyday conversation. Although it appears that texting does not affect literacy, it does seem that the group of students who use text messaging wrote significantly less than their non-text messaging peers in their written descriptions or communication” (www.city.ac.uk). Spelling and Spelling Skills Much about spelling is puzzling. The society expects that an educated person can spell, yet literate adults commonly characterize themselves as poor spellers and make spelling mistakes. Many children have trouble spelling but the number is unknown, or in relation to what standards, because state accountability assessments seldom include a direct measure of spelling competence. Spelling instruction may be old fashioned, but its importance has not diminished with computerized spell chekers – and there is no reason to believe that it will diminish in the near future (Moats, 2005). According to Moats (2005), those who can spell reasonably well take for granted the role that spelling plays in daily life. Filling alphabetically; looking up words in a phone book, dictionary, or thesaurus; recognizing the right choice from the possibilities presented by spell chekers; writing notes that others can read, and even playing parlor games - are all dependent on spelling. In a literate society, conventional spelling is expected and anything beyond a few small errors is equated with ignorance and competence. The benefits go beyond good spelling. For young children, research clearly indicates that its likely that learning about the meaningful relationships between words will contribute to vocabulary growth and reading comprehension. The complexity of English gives people seemingly infinite choices among words when searching for the right way to express themselves, and the language’s regularity makes reading, speaking, and writing those words achievable (Moats, 2005). Nevertheless, research has shown that learning to spell and learning to read rely much on the same underlying knowledge – such as the relationships between letters and sound- and surprisingly, that spelling instructions can be designed to help children better understand the key knowledge, resulting in better reading (Ehri, 2000). Snow et al, (2005), summarized the real importance of spelling for reading as “Spelling and reading build and rely on the same mental representation of a work”. Research also bears out a strong relationship between spelling and writing: Writers who must think too hard about how to spell use up valuable cognitive resource needed for higher level aspects of composition (Singer & Bashier, 2004). Poor spellers may inevitably loss verbal power, or they may lose tract of their thoughts when they set struck trying to spell a word. Learning to spell enhances children’s reading and writing. The nature of the English language is spelling/writing system provides reasons to believe that there would be significant benefits to older students from allocating a small amount of time to continued, appropriate spelling instruction. In addition to continuing to learn the rules of spelling, students can develop a deep understanding of English by studying the meaning of roots, prefixes, and suffixes; families of related words; the historical development of the English language; and word’s language of origen. It’s very likely that this sort of word study would support vocabulary development and facilitate reading by enabling students to view syntax. As a result, students would be more likely to be able to figure out the new word’s meaning as well as how to spell it and how to use it with precision (Moats, 2005). Stanovich (1994), recommends "appropriately chosen direct instruction in the spelling-sound code". He is expressing the critical importance of spelling for emergent literacy. While teaching spelling is only one small part of literacy instruction, it is a necessary, but not sufficient, aspect of learning to read. This means that focusing instructionally on spelling is important. According to Gentry (1996) it is important to remember that, for many children, spelling must be taught. It is important to remember also that spelling must be individualized. Spelling cuts across the curriculum. It should be connected to writing and reading. The goal of a spelling program should be to develop writers and readers who have spelling consciousness and good spelling habits. Synthesis Researchers believe that texting and street language are causes of poor skills in spelling and grammar. This problem was even observed among students who are considered bright in class (http://news.scotsman.Com/education.cfm?id= 1951502005). According to Carr (2004), people using email and SMS text messaging show unconcern about grammar and punctuation. There is now a change of view in terms of the rules of grammar. Before, a person is who can speak well in correct grammar is considered a member of the social class, today, language serve the purpose of speed and social interaction. According to Haste, young people now prefer to send text messages instead of exchange points and opinions who actual conversations. This is because texting is immediate, accessible, private and gives them unprecedented control over how they communicate with friends and family (www.smh.com). The literary skills of pupils could be affected by the increase in popularity and use of mobile phones and text messaging as reported by some researchers. Learning to spell enhances children’s reading and writing. The nature of the English language is spelling/writing system provides reasons to believe that there would be significant benefits to older students from allocating a small amount of time to continued, appropriate spelling instruction. In addition to continuing to learn the rules of spelling, students can develop a deep understanding of English by studying the origen and development of words(Moats, 2005). According to Gentry (1996) spelling must be taught to children and that it must be individualized. Spelling must also be connected to writing and reading. The goal of a spelling program should be to develop writers and readers who have spelling consciousness and good spelling habits. PAGE 24