do i know its wrong: children’s and adults’ use of unconventional grammar in text messaging

There is concern that the violations of conventional grammar (both accidental and deliberate) often seen in text messages (e.g., hi how is ya?!!) could lead to difficulty in learning or remembering formal grammatical conventions. We examined whether the grammatical violations made by 244 British children, adolescents and young adults in their text messages was related to poorer performance on tasks of grammatical knowledge, including translating grammatically unconventional text messages into standard English. We found that variance in the production of grammatical violations in naturalistic messages was inconsistently predicted by grammatical task performance. Specifically, primary school children who made poorer grammar-based spelling choices were more likely to make more grammatical violations in their everyday messages, and university students who failed to correct more grammatical errors in a given set of messages were also more likely to make such errors in their own messages. There were no significant relationships for secondary school students. We conclude that using unconventional grammar when texting is not a consistent sign of poor grammatical abilities, although there may be links between some aspects of grammatical skill and grammatical violations in text messages.     

1. CBQ Review Essay: Global Telecommunication Company History

James Playsted Wood's The Curtis Magazines (New York: Ronald Press, 1971—price not known)

Magazines in the United States which has just been re-released in a revised (3rd) edition (New York: Ronald Press, 1971—price not known)

Otto Friedrich's Decline and Fall (New York, Harper &; Row/Ballentine, 1970—$10.00/1.25)     

Turning Silence into Speech and Action: Prison Activism and the Pedagogy of Empowered Citizenship

Based on almost 50 years of combined experience as prison activists and prison teachers, the authors offer three case studies of prison activism and pedagogy in action. The first case study, by Hartnett, details the “artistry of agency” as enacted in poetry workshops in prison and in public poetry events, thus illustrating artistic communication. The second, by Wood, examines how friendship becomes political in the epistolary communication between free and imprisoned correspondents, thus addressing interpersonal communication. The third, by McCann, addresses web-based communication as a tool for advocacy for condemned prisoner/activists on Texas’s death row, and hence political communication. Taken as a whole, the three case studies celebrate different communication strategies as avenues of enlightenment and empowerment while offering powerful arguments for abolishing the prison–industrial complex.     

Perceived Information Exchange and Health Control Expectancies as Influenced by a Patient's Medical Interview Situation

The purpose of this study was to examine how a patient's medical interview situation influences the relationship between the health locus of control and information exchange. Participants included 537 people who completed the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale and the patient version of the Medical Communication Competence Scale in reference to their last health care visit. The results indicated that the situation surrounding the medical interview influenced the relationship between the health locus of control and information exchange.     

Films in review

LIGHTING GUIDEPOSTS (TEST #146. Kinescope produced by Paul Wittlig and committee, narrated by Carleton Winkler: CBS television. 30 min. Obtainable from CBS Television. $10 rental.     

Communication Ethics and Ethical Culture: A Study of the Ethics Initiative in Denver City Government

This article examines the work of the ethics initiative in the City of Denver to see how talk about ethics contributes to an ethical culture. By paying particular attention to the communication in the city's Code of Ethics, ethics training discussion, employee interviews, and formal documents relaying the Board of Ethics’ views, we show how ethics emerges within communication. We argue that the emergent quality of ethics is dialogically refined in communication. For practitioners and officials interested in advancing organization-wide ethics training, we urge pursuing dialogical means so that people can negotiate among competing interests to shape future policy and action reflective of their ethical concerns.     

Between Two Wars By Porter Sargent. Porter Sargent,II Beacon Street,Boston, Massachusetts. 580 pp. $5.00

This essay offers suggestions for faculty who are designing study abroad (SA) experiences by outlining a three-week Maymester study abroad to Reggio Emilia, Italy, and a semester-long study abroad to Brussels, Belgium. The authors reflect on commonalities in planning, recruiting, preparing students, and conducting each trip, as well as some of the differences in the experiences for both students and faculty.     

Why the Student Marries

Agent of Death. The Memoirs of an Executioner by Robert G. Elliott and Albert R. Beatty. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton and Co. 315 pp. $3.00.

A Goodly Fellowship by Mary Ellen Chase. The Macmillan Company. 305 pp. $2.50.

Democracy's Challenge to Education edited by Beulah Amidon. Illustrated. Farrar and Rinehart. 263 pp. $1.50.

Democracy Readers by Lois G. Nemec, Maybell G. Bush, Helen M. Brindl, Ruth M. Robinson, Edna Morgan, Allen Y. King, Ida Dennis. Edited by Prudence Cutright and W. W. Charters. The Macmillan Co.

Education for Democracy in Our Time by Jesse H. Newlon. McGraw-Hill. 242 pp. $3.00.

Educational Psychology by Charles H. Judd. Houghton Mifflin Co. 566 pp. $2.25.

In-Service Growth of Social Science Teachers. Tenth Yearbook, National Council for the Social Studies. 187 pp. $2.00 (paper). $2.30 (cloth). 1939.

Living with Others by John A. Kinneman and Robert S. Ellwood. Houghton Mifflin and Company. 531 pp. $1.72.

Poems of Today by Alice Cecilia Cooper. Ginn and Company. New England Edition. 412 pp.

Post-Primary Education in the Primary Schools of Scotland, 1872-1936 by Newman A. Wade. University of London Press, Ltd. 265 pp. 8 shillings 6 pence.

The College Charts Its Course by R. Freeman Butts. McGraw-Hill. 464 pp. $3.00.

The Development of Education in the Twentieth Century by Adolph E. Meyer. Prentice-Hall. 406 pp. $2.75.

The Future of the Social Studies: Proposals for an Experimental Social-Studies Curriculum, James A. Michener, Editor. The National Council for the Social Studies. 178 pp. $1.50 (paper). 1939.

Understanding American Business by Humphrey B. Neill and Howard M. Cool. The Macmillan Co. 448 pp. List price $1.92.

Visualizing the Curriculum by Charles F. Hoban, Charles F. Hoban, Jr., and Professor S. B. Zisman. The Cordon Company. 300 pp. $3.50.

Appointment with Death by Pamela Frankau. E. P. Dutton and Co. 334 pp. $2.50.

Dalesacres by Florence Ward. E. P. Dutton and Company. 308 pp. $2.50.

Family Album by Humphrey Pakington. W. W. Norton and Company. 340 pp. $2.50.

Encyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Rope Work by Raoul M. Graumont and John J. Hensel. Illustrated. The Cornell Maritime Press. 615 pp. $10.00.

Introduction to the Dance by John Martin. Illustrated. W. W. Norton Co. 363 pp. $3.50.

Once Over Lightly by Charles De Zemler. Illustrated. Published by the author. Rockefeller Center, New York City. 270 pp. $3.75.

Political Science in American Colleges and Universities 1636-1900 by Anna Haddow. The Century Political Science Series. Appleton-Century Co. 308 pp. $2.50

Science for the World Tomorrow by Gerald Wendt. Illustrated. W. W. Norton and Co. 316 pp. $2.75.