Project 1 Proposal Assignment
I am going to question the construct that texting is harmful to one's grammar habits when transitioning to writing professional papers or structured essays. This construct is most visible in places such as schools and other classroom environments because many instructors believe that if students get in the habit of shortening words and sentences when texting, that they will do the same in their papers. It influences our ways of thinking about writing because then we as a society begin to believe this construct as being true, which I will attempt to persuade the reader of my essay that it is not. It affects our conceptions about what "good" writing is because we would think that texting is a "bad" form of writing, when in reality it is simply a tool used for faster communication, not necessarily meaning that those who text are unable to use grammar when they are needed to do so. Some key words for my topic are texting, grammar, spelling, communication, informal vs. formal writing, and essays, just to name a few.
I also apologize for this being so late. I did this on paper and brought it to class with me this morning because I didn't see anything in my catmail last night telling me otherwise, so I apologize for the confusion that happened on my part there.
Hi Alicia,
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really good. Another key concept you'll want to pay attention to and perhaps search for is discourse community or discourse ecology. The idea is that the way we write/speak/communicate depends greatly upon what particular community or ecology we're participating in. Texting, then, is a very effective means of communication within a specific discourse ecology (a personal circle of friends communicating with mobile devices). Outside of this ecology, however, it may not be as successful. So when people complain about how texting is ruining our grammar, they're actually neglecting an important point about what we need to be able to do to be effective writers/communicators. We need to be able to move rapidly between different "ecologies" and to recognize that the "rules" change depending upon where we are. I hope this will give you a little head start in the right direction. You might want to check out Chapter 4 in Writing About Writing as it is completely devoted to the idea of discourse communities. It's fine to use any of those articles from the book for research. Of course, you'll also want to show that this is a common misperception in society- so you might look outside of academic journals to do that. I'm sure those types of arguments are everywhere. It might make sense to pick a source that is the most "mainstream" in that regard. Great work. I'm really excited about this project.