Crystal clear on texting

David Crystal will probably need no introduction to students of English Language A level and we're very pleased to welcome him to our conference for not just one session, but two. What makes the second session so special too is that it is a Q&A which will feature questions that you can send to us in advance for David Crystal to answer on the day.

To submit a question follow this link.

David Crystal's first session will be on the subject of texting. We in the UK are very familiar with SMS messages on mobile phones as we've been using them in huge numbers for well over a decade, but in the USA texting has only recently caught on. What's interesting about this is that the same moral panic that David Crystal explores in his book Txtng: the Gr8 Db8 is now taking place in the USA.

American newspapers and websites have been full of reports about concerns over the damaging effects of textspeak on young people's literacy, but, as David Crystal argues in his book, the main research into texting so far has actually shown that it's linked with higher levels of literacy.

Here are a few links to media articles and interviews which put different arguments forward about texting:

David Crystal interview about texting and language change
Doctor Clare Wood on research into texting and literacy
Texting is good for you
Texting is bad for you
Texting as an educational tool
Outrage over texting in the classroom
Texting and gender differences