If you're reading this, you probably own a cell phone (or you've stolen one and you're reading HIP2B2 on the run, which isn't very nice). U probly also use lotsa gr8 textisms - abbreviations and sound-representing symbols. And you've probably heard people complain about the illiteracy of today's youth, as shown in textisms and sms-speak.Well, new research by British psychologists proves them wrong - it seems that children who use textisms in their smses actually tend to score more highly on a reading task than their peers. In other words, txtng helps u read gd.
The researchers think this might have to do with phonological awareness - using textisms requires a greater awareness of the sounds words are made of. Also, people who use textisms tend to read a lot of smses, and the more you read, the better you become at it.
Still, this doesn't necessarily show that textisms lead to better reading - only that the two tend to occur together (better reading might cause textisms, after all).
Intrstin stuff huh?
