As one of those who are skeptical of claims or concerns about ‘worsening language habits’, this was a somewhat vindicating bit of research to find. I tend to think that the more ways of expression people have the more they are building cognitive capacity.  But in this article not only is there an intriguing finding, there is also a positive teaching idea which I think may be useful as a plenary exercise (that’s an end of session review and summary thing) in this case a kind of chunking exercise.

“If you want students to think very precisely and concisely and be able to express themselves, it might be interesting to have them create instant messages with ideas, maybe allow them opportunities to use more of this new dialect in brief reports or fun activities,” said Varnhagen. “Using a new type of language does require concentration and translating it to standard English does require concentration and attention. It’s a little brain workout.”

via RU Kidding? Research Finds That Chatspeak Has No Impact On Children’s Spelling Ability.