12-14-2003, 09:35 AM
Hey CD,
Not sure if this is in time to be of any use, but I'll post it anyway. It's more fun than working on my own take-home final.
I am the head teaching assistant for the freshman chemistry for engineers class at my university. In the usual flood of emails that are exchanged between myself and the students, professors, and other TAs, I've noticed a few trends. My students consist of 20 guys, many of whom I know to be gamers and general netizens. The emails I get from them span a range that includes unintelligible to well capitalized proper English. I am reassured by the fact that none of the students have used poor grammar in their lab reports.
My exchanges with the TAâs are generally shifted to the well capitalized, though not exclusively so. My exchanges with the one of the professors leave me teetering on the edge of madness â he writes in exactly the same tone of voice he talks. The other professor is significantly more email-savvy, and exchanges with him have a more relaxed flow without sacrificing grammar.
Most of these interactions seem to be mediated by three primary factors:
1) The senderâs perceived relationship with the recipient â I am not significantly older than my students, and often joke around with them. I know many of the same websites that they do. In addition to this, I write quizzes and grade their labs. I have a reputation as a hard grader, and one for knowing most everything about chemistry (this is a large exaggeration, and not one I try to cultivate â I just try to answer questions well). There is a definite split between those who view me as a teacher and those who view me as just one of the guys, and it shows in the formality of their emails.
2) The topic â General questions tend to be sent to me in a much looser format than specific questions regarding a problem with homework or labs. Quotes from two of my students:
âfor the second review...tuesday would be great. cant make it today though...do you have our labs graded?â
âSorry to bug you again, but I'm trying to do exp. 9 and i'm confused on what we are suppossed to graph.â
Notice that neither student uses perfect grammar and capitalization, though there is clearly a difference between the two. This trend may simply be an extension of the relationship factor mentioned above.
In the more informal emails, chatroom tendencies abound. The ââ¦â sees much greater usage â my current theory is that this is a way of showing continued attention to a chat discussion without actually saying anything. It seems to be directly mapped to non-verbal motions or facial expressions in an attempt to recreate a face-to-face discussion. âSmileysâ seem to be a direct extension of this, along with âLOLâ and âROFLâ. It is an interesting fact that I have very rarely seen someone laugh before typing âLOLâ. It does not appear to be a means of expressing laughter, but rather a means of expressing some sort of emotion that is lost between a wetwear (face-to-face) conversation and a software conversation.
3) The ratio of time spent at a computer playing (gaming, chatting, surfing) vs time spent at a computer working (homework, work related email, programming). The best example of this is not actually one of my students, but rather one of my best friends. He is an avid gamer, and if he has been playing many hours of EverCrack, his emails become unintelligible â often much worse than the first student email I posted above. He is currently studying to become Cisco certified, and when he has been working for long stretches of time, writes extremely coherent emails with correct punctuation and spelling.
3a) Total time spent in front of a computer, specifically on the internet or in multiplayer games. There is a certain level of exposure required for the other factors to even come into play.
While none of this addresses the question of internet language being a new language directly, I would suggest this discussion says it is not. What I notice is an attempt to instill some of the non-verbal components of a conversation into an electronic exchange. Perhaps leet speak could be explained in this way also. The people I know who would write this way also attempt to use unique speech patterns and slang as a means of establishing their identity as a member of some group. Obviously, leet does not lend itself to verbalization, but I would put forth that it has a parallel in the various slang prevalent among any number of groups.
Hope that provides some food for thought,
-V-
P.S. - Please feel free to quote me. You can contact me by the usual methods. However, I don't have permission from the students who I quoted. If you need those quotes, let me know, and I'll contact them.
Not sure if this is in time to be of any use, but I'll post it anyway. It's more fun than working on my own take-home final.
I am the head teaching assistant for the freshman chemistry for engineers class at my university. In the usual flood of emails that are exchanged between myself and the students, professors, and other TAs, I've noticed a few trends. My students consist of 20 guys, many of whom I know to be gamers and general netizens. The emails I get from them span a range that includes unintelligible to well capitalized proper English. I am reassured by the fact that none of the students have used poor grammar in their lab reports.
My exchanges with the TAâs are generally shifted to the well capitalized, though not exclusively so. My exchanges with the one of the professors leave me teetering on the edge of madness â he writes in exactly the same tone of voice he talks. The other professor is significantly more email-savvy, and exchanges with him have a more relaxed flow without sacrificing grammar.
Most of these interactions seem to be mediated by three primary factors:
1) The senderâs perceived relationship with the recipient â I am not significantly older than my students, and often joke around with them. I know many of the same websites that they do. In addition to this, I write quizzes and grade their labs. I have a reputation as a hard grader, and one for knowing most everything about chemistry (this is a large exaggeration, and not one I try to cultivate â I just try to answer questions well). There is a definite split between those who view me as a teacher and those who view me as just one of the guys, and it shows in the formality of their emails.
2) The topic â General questions tend to be sent to me in a much looser format than specific questions regarding a problem with homework or labs. Quotes from two of my students:
âfor the second review...tuesday would be great. cant make it today though...do you have our labs graded?â
âSorry to bug you again, but I'm trying to do exp. 9 and i'm confused on what we are suppossed to graph.â
Notice that neither student uses perfect grammar and capitalization, though there is clearly a difference between the two. This trend may simply be an extension of the relationship factor mentioned above.
In the more informal emails, chatroom tendencies abound. The ââ¦â sees much greater usage â my current theory is that this is a way of showing continued attention to a chat discussion without actually saying anything. It seems to be directly mapped to non-verbal motions or facial expressions in an attempt to recreate a face-to-face discussion. âSmileysâ seem to be a direct extension of this, along with âLOLâ and âROFLâ. It is an interesting fact that I have very rarely seen someone laugh before typing âLOLâ. It does not appear to be a means of expressing laughter, but rather a means of expressing some sort of emotion that is lost between a wetwear (face-to-face) conversation and a software conversation.
3) The ratio of time spent at a computer playing (gaming, chatting, surfing) vs time spent at a computer working (homework, work related email, programming). The best example of this is not actually one of my students, but rather one of my best friends. He is an avid gamer, and if he has been playing many hours of EverCrack, his emails become unintelligible â often much worse than the first student email I posted above. He is currently studying to become Cisco certified, and when he has been working for long stretches of time, writes extremely coherent emails with correct punctuation and spelling.
3a) Total time spent in front of a computer, specifically on the internet or in multiplayer games. There is a certain level of exposure required for the other factors to even come into play.
While none of this addresses the question of internet language being a new language directly, I would suggest this discussion says it is not. What I notice is an attempt to instill some of the non-verbal components of a conversation into an electronic exchange. Perhaps leet speak could be explained in this way also. The people I know who would write this way also attempt to use unique speech patterns and slang as a means of establishing their identity as a member of some group. Obviously, leet does not lend itself to verbalization, but I would put forth that it has a parallel in the various slang prevalent among any number of groups.
Hope that provides some food for thought,
-V-
P.S. - Please feel free to quote me. You can contact me by the usual methods. However, I don't have permission from the students who I quoted. If you need those quotes, let me know, and I'll contact them.