The Relationship Between “Textisms” and Formal and Informal Writing Among Young Adults

Abstract

The Net Generation has adopted textisms as shortcuts in electronic communication. Two studies investigated whether the reported use of textisms in daily electronic communication is related to the quality of writing. Seven hundred and eighteen young adults were queried about how often they used linguistic and contextual textisms, instant messaging, monthly cell minutes, and monthly text messaging. In Study 1 they wrote a formal letter to a company and in Study 2 they were asked to write both a formal letter and provide an informal writing sample on happiness. Textism use was quite low, a finding that was consistent with previous research on texting and instant messaging. The data reflected negative associations between reported textism use in daily communications and formal writing and positive associations between textisms use and informal writing. These relationships varied by gender and level of education, varying most strongly among those without a college education. The results are discussed in terms of Low-Road/ High-Road Transfer of Situated Learning Theory.