In ancient times, it used to take ages to deliver and convey messages from one place to another. But, thanks to the massive development in the field of information technology, the world has now turned into a global village where any messages or information is delivered in the speed of light.

SMS, e-mail, social networking sites are now speedy ways to send messages. SMS turns out to be a hit among all as it is an inexpensive way of conveying messages. Unfortunately SMS is now tagged along with its own set of short forms and spellings that are no where the correct form and are known to everyone as ‘SMS lingo’. The students are the most affected ones when it comes to the habit of using SMS language as it saves their time while taking down notes in classroom or while writing assignments, reported Kevin Mendonsa and Saira Kurup for TOI.

They use this SMS lingo without realizing the consequences of it. Most of the time teachers tend to take a closer look at the notes out of curiosity at the speed of the students jotting down notes in class, and are often amazed to find the notes full of SMS jargon. All this happens despite the warnings given by the teachers not to use such language in their academics, especially during exams. Some teachers even correct such mistakes on the spot.

 

The students confessed of not using the SMS lingo deliberately but it is due to their regular use of sending text messages and chatting that makes them mix up with writing the same in exams. Kush Parikh, a class XII student of Prakash School in Ahmedabad is worried and said “Wanna , gonna, nuf (enough), dis and many more have unknowingly become part of my vocabulary and all my efforts to avoid them are in vain. I am looking for a way out.”

Most of the academicians are concerned on the ongoing deterioration of the usage of English language and its grammatical forms due to the passion for SMS shorthand and felt that strong action should be taken, mainly at times of examination. KS Rangappa, vice-chancellor, University of Mysore, expressed “Obsession with SMS lingo is marring the language and evaluators must deduct marks if it is used in exams,” reported TOI.

 

“Some common words you find in notebooks are ‘dat’, thnx’, ‘tmrw’. To curb this problem, we have started deducting their marks,” added Anjali Sharma, coordinator at St Soldier’s School, Mohali.

Deducting marks for using SMS words is also a difficult thing for teachers as more than 70 percent of students commit this mistake. The teachers frequently make the correction themselves.

Sonal Narang, Vice-Principal of Ahmedabad’s Anand Niketan School stated that “The problem starts right from class V and is more serious among class VII and VIII students,” as told to TOI.

On the other hand, the teachers and students of the capital city Delhi asserted that most of its classrooms are free from the SMS lingo mania as the students are aware that such lingo are meant for mobile phone usage only.

With more youth getting hooked on to social media through the smartphones, there is a fear that the English languages might get eroded in the name of ease.

 

Source:::::siliconindia net&  Times of India

natarajan