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Texting, reading, and other daily habits associated with adolescents’ literacy levels

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Abstract

The level of functional illiteracy in the North American context, among others, appears to be reaching epidemic levels. The necessary linguistic and intellectual tools required to adequately function in our complex, highly-literate societies are not being sufficiently developed in many of our homes or schools. The findings from the present study are consistent with some general trends found in the research literature connected to practices potentially influencing the development of literacy in youth. This correlational, quantitative study showed that text-messaging practices did not appear to be significantly associated with literacy in this adolescent population sample; reading in the traditional sense, on the other hand, exhibited more positive links with literacy attainment than all the other practices considered. These findings, similarly to previous research, suggest that the type of reading that is occurring while texting is substantially different, in terms of its associations with literacy, from more traditional forms of reading. Yet while the amount of time spent by young people on digital practices such as texting is rising rapidly, the amount of time spent reading, in the traditional sense, remains low. Rather than focusing on potential technological solutions, increasing the quantity and complexity level of more traditional forms of reading in adolescence appears to be a more prudent strategy for enhancing functional literacy in society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School District No. 22 (Vernon), School District No. 22, 1401 15th Street, Vernon, BC, V1T 8S8, Canada

    Dmitri Zebroff

  2. Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Room 8558, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada

    David Kaufman

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Correspondence to Dmitri Zebroff.

Appendices

Appendix 1

1.1 Literacy-Related Practices Questionnaire

Participant ID# __________.

Texting Habits:

On average, how many text messages do you send per week?

On average, how many text messages do you receive per week?

On average, how much time per week do you spend texting? (include HOURS/MINUTES for all ‘time’ questions).

What percentage (0–100 %) of your texting is in English?

Internet Use:

On average, how much time per week do you spend on the Internet?

On average, how much time per week do you spend instant messaging online (include msn, facebook, twitter, etc.)?

On average, how much time per week do you spend reading online materials that are not instant messages (e.g., articles, blogs, wikipedia, etc.)?

What percentage (0–100 %) of your online reading is in English?

What percentage (0–100 %) of your online writing is in English?

Book-Reading Habits:

On average, how much time per week do you spend reading books (in regular or electronic formats)?

What percentage (0–100 %) of your book-reading is in English?

What percentage (0–100 %) of your book-reading is assigned by your teachers (not voluntary)?

On a scale of 1–10, how much was reading encouraged in your home when you were a child?

1: Not encouraged at all; 10: Constantly encouraged.

Writing Habits:

On average, how much time per week do you spend writing material that is not instant messaging (e.g., essays, journal entries, blogs, etc.)?

What percentage (0–100 %) of this writing is in English?

What percentage (0–100 %) of this writing is assigned by your teachers (not voluntary)?

Other Habits:

On average, how much time per week do you spend watching TV/movies/videos (include online viewing)?

On average, how much time per week do you spend listening to music?

On average, how much time per week do you spend playing video/computer games?

On average, how much time per week do you spend playing sports or exercising (include walking)?

Appendix 2

1.1 Literacy-Related Practices Project Form (Week_)

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Zebroff, D., Kaufman, D. Texting, reading, and other daily habits associated with adolescents’ literacy levels. Educ Inf Technol 22, 2197–2216 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-016-9544-3

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