Writing, Technology & Teens: Findings of the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the National Commission on Writing

Amanda LenhartEducation Writers AssociationApril 25, 2008Chicago, IL

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Methodology

• Nationally representative RDD telephone survey of 700 parent – child pairs

• Teens ages 12-17• Eight focus groups with teens 12-17 in four U.S.

cities in the Summer of 2007

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Main findings• Writing in school is ubiquitous, and nearly so out

side of school. • Teens are embedded in a tech-rich world, but do

not think that the writing they do via electronic communication (IM, txt, email, SNS) is “writing.”

• Teens also tell us that the informal style and short cuts from e-communication creeps into school work.

• Parents and teens agree that writing is important to teens’ futures.

• And teens believe that writing instruction in school could be improved through more class time and the use of technology to enhance instruction.

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Teens and writing• All teens write for school; 93% write out side of school.

• Half of teens write daily for school; 13% write daily outside of school.

• Majority of writing assignments are short – a paragraph to a page in length, on average.

• Teens report that they enjoy writing, both for school and outside of school.

– 67% say they enjoy writing for school “some” or “a great deal”

– 90% of teens who write outside of school say they enjoy it some or a great deal

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Teens, writing and electronic communication• Of teens who send text messages, email, IM and social

networking messages, 60% think that those messages are NOT writing.

• Most teens do not believe that electronic communication has any influence on their writing, for good or for bad.

• However, 64% of teens report that the informal styles often found in electronic communication do bleed into their school work.

– 50% have used informal capitalization

– 38% have used text short cuts like “LOL” or “ur”

– 25% have used emoticons

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Writing and technology

• Most teens think that using a computer to write does not make them better writers – most believe technology is relatively neutral.

• But they do think that they edit and revise more when they use a computer to write.– 57% edit and revise more

• More teens also think that writing with computers makes them more likely to take short cuts and not put effort into writing.

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Parent & teen attitudes toward technology & writing

• Parents believe that there is a greater need for good writing skills today than 20 years ago.

• 86% of teens believe that good writing is important to success in life.

• About half of parents believe their children are writing more than they did at the same age.

• The largest % of parents (40%) think that email, IM, and texting make no difference in their child’s writing skills.

• Parents are more likely than teens to say that teens using computers for writing has positive effects.

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Final Thoughts

• Informal styles in formal school work becomes another element of teaching teens the difference between formal and informal writing – like slang.

• Parents and teens think writing is important and teens see places for improvement in classroom teaching.

• Teens suggest that instructional improvements could come from more class time dedicated to instruction, and from the use of technology and applications to enhance that instruction.

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Questions?

Amanda Lenhart

http://www.pewinternet.org

Richard Sterling

http://www.collegeboard.com