IM Shorthand Slips Off Computer Screens And Into Schoolwork

Zoe Bambery, a senior at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda,might send more than 100 instant messages -- IMs -- during atypical evening. So during the SAT exam, the 18-year-old foundherself inadvertently lapsing into IM-speak, using "b/c" instead of"because" as she scrambled to finish her essay.

She caught herself and now is careful to proofread before hittingprint. But she is hardly the only student to find IM phrasescreeping into schoolwork.

"They are using it absolutely everywhere," said Sara Goodman, anEnglish teacher at Clarksburg High School in Montgomery County whohas worn out many purple and red markers circling the offendingphrases in papers and tests.

Wendy Borelli, a seasoned English teacher at Springbrook High inSilver Spring, finds photo captions for the school yearbooksprinkled with shorthand such as "B4" and "nite." A student who lefton a brief errand to the office announced he would "BRB."

In 2004, 16 million teenagers used instant messages tocommunicate, up from 13 million in 2000, according to the PewInternet and American Life Project. Students say IM language hasbecome so ubiquitous they often do not realize they have lapsed intoit.

"It's just natural. I had to learn not to do it" in papers,ChiChi Aniebonam, 17, said about her proficiency in IM. "I'm in APliterature, where you just can't put it into your writing, but whenI'm writing something informal, now and again I use it."

Text messaging and instant messaging allow instant communicationvia phone or computer. But because the number of characters that canbe used to convey a message can be limited, it has given rise to awhole new language. A phrase like "I know what you mean" is reducedto "IKWUM" in text-speak; "OTFL" translates to "on the floorlaughing."

"The biggest problem for me is I don't IM, so I don't know whatthey're saying," said Allison Finn, who teaches AP English at BlakeHigh School in Silver Spring. "They'll say things like 'TTYL,' [talkto you later] and I don't know what they're talking about."

It's not just teenagers. Some college professors say the lingo ispopping up at their level as well.

Jeff Stanton, an associate professor in the school of informationsciences at Syracuse University, said sometimes he is taken aback athow informal students have become in the way they communicate.

Stanton shared one of his favorite pieces of correspondence: "hiprof how are u culd u tell me my xm grade - tim."

"It bothers me at one level, but I try not to let it get under myskin," he said. "But I am concerned [students] won't be successfulif they don't know how to communicate on a formal basis. The firsttime they send a goofy message to the boss, they're going to beout."

Bridget Tomich, an English teacher at Washington-Lee High Schoolin Arlington County, said she has begun to pick up some of theshorthand and can now tell her LOLs (laugh out loud) from her TTYLs.She said her students get a kick out of being able to teach her fora change.

Still, some academics fret that the shorthand will hurt students'ability to write and communicate.

"The drawback of text messaging is that most services limit themessages to 30 words, and the ingenious young writers using thatservice have created symbols and abbreviations that lead to a verycryptic method of communication that does not lend itself to beingtransferred to academic writing," said John Briggs, a professor ofEnglish at the University of California at Riverside, who heads theuniversity's entry-level writing program for students.

But others see "teachable moments" in the new lingo. In fact, theNational Council of Teachers of English, in a partnership with theInternational Reading Association, includes an outline on how to useIM and other forms of electronic communication on a Web site oflessons it maintains for educators across the country.

"In some ways, [IM] is an English teacher's dream because it'susing writing for a real purpose, towards a real audience, andthat's something we always struggle with in a classroom," said LeilaChristenbury, the council's past president and a professor ofEnglish education at Virginia Commonwealth University.

A few years ago, after several weeks of grading papers filledwith IM-speak and other jargon, Goodman took matters into her ownhands.

When the students showed up for class the following day, sheasked them to read a paragraph she had written using many of thesame phrases they used in their papers.

"chaucer's the canterbury tales r a scathing attack on thecatholic church of the late 1300s . . . he uses the descriptions ofmany pilgrims (including several very sketchy religious dawgs) 2deliver a veiled message about the mad corruption he like saw in thechurch the greed that some of his characters have 4 money,represents like the use of church scratch 2 build some pretty tightcathedrals."

She said they laughed but understood her point.

Edward Hardin, who works in test development for the CollegeBoard, which administers the SAT and AP exams, said that althoughsome students slip an occasional IM-ism into an essay, the mistakehe most often sees these days is students who confuse the wordludicrous -- causing laughter because of absurdity -- withLudacris, the rapper.

"The guy has redefined the spelling of that word," Hardin saidwith a chuckle.