Research in the Teaching of English May 2011

Young People’s Everyday Literacies: The Language Features of Instant Messaging1

Christina Haas University of Minnesota System ; Pamela Takayoshi Kent State University ; Brandon Carr University of Florida ; Kimberley Hudson Kent State University ; Ross Pollock

Abstract

In this article, we examine writing in the context of new communication technologies as a kindof everyday literacy. Using an inductive approach developed from grounded theory, we analyzeda 32,000-word corpus of college students’ Instant Messaging (IM) exchanges. Through our analysis of this corpus, we identify a fifteen-item taxonomy of IM language features and frequency patterns which provide a detailed, data-rich picture of writers working within the technological and situational constraints of IM contexts to creatively inscribe into their written conversations important paralinguistic information. We argue that the written features of IM function paralinguistically to provide readers with cues as to how the writing is to be understood. By writing into the language paralinguistic cues, the participants in our study work to clarify, or more precisely disambiguate, meaning. Through a discussion of four of these features—eye dialect, slang, emoticons, and meta-markings—we suggest how the paralinguistic is inscribed in IM’s language features.

Journal
Research in the Teaching of English
Published
2011-05-01
DOI
10.58680/rte201115254
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
qualitative research literacy studies
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (10)

  1. Lee et al. (2021)
    Analyzing writing fluency on smartphones by Saudi EFL students
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  2. Amicucci (2020)
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  3. Green (2019)
    Smartphones, Distraction Narratives, and Flexible Pedagogies: Students’ Mobile …
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  4. Cunningham (2018)
    “wuz good wit u bro”: Patterns of Digital African American Language Use in Two …
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  5. Kimmons et al. (2017)
    Essay Composition across Media: A Quantitative Comparison of 8th Grade Student …
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  1. Fraiberg et al. (2016)
    Weaving Relationship Webs: Tracing how IMing Practices Mediate the Trajectories…
    Computers and Composition
  2. Monty (2015)
    Everyday Borders of Transnational Students: Composing Place and Space with Mobi…
    Computers and Composition
  3. Takayoshi (2015)
    Short-form writing: Studying process in the context of contemporary composing t…
    Computers and Composition
  4. Cunningham (2014)
    Features of Digital African American Language in a Social Network Site
    Written Communication
  5. Pigg et al. (2014)
    Ubiquitous Writing, Technologies, and the Social Practice of Literacies of Coor…
    Written Communication

References (0)

No references on file for this article.

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