Press Releases

Teens Say Electronic Writing Is Different from Their Real Writing

04/24/08

NEW YORK — Teenagers and their parents uniformly believe that good writing is a bedrock for future success, according to Writing, Technology and Teens a national survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the College Board’s National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges.  

Eight in 10 parents believe that good writing skills are more important now than they were 20 years ago, and 86 percent of teens believe that good writing ability is an important component of guaranteeing success later in life.

Most teens, 87 percent, use some kind of electronic personal communication. Yet 60 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds said they do not think of these forms of communication as “writing.” These are some of the key findings released today.

College Board President Gaston Caperton said, “The ability to write well is unquestionably a skill necessary for 21st-century success in college and the workplace. As this report demonstrates, parents and teens are well aware of the importance of strong writing skills for success in college and beyond. As we at the College Board have said many times, strong writing skills are essential. They are not an option for today's students.

“Because of the dramatic changes in writing that have resulted since the advent of the Internet and mobile devices, we thought it was worthwhile to partner with Pew on this research project so that we—and the nation—would have a better understanding of how teens and their parents view writing.”

Teens also say that they would like to write better; in fact, 82 percent of teens say they think their writing would improve if teachers had them spend more class time doing writing. African-Americans and those from lower-income households are the most ardent believers in the importance of writing and in the likely payoff of more class time devoted to it.

Commenting on her research, Amanda Lenhart, a senior research specialist at the Pew Internet Project who co-authored the report, said, “There is a raging national debate about the state of writing and how high-tech communication by teens might be affecting their ability to think and write. Those on both sides of the issue will see supporting data here. There is clearly a big gap in the minds of teenagers between the ‘real’ writing they do for school and the texts they compose for their friends. Yet, it is also clear that writing holds a central place in the lives of teens and in their vision about the skills they need for the future.” The Pew Internet & American Life Project is nonpartisan and does not advocate for any policy outcome or policy change.

In schools, writing is a common activity. All teens do at least some writing for school, and 50 percent say that they write something for school every day. However, most writing assignments are short: 82 percent of teens say their typical writing assignment is a paragraph to one page in length. Teens also write for fun, with 93 percent saying they write for themselves outside of school at least occasionally.

“As educators, our challenge is to take students’ love for writing and use that affinity to help them to write better,” said Richard Sterling, chair of the advisory board for the College Board’s National Commission on Writing and executive director emeritus of the National Writing Project, who is also a senior fellow at the College Board.

In their utilitarian approach to technology and writing, teens use both computers and longhand depending on circumstances. Their use of computers for school and personal writing is often tied to the convenience of being able to edit easily. And while they do not think their use of computers or their text-based communications with friends influences their formal writing, many do admit that the informal styles that characterize their e-communications do occasionally bleed into their schoolwork.

• 57 percent of teens say they revise and edit more when they write using a computer.
• 63 percent of teens say using computers to write makes no difference in the quality of the writing they produce.
• 73 percent of teens say their personal electronic communications (email, IM, text messaging) have no impact on the writing they do for school, and 77 percent said they have no impact on the writing they do for themselves.
• 64 percent of teens admit that they incorporate, often accidentally, at least some informal writing styles used in personal electronic communication into their writing for school. (Some 25 percent have used emoticons in their school writing; 50 percent have used informal punctuation and grammar; 38 percent have used text shortcuts such as “LOL” meaning “laugh out loud.”)  

In focus groups conducted for the study, teens outlined what motivates and inspires them to write. They appreciated the opportunity to choose topics relevant to their own lives and experiences, and the chance to write for teachers and other adults who challenge them. Teens feel encouraged by opportunities to write creatively and spoke of the motivation of having an audience for their work.

Sterling added, “To connect the enthusiasm of young people for informal, technology-based writing with classroom experiences that illuminate the power of well-organized, well-reasoned writing, teachers must have opportunities to learn new approaches, to experiment with the new technologies that fill the lives of students and time to develop and apply comprehensive strategies for using writing in these new contexts.”

The National Writing Commission believes that the findings in the report point to both successes and challenges for policymakers. The increased emphasis on writing in the last few years has improved teens’ writing over time. The 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress Writing Assessment shows modest improvement at the basic level for eighth- and twelfth-grade students.  Assessing the results of Writing, Technology and Teens, the commission believes:

• Writing is critical and needs to be part of all conversations about school reform.
• Teachers need more support.
• Research is the key to understanding the effect of digital tools on learning and can help us determine what uses of technology develop skills that are useful in learning school curricula.

The survey of 700 youth ages 12-17 and their parents was completed in mid-November and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. The report also contains findings from eight focus groups conducted in four U.S. cities in the summer of 2007.

The College Board: Connecting Students to College Success

The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 5,400 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,500 colleges through major programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT®, the PSAT/NMSQT®, and the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®). The College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs, services, activities, and concerns. For further information, visit www.collegeboard.com.

About the College Board’s National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges:

In an effort to focus national attention on the teaching and learning of writing, the College Board established the National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges in September 2002. The decision to create the Commission was animated in part by the College Board's plans to offer a writing assessment in 2005 as part of the revised SAT, but the larger motivation lay in the growing concern within the education, business, and policy-making communities that the level of writing in the United States is not what it should be. http://www.writingcommission.org/

About The Pew Internet & American Life Project:

It is a non-profit, non-partisan initiative of the Pew Research Center that produces reports exploring the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care, and civic/political life. Support for the Pew Internet Project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. http://www.pewinternet.org.
Please note: The National Commission on Writing and The College Board may make policy recommendations to legislators and educators based on these results. The Pew Internet Project is non-partisan and should not be considered an advocate for those recommendations. The Project does not advocate for any policy outcome or policy change.

Contacts

Nancy Viggiano,  The College Board  New York 212-713-8052 nviggiano@collegeboard.org
Amanda Lenhart, Pew Internet & American Life Project  Washington, D.C. 202-419-4500  alenhart@pewinternet.org