Real reading and writing skills are much needed by our children

Simon Marcus Gower, Jakarta

It is possible to see that we live in a world that is filled with words. Words are effectively all around us as we live our lives. From road-signs, to signs in shops, to words on the packaging of products we buy, the written word is there for us to see on a daily and consistent basis. Some people suggest that we live in the most literate age in human history because words are so prevalent in our modern society.

It is apparent that the written word does surround us to a very considerable degree but this does not necessarily mean that we are becoming better users of the written word and so are, in turn; better able to use the written word to advance our knowledge and thinking skills. Reading and writing can, critically, be ways in which we advance as thinking beings but exposure alone to written words is no guarantor that we are advancing.

For example, in a recent discussion about the literacy of school age children today, it was suggested that the literacy rate and ability of children is higher than ever before. This, it was proposed, is not least due to the fact that children today have such a high degree of exposure to the written word from technological developments.

Among the technological developments that were cited as being responsible for increasing children's exposure and use of the written word were personal computers -- in particular the internet, mobile phones and computer/ video games. Each one of these it was suggested has increased the extent to which children see and need to use the written word.

But it is worth exercising some critical thought -- even skepticism -- when we consider such technological advances as being a boon to the literacy of children. We must surely think about the way in which these items of technology are being used and the extent to which children are really developing any real or deep reading and writing skills.

The examples of personal computers -- the use of the internet -- and mobile phones -- the use of text messages -- seem tenuous at best. Any depth to reading or writing via these media does not really exist. Chatting on the internet does represent a use of the written word but the purposes to which the words are being used is very limited and can hardly been seen as deepening or advancing thought.

Likewise, the use of text messages on a mobile phone are not really advancing in thought and perhaps worse still they are having an effect on the way children are using language more generally. Text messaging has a system of coding and abbreviation that, whilst time and space saving on a mobile phone's screen, does tend to create a certain laziness, if not inappropriateness, of use more generally.

A student that was asked to write a short descriptive piece about a recent holiday included the sentence "U can get 2 the hotel str8 from the beach". Whilst it is possible to decipher what is meant it really is not appropriate for this kind of coding to be encroaching in this way. Grammatical and spelling accuracy are things that are going to be lost if this kind of coding goes on unchecked.

Also, the notion that a child playing computer/ video games helps develop literacy seems dubious. Certainly there are some computer games that have text that needs to be read to play the game. Some of the strategy games that are available fall into such a category but mostly a child playing a computer game spends little time studying the text and will tend to cut to the action instead.

In short, computers, mobile phones and gaming devices may be ways in which children will get some exposure to the written word but this is consistently very limited and very often dubious in its structure. The value of this kind of exposure is, then, rendered questionable. But this exposure is questionable on another level too.

The written word in the forms that it comes in on the screen of a computer or mobile phone is very short and very shallow. This means that it can have the effect of further generating a low span of attention in children and weak powers of concentration. The messages that come via computer and phone are short and sharp. They are limited and require very little in the way of attention or concentration.

We do live in an age where messages are being thrown at us at a remarkable and intense rate. So much so in fact that they are affecting the way we act and perceive. True reading and indeed true writing skills require powers of attention and concentration. The ability to sit down and read a book needs some degree of patience to apply one's mind and pay attention to character and plot or just descriptiveness.

Similarly, the ability to express one's thoughts via the written word requires that one is able to construct in one's mind what needs to be expressed and how it can be mapped out in a logical and comprehensible way. But again such skills demand that the person (the writer) is able to apply his or her mind in a concentrated way that permits the person to pay attention to the message or story they wish to convey.

Where there is only a general degree of literacy that lacks depth in thought, span of attention and concentration it is most likely that such literacy is only really going to be effective at a very rudimentary level. Being able to read a book and understand it and potentially construct new knowledge from it would remain beyond such a level of literacy.

Also, rising to the challenge of being able to express thought or indeed elucidate new thought via writing is likely to remain beyond the person whose use of the written word has been mostly limited to chatting or text messages.

To attain a genuine and constructive ability to write and read greater time and attention needs to be paid to the written word spread over the pages of a book or a thoughtful newspaper or magazine. Children who are just being exposed to words in short sentences or even in garbled encoded messages are probably less likely to be able to develop such genuine and constructive reading and writing ability.

With some humor a commentator recently pointed out that children today are developing bigger and better muscled thumbs because of all the text messaging they are doing. They should, however, be developing the thinking muscle of the brain through deeper reading and attempting to write too.

The writer is Executive Principal of the High/Scope Indonesia School. The views expressed above are personal.