In today’s technology age, it is possible to call a person by telephone and never reach the person but receive an immediate response if you text them.  This is especially true for young people under the age of 30. Since students spend an insurmountable time texting their peers and others, the critical questions to be asked are: Is it time to integrate textbonics in the classroom? What is textbonics?

We know that students come to the classroom with different learning styles such as auditory, kinesthetic and visual. We know that contextual learning is a way to make learning relevant to each student’s learning styles. We know that technology is here to stay in our information driven age. We also know that many students are performing poorly in reading although it is the foundation for learning (mathematics, science, social studies, etc.) across the curriculum.

At the same time, we see students of all ages, races and gender hogging their cell phones, sending and receiving messages on a continuous basis. If students wanted to learn how to type, they may have a difficult time of learning the proper keyboarding techniques and transcribing their work in American Standard English. When many students read a passage, they may have a difficult time of recognizing the words in the passage and comprehending what was intended to learn from the passage. Textbonics is having an impact on how students live, learn and grow.

In fact, textbonics is a new form of shorthand such as Gregg or Century 21, but many students can only transcribe what they text in textbonics rather than English. Textbonics is a different language, slang or jargon. It conditions students to misspell and pronounce words according to their association or network of friends.

While this is a serious problem that can impede students’ growth and development, schools have to look at how students consistently and eagerly comprehend texting and apply those learning patterns to the instructional process. The old adage conveys that, “If it is not broken, don’t fix it.” The education system is broken, and it takes creative thinking “outside the box” to fix it. This includes looking at how to integrate textbonics in the classroom to improve teaching and learning.

Dr. Ronald Holmes is the author of five books, “Education Questions to be Answered,”  “Current Issues and Answers in Education,”  “How to Eradicate Hazing,” “Professional Career Paths” and “Your Answers to Education Questions.” He is publisher of “The Holmes Education Post,” an education focused Internet newspaper.  Holmes is a former teacher, school administrator and district superintendent. He can be reached at [email protected].