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Children Using Technology Have Better Literacy Skills
eldavojohn writes "A UK study of three thousand children aged nine to sixteen suggests something that may not come as a shock to geeks: using technology increases a child's core literary skills. As Researcher Obvious put it, 'The more forms of communications children use the stronger their core literary skills.' And for those of us worried about a world of 'tl;dr' and 'Y U H8n?' the research claims that 'text speech' does not damage literacy. The biggest shortcoming of this research is that it appears the children graded their own writing in that their methodology was an online survey designed to ask the children which technology they use and then follow up with asking them how well they write to determine which children have better literacy skills."
Tell me about it.. a self-selecting group of people grade themselves? How on earth is that scientific?
There is also a correlation between wealth and access to technology. And a correlation between wealth and literacy.
Neither the BBC article nor the researchers make this claim. They just say that it is correlated with better literacy.
An online survey isn't science, (If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane). The summary itself exposes the falacy right out ("...may not come as a shock to geeks"). The geeks are the ones more likely to be filling out an online survey in the first place. Not to mention the obvious class differences between those who have ready access to lots of technology vs those who don't and what that implies about their neighborhoods and schools. There's all kinds of variables that arent being controlled for.
rofl omg i been usin tech 4 a looooooong time since i wuz a kid now i read good but my boss tellz me not to send emails and memos nemore cuz no1 can read em lol!!!1
I no. this story iz so tru. i c ug apps 4 my college that luk lik this. way smart
This is not merely a shortcoming, it is a devastating hole that renders the study utterly useless. This has to be about the dumbest survey I've ever heard of. No conclusions can be drawn from a self-assessment of ones own ability. Other research has shown a correlation between lack of ability and overestimation of ability in self-assessment.
The biggest shortcoming of this research is that it appears the children graded their own writing in that their methodology was an online survey designed to ask the children which technology they use and then follow up with asking them how well they write to determine which children have better literacy skills
So, really, the only conclusion we can draw from this is that 'the more technology one uses, the better they think their literacy is." Great.
More like "People on the internet have big egos". So what? I already knew that. Because I rock.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
It's called the Dunning–Kruger effect.
When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
Happens all the time, it's called peer review.
Your lack of science knowledge is astounding.
Peer review is you know, when your peers review your work. That's why it's called peer review, and not self review.