Text-messaging practices and links to general spelling skill: A study of Australian children

This study investigated 10- to 12-year-old Australian children’s text-messaging practices and their relationship to traditional spelling ability. Of the 227 children tested, 82% reported sending text-messages; a median of 5 per day. Use of predictive and multi-press entry methods was roughly equal. Children produced a wide range of text-message abbreviations (textisms) (M = 53%) when asked to re-write a list of 30 conventionally-spelt words as they would in a text-message to a friend. The proportion of textisms produced was significantly positively correlated with general spelling ability, which fits with previous findings of positive relationships between children’s textism use and literacy.