A research by The National Literacy Trust on 3,001 children from England and Scotland showed that schoolchildren who blog or own social networking profiles on Facebook have higher literacy levels and greater confidence in writing.
Among the key findings were that 56 per cent of young people said they had a profile on a social networking site such as Facebook or Bebo, while 24 per cent said they had their own blog. The study also found 49 per cent of young people believe writing is “boring”. However, 57 per cent of those who used text-based web applications such as blogs, said they generally enjoyed writing compared to 40 per cent who did not.
Those who had a blog or profile on a social networking site (SNS) also appeared to be more confident in their writing ability: 61 per cent of bloggers and 56 per cent of social networkers claimed to be good or very good at writing, compared to 47 per cent of those who had neither.
Pupils who write online are more likely to write short stories, letters, song lyrics or a diary, the research revealed.
Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, said: “The digital age often gets a bad press but the findings of this report demonstrate that social networking sites and blogs are linked to young people’s more positive attitudes to writing.
“Confidence and enjoyment are closely linked to the development of skills. Therefore, in order to improve standards we need to encourage children to write more and to enjoy writing, which could be supported by celebrating forms of writing they enjoy. Our research indicates that, for many, these are without doubt technology-based forms.”
However, it seems like this most parents will still continue to keep their eyes glued to their children’s Internet habits even though the research by The National Literacy Trust claimed that Facebook can help improve writing skills.
There’s a saying, “Letting children play on the internet is just as dangerous as allowing them to roam the streets unsupervised.” Yes, the Internet is indeed a dangerous place for children to hang out in during their leisure time. The world wide web is filled with millions of unhealthy sites that contain inappropriate content. If children are exposed to these sexually explicit or violence related sites, their emotionally immature minds will be “polluted”.
A recent EU-wide study found 40 per cent of teenagers had been exposed to pornography online, 20 per cent had been bullied and 10 per cent had met someone in the real world they had ‘met’ in a chatroom or a social media site.
Even social websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo are causing alarming changes in the brains of young users too, claimed neuroscientist Susan Greenfield. “My fear is that these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment.”
Via Telegraph
Causation or correlation. http://xkcd.com/552/
Thanks for sharing this! Awesome!
I'm glad that research is finally supporting what many teachers have known all along — SNS work to engage students in reading and writing.
Very hopeful, to be sure – in fact I blogged about this same report at http://www.21stcenturyed.com. But the statement:
“The study also found 49 per cent of young people believe writing is “boringâ€. However, 57 per cent of those who used text-based web applications such as blogs, said they generally enjoyed writing compared to 40 per cent who did not.”
Makes me wonder – is it just the students who like to write in the FIRST place also extend that writing into the blogosphere? Many – particularly due to the headlines touting it – may walk away from this study assuming that blogging suddenly increases the level at which students enjoy or are confident in writing. This isn't much different from counting the number of people who come through the drive through at McDonald's and making the leap that drive-thrus increase the number of people owning cars, no?
Interesting post. I have made a twitter post about this. Others no doubt will like it like I did.
This is a well written article and I'd first like to congratulate you on a job well done.
However, here's my question:
This is a correlational study, is it not? I am pretty sure it is. It doesn't seem that the researchers manipulated any variables. In other words, they didn't tell some kids to use Facebook and others to not use Facebook and then track both groups' literacy skills and interest in writing. They just asked a group of kids about their existing Facebook habits and existing literacy skills and interest in writing. In that case, it would be inappropriate to say that Facebook and blogging encourage greater literacy. That MIGHT be the case, however, there are 3 other possibilities that need to be considered. It could also be the case that the kids that ALREADY have better literacy skills and a greater interest for writing would be more likely to use text-based applications online like blogging and Facebook. It could also be an outside factor that is influencing literacy skills and writing interest concurrently with Facebook / blogging use, such as socioeconomic status. Kids who come from a better socioeconomic background might have better schooling opportunities (explaining greater literacy skills and interest in writing) and more access to computers (explaining greater Facebook/blog use). Finally, the last possible explanation is that the results are a fluke.
I'm just pointing this out because people often assume that causative relationships exist between correlations. But, those assumptions of causation cannot be made unless a variable in a study is manipulated or changed.
So, I wouldn't give Facebook any undue credit for promoting literacy until more conclusive research is completed.
I was thinking how this is a well written article, and then scroll down to see the author and find out you are only 15. Double points!
I was thinking how this is a well written article, and then scroll down to see the author and find out you are only 15. Double points!
I find using Facebook a horrible experience, and i can only imagine that FriendFeed's ultimate destiny is to become buried deep within Facebook and be unappreciated by the masses that use that platform.
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