Contemporary Dialogue

Abstract

The use of Textese (or SMS language) seems to be increasingly carried over from messaging through mobile phones to the day to day use of English. On one hand is its popularity which is apparent in the increasing occurrences of abbreviated and non-standard forms of language in newspapers and magazine articles, and on the other, are the complaints of teachers and parents that students' language is getting deteriorated due to Textese. Research is being done by linguists in the west to explore the impacts that Textese has on literacy acquisition but no significant research has been encountered in the Indian scenario. Inevitably, the teachers here are being guided by their personal, intuitive views on the issue. Recognizing that teachers' perceptions regarding Textese being 'good' or 'bad' have determinate influence upon classroom practices the research reviewed in this paper establishes the need of documenting and analyzing these perceptions systematically.The research was conducted in three phases. Phase one analyzed a collection of sixty text messages as the data in order to clarify the nature and characteristics of Textese. Phase two and phase three, on the other hand, reported on the perceptions of various stakeholders- students, teachers, and language experts regarding the use of Textese in classroom contexts using a structured questionnaire and semi-structured interviews as tools of data collection (respectively).The research concluded by stating that the debate of Textese is a genuine and brisk area of contention within the Indian scenario.