For English 112, along with my students, I want to examine the language of text messaging in contrast to the conversational writing in the academic/professional setting: For the past year, 'i' (a text-messaging protocol) has cropped up for "I," which provides a way to introduce the idea of 'discourse communities.' Steve Brandon really tuned my consciousness into this concept when he did an exercise with a few of us last summer: he instructed us to take out our wallets and to display items we carry with us daily: most of us had the Ukrop's store card; we had the requisite keys for cars and offices. But then we diverged, displaying membership in other communities such as a Virginia Museum card membership--and one of us (which really struck this concept home)--one still had his Army Draft Card (that goes back to the Sixties, right, and to male-only membership, right?). Thus, with each of our varied experiences in diverse communities, we have added to our individual lexicons shared with our exclusive groups. How to begin this examination with students? Certainly those who have a shared lingo and are using a cool venue of communication (the jazzed-up cell phone) must also share more that is beyond the language of abbreviation and lower case. I want to find out more about the bonding and how the bonding also might create exclusive groups. Why? Is 'exclusive' good? Is it bad? Is it a necessary phase for late teens? We'll delve more in English 112.
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