Spelling errors and short forms of words in answer scripts have become more frequent than before, said teachers and principals across schools.
Such errors were there earlier, too, but now they are being sighted with increasing frequency following a sharp rise in “device dependence”, teachers said.
Students are comfortable working on devices. The opportunity to run spell checks and use prompts on the phone while texting is impacting their command of spellings, said teachers.
“Students are used to running spell checks on their devices. When they get down to writing, there is no spell check and they make errors,” said Nupur Ghosh, vice-principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy.
Some of the common short forms that teachers come across in answer scripts despite warnings are “tmrw” for tomorrow and “frndshp” for friendship.
Schools penalise students for making spelling errors but despite that, they tend to make mistakes because they are so used to writing short forms.
“The short forms they use while interacting on social media are used in answers, too. Spelling errors are more common when they write essays,” said Joseph Chacko, an English teacher and a senior coordinator at St James’ School.
Chacko said short forms of words had started creeping into answers since the advent of SMS, but now they are more commonly sighted.
Even while texting there are prompts that make it easy and fast for children, and even adults, to type.
“They are used to typing and getting ready-made words. Because of prompts on smart phones, we often do not have to type complete words. And that is affecting their knowledge of spellings,” said Terence John, principal, Julien Day School, Kalyani.
“The students are also losing out on the technique of learning spellings.”
John said students are writing less because they do not want to sit down with a pen and paper to write. “If they write less, they end up making more mistakes,” he said.
Teachers attribute the spelling errors to children not reading enough or not reading at all. “Some of the students do not read anything beyond their textbooks,” a teacher
said.
Many schools have spelling and dictation classes for junior students, but there are no such sessions for seniors because of the number of subjects to be taught.
Mahadevi Birla World Academy continues with a spelling test in their periodicals till Class VIII.
“The spelling test is not limited to English language or literature. It covers all subjects. They are penalised even for making spelling errors in geography or history,” Ghosh said.
Psychotherapists believe there is a shift in how information is being gathered.
“The medium of gathering information is changing and becoming more technology oriented but our curriculum demands children to learn by reading and writing. There is a gap between what is expected of children and what they are exposed to,” said psychotherapist Farishta Dastur Mukerji.
She said the conventional way of reading and writing cannot be replaced. While learning through technology can be a “quick fix”, it can have an impact in the long run.