Language and textspeak…

M. Swan claimed here that “it’s important to keep an eye on what is happening, so as to be able to answer students’ questions about new usage, and to be able to modify traditional explanations as this becomes necessary” *

[**Aside: But he also claims that Teachers don't need to worry too much – English as a whole is not changing fast, and most of the language will stay the same for some time to come. And I wonder, really? Which English, after all?**]

Keeping an eye on what’s happening then: English language teachers, English language learners: would you teach / would you like to learn Txtspeak?

Shouldn’t learners know what asap, b/c, afaik, imho, brb, b4, aka, etc? These are very common in business speak, for instance. There’s even a poll on whether teaching txtspeak or not at the BBC Teaching English site and a complete lesson here. For an exhaustive list of txt shorthands, please visit this wiki.

What’s your vote, then? Do you think txt speak can come in handy?

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