While this correspondent despises ‘txtspeak‘ with unrivaled conviction, a recent British study suggests that regular engagements using txtspeak helps children with their spelling and reading skills. Yup, u read dat ryt.

‘Txtspeak’ is a coined term referring to how people usually change and/or drop certain letters in their text messages, hence the ‘txt’ in ‘txtspeak’. It became used rather widely to conserve spaces in text messages during a time when messages were strictly limited in the number of characters one can input. Some would also say that typing in ‘txtspeak’ is also easier on the thumbs, where most had to type using repetitive keypresses on a mobile phone’s number keypad.

Ironically, dropping and changing letters in regular conversation helped children remember the right spelling of words, according to a study conducted by Dr. Clare Wood of Coventry University’s Developmental Psychology. Wood concludes that ‘txtspeak’ is “a valuable form of contact with written English for many children, which enables them to practise reading and spelling on a daily basis.”

Wood studied children between the ages of 8 and 12 over the course of one year, and also concluded that ‘txtspeak’ also raises a child’s phonological awareness, or their ability to detect and recognize patterns in speech sounds. The frequency of ‘txtspeak’ also increases as the child ages, which, Wood assumes, is because that more sophisticated vocabulary and patterns are needed as the child matures.

“If we are seeing a decline in literacy standards among young children, it is in spite of text messaging, not because of it,” concludes Wood.