數字時代對拼寫的影響

山東 李全忠

一項在線調查發(fā)現，67%的澳大利亞人認為：社交媒體和短信影響了孩子的拼寫能力。而Buckingham博士卻認為，父母的擔憂不應該被忽視，但沒有直接證據佐證。而有很多證據表明，人們從手寫向打字和發(fā)短信的轉變正在影響拼寫能力，因為手寫有助于孩子們學習字母，也有助于他們拼寫。

題材體裁社會說明文342★★★文章詞數難度建議用時6分鐘

A survey shows more than two-thirds of adults are worried about the spelling abilities of children, saying standards have eroded as technology has taken hold.

The online poll by personal finance app Humaniti found that while 97 percent rated spelling as important, 67 percent were very or somewhat concerned about how well children can spell. And it's not just kids they were worried about, with 66 percent saying spelling standards had slipped in Australian society overall.

They pointed the finger at technology, with social media and text messaging seen as the main cause. This was closely followed by a reliance on smartphones and voice-controlled technology like Siri. These were considered the main reasons for spelling decline by 67 percent of respondents.

When asked for other reasons, a decrease in reading books was blamed by 42 percent, while laziness was blamed by 26 percent and education blamed by 20 percent.

Literacy expert Dr Jennifer Buckingham said NAPLAN results showed incomplete progress on spelling since national testing was introduced in schools in 2008. And she said parents' concerns should not be dismissed. “I think parents are pretty good bellwethers (領頭羊) with this sort of thing,”Dr Buckingham said. “If parents are worried about this, then I think it's something schools should be looking at.”

But Dr Buckingham said the way technology was taking a toll on spelling was different to what people might think.

Dr Buckingham said there was little research at the moment to show a link between social media use and worsening spelling, but there was evidence that the shift away from handwriting in favour of typing and texting was hurting spelling ability.

“The thing that's most likely to impact on it is the crowding out of handwriting,” Dr Buckingham said. “There is a lot of evidence that handwriting is very important for learning spelling because that fine motor process of forming the letters in handwriting helps children to learn the letter and also to learn the letter patterns that contribute to their spelling.”

Reading Check

1. What does the underlined word “eroded” in paragraph 1 mean?

A. Changed.B. Dedicated.C. Weakened.D. Strengthened.

2. What do adults see as the main reason for declining spelling ability?

A. Their ignorance.B. A decrease in reading books.

C. Relying much on smartphones.D. Social media and text messaging.

3.What's Dr Buckingham's attitude to parents' role in dealing with the spelling abilities?

A. Neutral.B. Critical.C. Supportive.D. Indifferent.

4. What does Dr Buckingham believe is important for learning spelling?

A. Writing by hand.B. No social media use.

C. Improving spelling skills.D. Learning the letter properly.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

A survey shows more than two-thirds of adults are worried about the spelling abilities of children,saying standards have eroded as technology has taken hold. 一項調查顯示，超過三分之二的成年人擔心孩子們的拼寫能力，稱隨著技術的普及，拼寫標準已經降低。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句，句中more than two-thirds of adults are worried about the spelling abilities of children是賓語從句，作show的賓語，saying...是現在分詞作伴隨狀語，as引導時間狀語從句。

Ⅱ. Theme-centered chunks

be concerned about 擔心

look at 思考；考慮

at the moment 目前

in favour of 為獲得（更好或更需要的事物）

contribute to 有助于；促成；捐獻；投稿