Texting, Textisms and Teaching Portuguese

Abstract

This study examines the perception of digital Portuguese spelling and its relationship to the teaching of Portuguese as L1 and L2. 85 undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of education and communication participated in the study through a 35-item questionnaire, validated in both theoretical and the empirical terms. The qualitative analysis of the results showed a high rejection of the use of textisms at the graphic and phonological levels, which are regarded as being associated with standard Portuguese spelling mistakes. However, the multimodal elements of digital Portuguese were accepted as resources for the teaching of the language.