Textisms and spelling. Perception of pedagogy students of the Z generation

Abstract

Following the hypothesis that younger university students adopt a more tolerant attitude towards textisms and their introduction in the classroom, this work analyses the perception of textisms on spelling of 264 students op pedagogy belonging to the Z Generation, educated in a digital writing environment. Results show that even if textisms are considered a didactic resource to be introduced in the classroom, simultaneously, they were are believed prejudicial for spelling, and consequently, participants believed that they must be corrected. Results also indicate that participants' attitude varies depending on the different categories of textisms: those textisms differing from the normative values of graphemes in the academic writing are thought to be more harmful to spelling. However, multimodal elements and those not modifying the relationship between phonemes and graphemes enjoy a higher degree of tolerance. One of the main conclusions of the study is that the university should provide future teachers with the necessary competences to overcome preconceived ideas and include new writing forms in the classroom.