Do mobile technologies reshape speaking, writing, or reading?

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Do mobile technologies reshape speaking, writing, or reading?

Naomi S. Baron

Abstract

With the growth of mobile communication technologies, we increasingly use portable devices to produce and read text that previously existed in hardcopy or on stationary screens. Voice recognition software now enables us to speak rather than write, potentially shifting the current dominance of texting over voice calls on mobile phones. This article describes contemporary studies of language use on mobile technologies and poses research questions for new investigations.

Keywords

Computer-mediated communication, Electronically-mediated communication, Reading, Speech, Writing

Annotation

Baron suggests several research questions regarding mobile technologies and its potential influence on speech, writing and reading. Speech : the influence of electronically-mediated language (e.g. text message) on spoken language is well-established. Future research should focus on cellphone users’ perception of phone call in public as problematic. Writing : although typewriters increased volume of writings, emergence of mobile device decreased length of the writings. Reading: most of the research on on-screen text and cognitive understandings of the text are conducted using data from United States. non-U.S. context deserve more attention. For example, a research showed that consumers’ interest in eBook was much higher in India (24%) compared to Japan (8%) and France (5%)

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About the Study

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