There is an article in today's Age that discussed a positive correlation between textese (the annoying abbreviations used in SMS) and literacy levels. Here is the link: http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/textese-gr8-training-4-poets-of-2moro-20110909-1k1o1.html

Students in my 9/10 Legal and Politics class have a strong aversion to writing. They will say their point of view, but hate having to write. Writing only gets better with practice, and my mentor teacher told me I had to keep encouraging them to write. However, the more I pushed, the further they stuck there heels in. Perhaps if I got them to write 140 character responses I would have more luck.

A few weeks ago, I confiscated a phone from a girl in that class. She loudly protested "How am I going to play Words with Friends now?" I looked down at her phone and she was indeed playing scrabble. This girl has very poor literacy and has a strong dislike for school, yet in appears when the means suits her she will engage in literacy tasks. Unfortunately I have finished up with this class now, but it would have been nice to have some more time with them to test out different ICT methods of engaging them.