Text production in contemporary times

                  In this contemporary time, we have very much entered a digital age. An extremely large portion of our text production is online, and most of the rest refers to online discussion. Channel 10 updates their Facebook status in regard to what is happening later on in the news; newspapers release an article online long before it hits the newspaper stands; instead of books being released, we have e-books and online journals. This rollover from printed text to online text has started hitting our schools as well, as it is no longer only an option to have students produce text on paper. They can write about their weekend on their Emodo (students' version on Facebook), for their peers to comment on, or publish it in their class blog. Students can even email their teachers their homework, instead of writing it out and handing it in. 

               Linguistic text, however, is not the only text that students (and teachers) can use. Students can create animations, film their own mini-movies, publish a pod-cast, there are so many different ways that teachers can allow students to be expressive in the classroom. Text production, however, is a subject of learning that teachers must be extremely careful with. It is easy to let students use slang metalanguage and incorrect grammar when not always producing linguistic texts, therefore, teachers have to ensure that students' literacy aptitude does not falter when using multiple text types.

                 As teachers, we must also ensure that we are not simply assuming that our students know how to use all forms of text type. It is something that must be taught, and understood thoroughly by the teacher, in order to ensure correct student learning.

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Pictures and Clips:

Cartoonady.com (n.d) Retrieved from http://mgleeson.edublogs.org/files/2012/02/20120210-205344.jpg

Photobucket.com (n.d) Retrieved from http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/victoriadrake91/media/
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thinkcritically.weebly.com (n.d) Retrieved from http://thinkcritically.weebly.com/uploads/2/9/0/5/
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Visual.ly (n.d) Retrieved from http://visual.ly/60-seconds