PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y.-Nearly half of all adults believe vocabulary skills among the nation’s youth are being corroded by instant messaging, e-mail and wireless phones, according to a new study by Reader’s Digest.
The survey of 1,000 U.S. adults found that 45 percent of respondents feel the new means of communication are leading to a decline in the vocabularies of youngsters, while 26 percent believe word skills among children are improving. Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said youngsters’ vocabulary skills remain the same.
The poll was commissioned by the magazine’s National Word Power Challenge, a college scholarship competition aimed at improving vocabulary skills in U.S. students.
