As a student teacher in high school, there is not a single day in class in which I don’t have to ask at least one or two students to stop texting and put their phones away. Although I’d prefer that my students leave their cellphones in their lockers during my class, I understand that the way adolescents communicate has changed. What used to be done orally, today’s teens like to do it by texting.

Although texting has gotten a lot of criticism claiming that it can affect teenagers’ health, academic performance and social skills, there is also a new learning concept called “mobile learning” that uses students’ cellphones as a resource for academic purposes. With m- learning students use their cellphone’s texting feature to learn anytime and anywhere. Although “Google classrooms” has similar features to promote communication outside of class, with a group chat on their phones, students can get messages immediately without having to log in to a website. If these group chats are led by the teacher, the students will be less likely to post inappropriate content and it is also easier for us to monitor what the students are posting and take action immediately if there is a post that goes against the rules of our chats.
Because the main purpose of texting is to facilitate communication, and education is at its most basic level, communication, texting can provide a channel through which teachers (especially language teachers like myself) can create a platform outside of the classroom in which the learning continues. However, group texting is definitely not something I would do in every class, before starting a group chat I would have to know the maturity level of my students and take privacy precautions. I’d probably use this dynamic with students who are over 15 and are committed to using texts only as an educational tool. We would also have to obtain a Google Voice number or any other texting app number to avoid exchanging real numbers. Once the students know the rules and are ready to start texting, I would use the group chat to serve my language and communication purposes.
For example, as a motivational factor, texting will serve to get my students to write more in Spanish; my students (especially my shy ones) will be more willing to participate in class discussions that happen through texting because no one will be looking at them and there will also be more time for revision. They will also find the use of a smartphone and texting in class “fun” because it is not something that is done in many classes. Texting can facilitate conversation and critical thinking among students. I could propose questions about the content of the class to generate debate and dialogue throughout the day. As humans, we never stop thinking, so why not give students the opportunity to text a thought they get at 7:36 pm about a topic we talked about in our 1st period class at 8:11 am? My students would also benefit from the photo/ video-sharing feature of texting. It would serve as an interesting solution to sharing their own material, such as art, pictures and videos. The students will have the opportunity to display their work with teachers and classmates.
If we put too much emphasis on the risks that texting has (as many researchers have been doing) we may never be able to take advantage of the multiple benefits it can have in our students’ learning. There are several disadvantages to texting in a group chat with classmates such as excessive texting that can become a distraction, inappropriate texts and privacy violations. However, if we set the rules of the group chat from the beginning and make it a safe space during the rest of the year, texting can offer a language class (or any other subject class) multiple advantages to develop motivation, communication, and creativity. Texting is an interesting tool that allows us to promote teaching, learning, and collaboration outside of our classrooms.