Example English dissertation topic 9:

A changing language – The value of text speech.

This dissertation is inspired by a series of comments made in the quality press over the last few years at the time of GCSe and A-level results day. In those articles, commentators bemoaned the introduction of ‘text speak’ to students work and questioned whether any value should be given to this language in the formal marking of examination papers. This dissertation seeks to place such a debate into a wider historic context noting how street slang has, since the early 18rh century been steadily integrated into more main stream language and asking whether ‘text speak’ is, in reality, but the modern day equivalent of these earlier historic trends of language development.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Green, J. (2007) ‘Language: Intrtxtlty’, Critical Quarterly, Vol. 49, pp. 124-128.
• Plester, B., Wood, C. and Bell, V. (2008) ‘Txt msg n school literacy: Does texting and knowledge of text abbreviations adversely affect children’s literacy attainment?’ Literacy, Vol. 42, pp. 137-144.
• Thurlow, C. (2006) ‘From statistical panic to moral panic: The metadiscursive construction and popular exaggeration of new media language in the print media’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 11, pp. 667-701.