title: The messages they send: e-mail use by adolescents with and without a history of specific language impairment (SLI).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Contemporary adolescents use e-mail for a variety of purposes, including peer communication and education. Research into these uses has focused on typically developing individuals; much less is known about the use of e-mail by exceptional youth.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study examined the structure and form of e-mail messages sent by adolescents with and without a history of specific language impairment (SLI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-eight adolescents with a history of SLI and 56 typically developing (TD) peers were assessed on measures of nonverbal abilities, core language skills and literacy skills (reading and spelling). The participants were asked to compose an e-mail reply to a standard e-mail sent by an experimenter. These reply e-mails were coded for linguistic structure, readability and spelling errors. Two adult raters, blind to the participants' language ability, judged how understandable the e-mails were, how grammatically correct the e-mails were, and also the sender's command of the English language.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adolescents with a history of SLI produced e-mails that were similar to those sent by their TD peers in terms of structure and readability. However, they made significantly more spelling errors. Furthermore, the adult raters considered the messages from participants with a history of SLI to be of poorer standard than those sent by their TD peers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that the e-mail messages of adolescents with a history of SLI provide indicators of the sender's language and literacy skills. Implications for intervention and technology development are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Human Communication and Deafness, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. gina.conti-ramsden@manchester.ac.uk
authors.forename: Gina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Conti-Ramsden
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Durkin
authors.forename: Allan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D032882:Comprehension; D034742:Electronic Mail; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders; D008297:Male; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D014956:Writing