Increased use of the Internet and mobile phones are undermining pupils' capacity for independent study and promoting poor grammar, it was claimed. Cranfield School of Management found almost six in 10 schoolchildren were copying information directly from websites for homework tasks without properly reading it. More than a quarter thought it was an acceptable practice, even though they know it was considered plagiarism  .  The study, based on a sample of around 260 pupils aged from 11 to 18 at a secondary school in the Midlands, raised fresh concerns that modern technology was having a destructive effect on young people. Andrew Kakabadse, professor of international management development at Cranfield, said, "Our research shows that technology obsession prevent spelling skills, encourages plagiarism, and disturbs classroom learning. "Despite school policies restricting mobile phone usage, students use the phone frequently, with the majority making calls from the toilets. The mobile phone continues to be a main channel of social communication during the school day." The report revealed that so-called "text-speak" was increasingly finding it was into pupils' school work. Three in 10 students admit to using text message shortcuts, such as "r u ok" in essays and classroom tasks. It followed a study earlier this year that found almost half of teachers failed to understand some pupils' writing because it was so full of confusing language. Phrases such as "innit" and "Gr8" were regularly found in school work, it was claimed. The Cranfield study found that mobile use was so common that many pupils chose to ignore school rules on phones. More than a third said they would use their mobile in class, while nearly three quarters said they would not even make an excuse to leave class to answer a phone call. The passage is mainly about   _  .
the negative effect of technology on students' study technology's positive influence on student achievement the importance of online social communication the rapidly growing role of communication technologies