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The use of web lingo and text speech in the classrooms has been looked down upon by educators for years. Most objections were to their informal nature and blatant disregard for grammatical rules. Teachers argued that with enough use, internet slang would degrade speaking and writing skills. Psychologists like Maryanne Wolf believe that the Net’s emphasis on efficiency and immediacy weakens the interpretive abilities of its users (Carr 99). It seems to make sense that the continual use of acronyms and abbreviated phrases found on the Net would indeed lead one to use shortcuts elsewhere in life. However, several experts are now beginning to believe that with proper management, Net jargon can actually have beneficial effects on students.

In Rachel Abrams article, “Experts Divided over Changes to Language”, linguist David Crystal expresses his beliefs that that the linguistic changes caused by the Internet are purely additive and not altering (Abrams 2). While many people can attest to the Internet’s affect on attention span and language, they cannot deny that most varieties web speech do follow a specific set of rules. For example, the governing guidelines of “lolspeak” or “kitty pidgin” require idiosyncratic phrases combined with poor grammar and spelling. Even the spelling errors, such as the replacement of the letter “s” with the letter “z”, are systematic. Creating a humorous “lolcat” image requires an understanding of a set rules and the ability to apply them successfully. If every subject in school follows this principle of comprehension and application, then one must ask if web languages can have a beneficial effect on learning. Netlingo founder, Erin Jansen, believes that Internet language is a “freedom of expression” which helps students communicate their ideas (Abrams 2). She along with other experts believe that an understanding of its rules and usage are the key factors in utilizing web languages for academic gain and classroom integration.