Several decades ago, "Ain't ain't a word" was the favorite litany of English teachers around the world, and they chanted it whenever that offensive word it came out in a student's voice speaking or writing. Today, however, it is not a word firmly entrenched in dictionaries, not standard, but it is a word nonetheless. Now, there's something on the horizon that might make language arts teachers long for the days of not talking about texts. Textual language, or text language, is the language of abbreviations, acronyms, and emoticons that people use when communicating via short message service (SMS) on their cell phones or when exchanging instant messages and exchanging emails , and it's starting to creep in on students. 'formal writing. Teachers, not just language arts teachers, hate to see this, and many argue that texting communication is responsible for an overall decline in student writing, so they're trying to find ways to combat this disturbing trend. However, with the typical teenager sending 80 text messages a day (Hafner, 2009), the problem is not going away, so instead of fighting an uphill, and perhaps unwinnable, battle, teachers can use language of their students to teach Many teachers believe, as Librarian of Congress James Billington has suggested, that young Americans' text messaging may damage "the fundamental unit of human thought: the sentence." (Pew Internet, 2009) However, the claim that the use of text messaging could harm children's literacy is disputed by Clare Wood, Emma Jackson, Beverly Plester, and Lucy Wilde (2009), who argue that texting they allow children to experiment with language, which can aid in the development of skills used in the acquisition of literacy. They demonstrate an understanding of how words can be manipulated... at the center of the paper... the children of the twenty-first century. Works Cited Alvermann, D. (2007). Content area literacy: Focus shifts to teacher educators. College Reading Association Yearbook, (28), 13-19.Hafner, K. (2009, May 26). Texting could have a negative impact. The New York Times, D1.Hawley Turner, K. (2009). Flipping the switch: Code switching from text speak to standard English. English Journal (High School edition), 98(5), 60-65.Pew Internet and American Life Project. (2009). Writing, technology and teenagers. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Writing-Technology-and-Teens.aspx?r=1Wood, C., Jackson, Emma, ​​Plester, Beverly and Lucy, Wilde. (2009, July 24). Children's use of text messaging on mobile phones and its impact on literacy development in primary school. Retrieved from http://partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&catcode=_re_rp_02&rid=16824