Abstract: The article is dedicated to problems of schoolchildren’s speech culture and its development in the context of telecommunication. The author analyses traditional definitions of 'speech culture' both from a purely linguistic point of view and psychological positions as well as schoolchildren's speech development as a pedagogical problem. Particular attention is paid to viewing communication on the Internet as a written discourse and its influence on schoolchildren’s speech culture. The research method used by the author is the analysis of classical sources and teaching practice at school as well as comparing obtained data with characteristics of the discourse on the Internet and peculiarities of its functioning. The novelty of the article consists in viewing classical postulates about speech culture from the point of view of the present reality. The main author’s conclusions are the following. 1) Written communication on the Internet is quite specific and cannot be viewed only by means of theories elaborated long before its appearance. 2) Work on schoolchildren’s speech development should proceed considering reality in which they will live when they grow up. This is why attention should be paid to not only traditional textbooks of written speech but also to the written discourse realized by means of telecommunication techhnologies.