This week, our group were assigned an activities, which is to find out the meaning of some popular slang used by university students in US. Honestly, I did not know very much about those slang, even though I have been in this context for about two years now. While doing that exercise, some questions came to my mind: What are the difference between slang and idiom? Should we teach slang in ESL class? Why should we teach them? Isn't slang viewed as nonstandard English? Which class use slang most often?
I found out that the definition of slang is "nonstandard vocabulary of a given culture or subculture",while idiom mean "a phrase that is commonly understood in a given culture or subculture to have a meaning different from its literal meaning". I was told that a math teacher told a black kid not to use slang in his English because they are not standard English. It seems that slang are views as a "bad" language in many people eyes. It is said that in Japan, using slang would have a negative context for the person. Then, should ESL teachers teach slang in class or avoid them? Which group of people usually use slang?
Actually, some experts say that there are some categories and subcategories of slang in slang. Each category is used by a specific group. Many people use them for entertaining. if I am going to teaching ESL students, I probably will not promote the use of slang and idioms, but I feel that I have a responsibility to familiarize the nonnative speaker with this type of language.After all, whether we like it or not, this nonstandard English has existed for years and will continue to exist. Knowledge of slang and idioms is fundamental to nonnative speakers' understanding of the language that native speakers actually use. It is also essential for those who want to integrate into our culture; without slang and idioms, students will always be outsiders. This nonstandard English may even be important for students' safety and well-being.
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5 comments:
I think that it's important for a person to know at least some of the slang that is used in the area that they will be traveling in. When I went to Australia one of the first things in the travel guides was the differences in language and among those were many slang terms and expressions (i.e. "Bob's your Uncle", "root", "Bloke", & "Sheila"). "Root" was one of the more important ones because we use it in America for sports and the Australians use it in a significantly different way.
I don't think non-native speakers need to know a lot of slang, but I think that if we teach them just a little bit (being appropriate of course) then it will not only make what we're teaching them authentic, but they may also become more motivated and eager to learn the language. Although I would be very careful about the age group I'm working with and the amount of focus we put into learning slang (keeping it minimal is best probably).
I think using slang is there with almost all the languages though it is not appropriate to use in academic context,it should learn by the non native speaker so that they can familiar with the term.
Do you mean all the slangs, Binki? I kind of agree with Aron's idea---teaching some in an authentic way, but not too much since it is not the standard English. :-)
Totally a grate post and presentation but i also confused at "teach slang ESL"..
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Slangs and idioms may contain more than one meaning and people usually get confused to use proper sense and they lost their precious time for knowing the write information..
Non natives are quite unable to understand slangs hence their use impacts negetively on the use of English....
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