Will you introduce English slang language to your students? Why? Or Why not?
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Diskusi 10 Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching
Will you introduce English slang language to your students? Why? Or Why not?
Answer:
Slang language refers to non-standard types of vocabulary and informal expressions that are commonly used within a particular social group or subculture and it is characterized by its dynamic nature, as new slang terms keep appearing and old terms may fall out of use (Thone, 2017). Slang is often associated with the younger generation and can vary greatly in different regions and societies.
Slang language is a type of informal language that is used by particular groups of people, often to create a sense of camaraderie or to exclude outsiders. Slang language terms are often short, catchy, and easy to remember. They can be used to refer to anything from everyday objects to complex ideas.
I thought I would introduce English slang to my students, but in a certain context. Slang can be a fun and informal way of communicating and can help students feel more comfortable speaking English. However, it is important to teach students the difference between slang and formal language, and to ensure that they know when to use one another (in formal or informal situations).
According to Aitchison & Wardaugh (1987), students mostly use slang language to talk to their classmates in class. So, slang language is a type of informal language used by students when they speak in class (Lutviana & Mafulah, 2021). And slang language is one of the types of informal language use by students when they talk in a classroom.
According to Zhang et al. (2016), the emergence of numerous slang language can be attributed to the impact of social media. For example:
- Otewe = on the way
- OMG = oh my god
- GWS = get well soon
- BTW = by the way
Students also get slang language from various social media. So, we have to introduce what is appropriate and what is not polite to say in the context of classroom learning. In conclusion, we introduce students to slang language but in informal situations such as with classmates or for slang language in a polite form.
Refereces:
Aitchison, J., & Wardaugh, R. (1987). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. In The British Journal of Sociology (Vol. 38, Issue 3). https://doi.org/10.2307/590702
Lutviana, R., & Mafulah, S. (2021). The use of slang words in online learning context of EFL class. EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English. http://jurnal.unmer.ac.id/index.php/enjourme/index
Thorne, T. (Ed.). (2017). The Dictionary of Modern Slang. Bloomsbury Academic
Zhang, L., Zhao, J., & Xu, K. (2016). Who creates Trends in Online Social Media: The Crowd or Opinion Leaders? Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 21(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12145