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The English language is full of idioms and slang. These are words and phrases which do not show up in a dictionary, but should they show up in our classes? I believe that the answer to that question should be some, because students need all relevant vocabulary that they will see and hear, but only the vocabulary that will help them and be useful. In teaching English, all vocabulary that is used frequently is important. For higher level students, they want to feel confident and comfortable with all the language that they may come across. I believe this includes the need to understand common slang. Namvar and Ibrahim point out that students who know slang may feel more socially competent and thus have a greater motivation to continue to learn.1 That seems like a great reason to teach slang and idioms. As students reach levels where you use authentic texts, the slangs and idioms in those texts will need to be explained. Because slang is highly informal, this may mean teaching from informal texts will be needed. But if they are relevant texts, then the slang that is included in them will most likely be relevant as well. Namvar and Ibrahim found that most students were familiar with internet slang, as they had more access to that in their country.2 Therefore, those texts and slang would be a good source of authentic texts. However, I believe that we need to be careful as teachers not to take this too far. Slang is constantly changing and often only relevant to a small group of people. You could spend all your time teaching slang if you wanted to cover all the slang available. I recently read a book about gang activity in New York City in the 1950’s.3 I learned all sorts of slang that I will never use because it is so specialized and it has probably changed in the last sixty years. Slang can even be used in teen culture and criminal culture specifically to be code for only their group. This type of slang is not helpful for an ESL student. And even for more common slang, it seems most beneficial to help students learn how to figure out new words from context. That will allow them to deal with new slang like a native speaker does. As a native speaker, I seek to figure it out from context and when that doesn’t work, I either ask or look it up. I recently had to do that with bae. But I had the skills to do that and did not feel bad about having to look it up. If ESL students realize that even as a native speaker, I need this skill, they will not feel bad using it as well. Helping students get context and look up when needed will help them more in the long run than going through tons of slang that they may or may not ever hear again. So does slang belong in the esl classroom? I think the answer is clear that it has an important place if it is widely used, but more important is teaching students how to learn new vocabulary so they can learn the slang that they come across in their interactions with the English speaking world. 1. Namvar, Firooz and Noraini Ibrahim, “Popularity and Familiarity of Slang among ESL Students,” Journal of Applied Sciences, 2014, vol 14, issue 24, pg 3585-3590, found online at https://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=jas.2014.3585.3590, 6 February 2019. 2. Ibid. 3. Wilkerson, David. The Cross and the Switchblade. Rickfords Hill Publishing LTD, Buckingham, UK. 2012 edition.
