Criticism Of Slang In Schools

Criticism on introducing slang into ESL classrooms is substantial (REFERENCES) and I certainly do intend to address this aspect in more detail, insofar as I am keen to prove that tackling slang in high schools, be it in lessons of first or second language, is not only beneficial but that it is truly important. Currently, it appears as if Serbian institutions and their representatives have declared a war on slang. The evidence that this is a more global issue can be found in Ernest Heiman’s essay, which vividly describes most teachers’ reaction to encountering slang:

So often we hold a stigmatic view of slang. We red-pencil it in compositions; we correct it in class recitations; and we are amused by it, or ignore it in the corridors, where the

2). According to Carmen Fishwick’s article in the Guardian, ‘[t]he initiative introduced in September [2013], by the school’s new principal Chris Everitt, hopes to raise awareness about the use of language and prepare students for formal situations such as job interviews’. The principal in question certainly would be appalled by the topic of mine. Yet, I am of the opinion that it is high time teachers faced the linguistic reality. Slang is the most dynamic part of any language: it changes on daily basis, it evolves and, eventually, either enters the standard language or vanishes altogether. Therefore, institutions’ rigid attitude towards slang need be liberalised; instead of turning a blind eye to a whole segment of a language, teachers, be they of the first or second language, should, metaphorically speaking, try to come up with ways to ‘turn their enemy into their

The difference lies in the domain of competence: in their own language, students pick up slang through interaction with their peers and use it frequently within their groups of friends, whereas learning slang of a foreign language is usually associated with various indirect sources, such as films, TV shows, lyrics, social networks, etc. Students can easily assess whether something is offensive, humorous, etc. in their mother tongue, but the case with foreign languages is somewhat different. To put it simply, what you hear in a song is not necessarily what you will hear in a real-life conversation with a native speaker. To illustrate my point, I have copied an excerpt form a song entitled ‘Stupid hoe’, co-written and preformed by popular Trinidadian rapper Onika Tanya Maraj (also known as Nicki Minaj):

You a stupid hoe, you a you a stupid hoe

You a stupid hoe, you a you a stupid hoe

You a stupid hoe, you a you a stupid hoe

You a stupid hoe, yeah you a you a stupid hoe

You a stupid hoe, you a you a stupid hoe

You a stupid hoe, you a you a stupid