WHY NOT TEACH SLANG IN THE CLASSROOM?

Whether we should teach slang in a foreign / second language class has always been a controversial issue among the ELT practitioners since most of the language teachers consider it as a lower level of language on the basis of its vulgarity in an academic environment. However, there are also some other teachers who believe that slang is an integral part of everyday language. As known by everybody, slang differs a lot from the standard and formal language from the point of its vocabulary and structure. It is an inevitable fact that slang has penetrated even into mass media and it is a living, constantly expanding, and regularly evolving language phenomenon. It is for this reason that a student who learns a foreign language in Turkey often encounters some difficulties in understanding some TV serials as well as communicating with the people of a young generation. In this paper I suggest that slang needs to be integrated into foreign language classes and that this is the only way to enable young learners to have confidence in themselves and interact with native speakers.