Exploring College Slang Joe Mc Veigh Alexis Mussomeli

Exploring College Slang Joe Mc. Veigh Alexis Mussomeli Middlebury College

Slang—an active introduction Take two minutes to write down the most common slang terms that you can think of.

What is slang? • Informal, one or two words, considered non-standard • Varies by age, region, or other demographic factors • May relate to illicit activities or may be vulgar or vituperative • Over time may change to standard status

Student difficulties with slang • Undergraduate international ESL students

Origins of the project • New first-year international students at Middlebury • William Safire article in New York Times • Checking with NS undergraduate informants

Methodology • Slang Collection assignment in undergrad TESOL methodology course • Results of the initial collection • Problems with the initial collection • Forming of project team – Alexis Mussomeli—editor – Ellie Molyneux & Natalie Sammarco—surveys – Katie Moon & Uma Tantri—web design

Project – Initial Edit Alexis Mussomeli • Duplicates • Idioms • Non-local items • Standardization of definitions

Project – Survey Ellie Molyneux & Natalie Sammarco • Smaller lists of words • Survey construction • Email requests • Responses • Survey results

Survey Objectives • Obtain demographic information – First language, friend group, affiliations • Determine frequency of slang use – “How often do you hear this…” vs. “say” • Determine variability in slang meaning • Investigate correlations between demographics and reported slang frequency

Hypotheses • International and ESL students with less interaction with NSs probably hear and are aware of fewer slang terms • Variations in frequency • Most students would be aware of the words in the survey

Method • • 4 surveys 39 words per survey 156 words total Randomly distributed

Participant Origins and First Languages N = 203 17. 7% international students 81. 7% domestic students 15. 2% ESL students 84. 7% native English speakers Middlebury 2007: 10% international

Is there a connection between reported slang frequency and. . . social house residence ? . . . class year ? . . . gender ? . . . international student status ?

Results Is there a connection between reported slang frequency and social house residence?

Percentage of first years vs. seniors who often hear or very often hear the word…

Percentage of men vs. women who often or very often hear the word… Sausage Fest Bangin’

Percentage of NNS vs. NS students who never hear the word… Facebook stalk ferreal fives fo’ shizzle

Survey Limitations • Relatively small sample size – Confirmation bias, fatigue, correlation vs. causality • Self-reporting vs. discourse analysis approach

Project – Web Implementation Katie Moon & Uma Tantri • • • Dictionary – navigable or downloadable Categories Audio files Resources Practice materials

The Web Site https: //segue. middlebury. edu/index. php? action=site &site=slang-glos

Project – Idioms Team • Dictionary of idioms with definitions • Downloadable from web site – Sophie Elphick & Ley Lacbawan

Suggestions for Teaching Slang • Memory game • Sentence matching • Crossword puzzle • Listening fill-in-the-blanks

Questions and Discussion

Electronic Resources • Middlebury College Slang Project https: //segue. middlebury. edu/sites/slang-glos • Introduction to TESOL Course Web Site https: //segue. middlebury. edu/? &action=site&site=intd 1028 a-w 08 • Joe Mc. Veigh dot org – presentation resources www. joemcveigh. org • Urban Dictionary www. urbandictionary. com • The Online Slang Dictionary www. onlineslangdictionary. com • The Internet Slang Dictionary www. noslang. com/dictionary. php

Thank you