TL;DR - Language is constantly evolving and is directly related to its use in social contexts, so slang should not be banned from the classroom as it is part of everyday language that students use.

According to Paige Neal-Holder writing for the BBC, there are schools which urge students to 'ditch slang words in lessons in order to teach them how to use formal English'. More than that, Neal-Holder says that 'some schools have even introduced anti-slang posters and stickers, grammar police badges and word jails, where slang is written on posters with jail images', wanting to show that it is a violation against the correct use of language to use slang. Actually, banning slang is against the correct evolution of language and respect to its many elements and uses by different people.

In fact, slang should be encouraged as an integral part of the effort to communicate. According to a 'The Conversation' article, 'banning slang in schools is a short-sighted and inefficient way of trying to produce young people who are confident and adaptable communicators'. Slang shows adaptability, creativity, and a sense of community among the generation of its users.

Standardisation should cease to exist, and this is the case with language. As it is possible to have an infinite variety of ways to pronounce words in English, so should slang be respected as a part of the language and accepted in classrooms. Rhea Gupta observes this when she says that '[e]ach person's idiolect is very personal- no two people will speak the same way. Restricing [sic] one's freedom to speak naturally would feel suppressing- especially to young children who are still developing and finding themselves'. Language is a powerful communication tool and shows a lot about identity and culture.

Works Cited

Gupta, Rhea, 'Should Slang in School be Banned?' (2015) https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/youngreporter/12901643.young-reporter-should-slang-in-school-be-banned/ [accessed 23 February 2021].

Neal-Holder, Paige, 'Should schools be allowed to ban slang words like 'peng'?' (2020) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-51064279 [accessed 23 February 2021].

'Slang shouldn’t be banned … it should be celebrated, innit' (2016) https://theconversation.com/slang-shouldnt-be-banned-it-should-be-celebrated-innit-58672 [accessed 23 February 2021].

Tl;dr: Slang should not appear in classroom learning as this would be unfair to EFL students and teachers who are unfamiliar to the terms.

While language is evolving, standard English is the version taught and understood by everyone. There are different slang terms from all English regions, and with the internet young people especially are acquiring terms from around the globe. For example, recent technological advancements mean young people can speak in near enough code, with acronyms like lol and rofl entering day to day speech.

While we do need to recognise that language is evolving this way with technology, students who speak English as a second language and teachers who are not highly involved in the social media era will find this language hard to understand. This would make the learning process a lot harder as how would a teacher be able to mark something they do not understand? How would a student only just coming to terms with standard English be able to peer assess their classmates study?

If we keep to a standard English in the classroom, we create a fair learning environment that everyone can understand and contribute to.

Slang can be defined as informal, unofficial, or unauthorized vocabulary or expressions that deviate from standardized, dictionary-approved language. In English, we might categorize slang as Non-Standard English, which contrasts with the Standard English usually used in academic and professional writing. However, this understanding of official or unofficial language hides an important question - who authorizes or standardizes language and what gives them that authority? Historically, the answer to this question has been the dominant culture, which in the case of English has been white and upper-middle class.

It is significant that slang is often invented by and attributed to (often oppressed) sub-cultures within the dominant society, such as queer culture, roadman youth culture, and African-American culture. A group within the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) issued a demand for Black Linguistic Justice in July 2020. They argue against the teaching of Standard English as a communicative standard and counter the encouragement of code-switching (changing one’s speech pattern and vocabulary to assimilate to a certain environment). Instead, they stress the importance of teaching students about the connection between Standard English, colonialism, and white linguistic supremacy.

Asif Agha points out that “the term slang may be employed as a term of open pejoration for virtually any form of speech simply in order to dismiss it” – slang is a loaded term, and labelling words and expressions as slang can be used as a way to silence and suppress. In context, the dismissal of slang often acts as a silencing and suppression of already marginalised groups. Baker-Bell states that “the anti-Black linguistic racism that is used to diminish Black Language and Black students in classrooms is not separate from the rampant and deliberate anti-Black racism and violence inflicted upon Black people in society”. The policing of black language, and indeed any language that goes against the norm of Standard English, is a form of systemic racism.

To ban slang from classrooms would be a homogenising of language as well as a form of linguistic discrimination. Due to the prevalence of slang use by marginalised groups and cultures, policing slang use in classrooms would likely affect students from certain cultural backgrounds disproportionally. By enforcing Standard English in speech, students with slang-heavy idiolects might become discouraged to speak up in class, and ultimately disengaged. As people from marginalised cultures are currently underrepresented in most academic and professional spheres, to create new barriers within education by restricting language might well impede the progress of equal representation in the workplace.

SOURCES:
Aghar, Asif, ‘Tropes of Slang’ (2015) https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/683179 [accessed 26 February 2021].

Baker-Bell, April, Linguistic Justice (2020), Routledge.

NCTE, ‘This Ain’t Another Statement! This is a DEMAND for Black Linguistic Justice!’ (2020) https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/demand-for-black-linguistic-justice [accessed 26 February 2021].

Ogbuagu, Buster C., ‘Wuz Up Wit Dat?: Exploring the Colonizing Properties of the Standard English Language and its Implications for the Denudation and Denigration of Black Survivalist and Stylistic Language, Syntax and Phonology’ (2013),
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228565023.pdf [accessed 26 February 2021].