Teaching Slang in English language teacher training

Abstract

In foreign language teaching, the development of the informal register is gaining more and more space and interest: slangs, contractions, phrasal verbs, and acronyms, with learning supported on social interaction, reflection and culture as well as blended learnings and flipped  classrooms. In a process of inclusion within the informal language, slangs, historically rejected, are gaining spaces. Why exclude and relegate slangs from English language teaching if they are an inherent part of it? How much could they contribute to the development of communicative, interactive and intercultural competences, objectives of university students who will be English language teachers? From this challenge, in the Foreign Languages Studies of the University of Pinar del Río, an investigation has been carried out during three years. Here are the results about the inclusion of frequently used "slangs" and the social impact they produce in the development of motivation and the real use of English, among other variables. To obtain and process information, the methods of modeling, document analysis, observation, experimentation, interview, survey, self-reflection and group discussion techniques were used. Results were obtained in the selection and elaboration of texts, tasks and strategies for the study of slangs. Favorable opinions of students and teachers were found in terms of development of oral communicative skills, linguistic sensitivity, motivation, real use of English, learning to learn paradigm, and cultural and human values.