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Journal of Applied Sciences

Year: 2014 | Volume: 14 | Issue: 24 | Page No.: 3585-3590
DOI: 10.3923/jas.2014.3585.3590
Popularity and Familiarity of Slang among ESL Students
Firooz Namvar and Noraini Ibrahim

Abstract: Slang is a set of colloquial words or phrases in a language. It is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker’s dialect or language. Slang is very often colloquial; the language and dialect tend to be specific to a particular territory and it is a central part of young’s experience but contrary to many adults perception of slang as more or less uniform “Youth language”. Though, slangs are language and culture specific but they are often transmitted from one culture and language to another. Recent electronic communications contribute a lot in this process. The aim of this study was to show that whether Malaysian youth use English slang in their language. The two major objectives were: to illustrate to what degree Malaysian youth are familiar with slang and to examine what kind of slang they use more in compare with other kinds of slang. A test consists of 20 slang items was administered to 60 students. The respondents were in final semester of bachelor of English language at UPM. The data obtained from the study was coded and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The analysis of data showed that the internet slang, abbreviations slang and movie slang are used frequently by youth. It seems that they are familiar with these sorts of slang. The reasons can be because of using internet and social media nowadays, another reason can be media which has the most important role in this case.

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How to cite this article
Firooz Namvar and Noraini Ibrahim, 2014. Popularity and Familiarity of Slang among ESL Students. Journal of Applied Sciences, 14: 3585-3590.

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