Transcript Slang at Middlebury

Exploring College Slang
Joe McVeigh
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
Participants By Year
2011
32%
2010
15%
2008
34%
2009
19%
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…
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2008
2011
jangler
rager Proctor LNDP
crush
Percentage of men vs. women who often or
very often hear the word…
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Male
Female
Roll Sausage
Fest
Bail
Bangin’
Percentage of NNS vs. NS students who never
hear the word…
NNS students
NS students
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
eye sex
fro-yo
fess up
Facebook
ferreal
stalk
fly
fives
foxy
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=intd1028a-w08
•
Joe McVeigh 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