Как обучать учеников ESL изучать идиомы и сленг

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How to instruct ESL students to learn idioms and slang

Rano SOLIKHOVA

1

Uzbek State World Languages University

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history:

Received December 2024

Received in revised form

15 December 2024

Accepted 20 January 2025

Available online

15 February 2025

This research showcases the description of idioms and slang to

consider what they are. It categorizes slang and idioms into

various ranges and provides some strategies and processes to

transcribe them. Both idioms and slang are significant to natural

English interaction, providing perceptions of cultural nuances and

informal speech attributes. For ESL learners, these linguistic

aspects could improve conversational fluency and cultural

assimilation. However, they cause difficulties because of their

symbolic meanings and contextual differences. In addition, this

research explores efficient approaches for educating idioms and

slang, applying a combined method that includes thematic lesson

planning, perceptible support, communicative tasks, and media

blending. Outcomes demonstrate important enhancements in

learners’ understanding, retention, and confidence next to larger

cultural awareness. The resolutions underscore the merit of

contextualized, agreeable, and affluent methodologies in materials

when connecting the gap between official language teaching and

authentic implementation. Finally, the study should investigate

these methodologies’ prolonged re

sults and demographical

augmentation.

2181-

1415/©

2025 in Science LLC.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47689/2181-1415-vol6-iss1/S-pp

182-188

This is an open access article under the Attribution 4.0 International

(CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.ru)

Keywords:

idioms,

slang,

contextualized instructing,

cognitive linguistics, cultural

awareness,

second language acquisition,

pragmatic meaning.

ESL o‘quvchilariga idiomalar va slengni qanday o‘rgatish

mumkin

ANNOTATSIYA

Kalit so‘zlar

:

idiomalar,

sleng,

kontekstual o‘rganish,

kognitiv tilshunoslik,

madaniy xabardorlik,

ikkinchi tilni o‘zlashtirish,

pragmatik ma’no.

Ushbu tadqiqot ishida idiomalar va slenglar, ularning

mohiyati va o‘ziga xos xususiyatlari ko‘rib chiqiladi. So‘ngra bu

til hodisalarini turl

i mezonlar bo‘yicha tasniflash amalga

oshiriladi, shuningdek, ularning transkripsiya strategiyalari va

jarayonlari tavsiflanadi. Idiomalar va slenglar ingliz tilida tabiiy

muloqotda muhim rol o‘ynab, madaniy nozikliklarni va

1

PhD Student, Uzbek State World Languages University. E-mail: ranorachel4@gmail.com

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norasmiy nutqning o‘ziga xos xu

susiyatlarini tushunishga

yordam beradi. Ingliz tilini chet tili sifatida o‘rganayotganlar

uchun bu lingvistik jihatlarni o‘zlashtirish nutq ravonligini

oshirishi va madaniy moslashuvni osonlashtirishi mumkin.

Biroq, ularni o‘zlashtirish ramziy ma’nolar va

kontekstual

farqlar tufayli ma’lum qiyinchiliklarni keltirib chiqaradi.

Tadqiqot doirasida idiomalar va slenglarni o‘rgatishning

samarali

yondashuvlari

tahlil

qilingan

bo‘lib,

unda

kombinatsiyalangan usul qo‘llanilgan. Bu usul mavzuga

asoslangan dars reja

lashtirish, ko‘rgazmali qo‘llab

-quvvatlash,

muloqot vazifalarini va turli media resurslarni birlashtiradi.

Natijalar o‘quvchilarning tushunishi, eslab qolishi va o‘ziga

ishonchi sezilarli darajada yaxshilanganligini, shuningdek,

ularning madaniy xabardorli

gi oshganligini ko‘rsatadi. Tadqiqot

xulosalari tilni rasmiy o‘qitish va uning hayotdagi qo‘llanilishi

o‘rtasidagi farqni kamaytiruvchi o‘quv materiallarida kontekstli,

tushunarli va boy metodologiyalarning muhimligini ta’kidlaydi.

Yakuniy qismda ushbu met

odikalarning uzoq muddatli ta’siri va

ularning turli o‘quvchilar guruhlariga ta’sirini yanada

chuqurroq o‘rganish zarurligi qayd etilgan.

Как обучать учеников ESL изучать идиомы и сленг

АННОТАЦИЯ

Ключевые слова:

идиомы,

сленг,

контекстуальное

обучение,

когнитивная лингвистика,

культурная

осведомленность,

освоение второго языка,

прагматическое значение.

В данной исследовательской работе рассматриваются

идиомы и сленг, их сущность и особенности. Далее проводится

классификация этих языковых явлений по различным

параметрам, а также описываются стратегии и процессы их

транскрипции. Идиомы и сленг играют важную роль в

естественном общении на английском языке, способствуя

восприятию

культурных

нюансов

и

особенностей

неформальной речи.

Для изучающих английский как

иностранный, владение этими лингвистическими аспектами

может повысить беглость речи и способствовать культурной

адаптации. Однако их освоение представляет определённые

трудности, связанные с символическими значениями и

контекстуальными различиями. В рамках исследования

анализируются эффективные подходы к обучению идиомам и

сленгу с использованием комбинированного метода. Этот

метод включает тематическое планирование уроков,

наглядную поддержку, коммуникативные задания и

интеграцию

различных

медиа

-

ресурсов.

Результаты

демонстрируют

значительное

улучшение

понимания,

запоминания и уверенности учащихся, а также повышение их

культурной

осведомлённости.

Выводы

исследования

подчёркивают важность контекстуализированных, доступных

и насыщенных методологий в обучающих материалах,

которые помогают преодолеть разрыв между официальным

преподаванием языка и его аутентичным использованием.

В завершение отмечается необходимость дальнейшего

изучения долгосрочного влияния этих методик и их

воздействия на разные группы учащихся.

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INTRODUCTION

An idiom is a phrase that varies from the meaning of individual expressions. Slang

and idioms are considered figures of speech developed by using them with no obvious
meaning from those of single words. That means they are not taken literally. In other
words, contemporary English applies several minuscule juxtapositions to produce clear
language. During instruction of English as a second or foreign language, slang frequently
comes in the classrooms. In other words, learners utilize slang that they have listened to
either appropriately or inappropriately, or perhaps the instructor or himself applies
slang, as well as corresponds with mixed expressions from learners, demanding
clarification. Slang English is often employed, not solely in movies and communication
but within academics and employment as well. Considering ESL instructors, this research
paper tried to search for the significance of educating English language learners and to
find the approaches that are implemented to instruct ELLs to learn slang. In most cases,
we tend to use idioms and slang theoretically, but if we classify them, they could be
utilized in distinctive ways for various aims. Even if idioms have their descriptions, they
cannot produce a class that complies with their common comprehension. We
acknowledge the topic of idiom within a sentence that is applied by the writer or speaker.
So native speakers develop both listening and speaking idioms daily. No matter learners
are juveniles or adults; significantly, they see comfort in employing these phrases within
their daily conversations and writing. For instance, an idiom in one language cannot be
translated into another one. They are essential aspects of any language, notwithstanding
the most troublesome part to manage. It is beyond the bounds of the possibility to
identify any unique strategy in the transcribing procedure since several idioms are
culturally fixed. Therefore, the pragmatic meaning must be more valued rather than the
literal meaning. In case they are translated word by word, great confusion would come
up. As Baker (1992) mentioned, idioms are implemented very often in English and
happen within any type of source. According to Halliday and Yallop, native English
speakers have compassion for idioms because they consider the significance of cultural
heritage. However, Halliday and Yallop underscore the fact that most non-native
speakers are accustomed to excessive use of those idioms they have acquired by study.
Parker and Riley mentioned that idioms are frequently implausible to foreign students.
Thus, they prefer to use non-idiomatic counterparts, even in eloquent tasks.
Comprehending the glossary of English requires more than acknowledging the indicative
meaning of phrases. There is a requirement for its speakers to possess connotative
phrase understanding.

Slang is currently applied and comprehended language, encompassing novel

meanings ascribed to prevailed words, normally recognized as reclined outward
standard politeness us

e. Mentioning one’s apartment as his or her “crib” is slang, as well

as “crib” is a phrase currently out of style. I am convinced the phrase, the understatement

of the language, best defines a common zone into which idioms and slang could be
classified. They transfer data about the speaker, which may not be clear. As Dumas and
Lighter (1978) mentioned, slang words included four categories:

•

Slang decreases officiality, which reduces the range of the discourse where it is

employed. For instance, the expression

–

‘Shakespeare was one of England’s most

awesome writers’ becomes funny for learners due to comparisons of variances.

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•

It shows group similarity mostly with a lower-

class group, such as ‘when

President Obama came to Detroit to interact with blue-collar workers, he introduced

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis by mentioning she was “in the house.” This is an instance of

applying slang to form in-group status.

•

Slang is considered a taboo term used by those who have higher status; for

instance, curse phrases are included in this group.

•

It alters a phrase that would bring discomfort to the speaker whether he or she

utilized the phrase instead, called euphemism. For instance, this would encompass slang

phrases for men and women, particularly div features.

Provided that a phrase or word matches with at least two of these demands, it is

slang. According to Dumas and Lighter (1978), “When something fits at least 2 of the

criteria, a linguistically sentimental audience will react to it in a particular way” (p.1

6).

They continued to identify the response could not be assessed. However, that response

could say whether a phrase is slang or not. Furthermore, jargon is frequently seen to be a

criterion of slang. For instance, if a person is in the requirements at MITESOL and hears

the saying, “You know, I consider approaches that educate learners to integrate both

lower and higher list of target vocabulary could solely improve that second language

acquisition,” either you would admire who was telling, or you would tell, “Aha! They are

TESOL people”. We could view that this instance faces the need for “Group Similarity” –

we exhibit our “in

-

group status” by employing the jargon of the occupation. But jargon

does not decrease officiality, it is not seen as taboo, nor is it employed as a euphemism.

Thus, jargon is not considered to be slang. Two other language criteria frequently

disagree to be slang: colloquialisms and idioms. The former one is described as “informal

words”. In other words, they could bring dialectical us

ages. Whilst slang is commonly

more short-term, colloquialisms are prone to keeping power. However, idioms are

described as words that have no meaning when understood in a literate way. But we

could consider idioms lower formality

–

whether an instructor mentions that she would

“bet the farm,” which what she foretells will become true. This is more random rather

than whether she mentioned, for instance, that she supports that it will occur. More

evidently, idioms could be euphemisms, as in “He kicked the bucket” or perhaps “that

elephant in the room”.

LITERATURE REVIEW

There are several reasons why learners ought to know the slang those who work

or study in English-speaking countries will face slang in those places. Take an example:

we took a study that was done on ESL engineering students being busy with doing

internship work (Myles,2009). The learners commented that it was complicated to

interact because they did not comprehend the slang that their colleagues were utilizing.

The scholars in the research recommend that English for Special Purposes courses might

encompass

a “cultural” language aspect.

According to Huang (2004), the slang faced in academia causes issues of lecture

understanding because of the “outcomes of both colloquial and slang phrases”.

Furthermore, 50% of the learners in the research answered that the

ir instructors’

use of slang phrases makes it challenging for them to comprehend the lecture. Only

24% of the learners in the study disagreed with that statement. In other words, learners

within artistic fields perceived more strongly that their instructors applied slang that

they could not comprehend, whilst learners in scientific areas were affluent, however,

they had difficulty understanding their instructors because of the slang they utilized

within the classroom.

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As Simpson & Dushyanthi (2003) did, the study of idioms in academic speech

employs the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE), a combination of
speech tracked at the University of Michigan between 1997 and 2001. Observing the
corpus data, the scholars stated that there was an important number of idioms, as well as
the grasp of the meanings of the idioms employed was vital to comprehend the lectures.
This study showcases that even though ESL learners might not face slang and idioms
within written academic texts, they would particularly face it in the classroom, thus vital
for some variety of structured assistance to learn genuine slang.

Moreover, the profit of slang to ESL learners in their academic lives, Preece (2009)

claimed that slang assists English language learners in constructing a community and
developing social connections outside of the classroom, which is particularly significant
for learners living and studying in English-speaking communities. In addition, Preece
identified the way learners must communicate according to possible groups of friends;

one group spoke “posh” English, and the other spoke slang.

As Solano Flores (2006) stated, learners frequently had training to utilize an

“academic “register. Even though learners might quickly develop a nonacademic range,

they still need the ability to vary between two categories. Acquiring slang knowledge
helps learners to establish more native-like communication with peers. Thus, Myles
(2009) and Huang (2004) both showcased that even instructors apply slang or idioms,
such a

s ‘stay on the ball; don’t let the homework ger over your head, ESL learners must

acquire not only what has been developed in curricula, but the slang has a vital role in the
environment of learners and the classroom so on.

METHODS

First and foremost, there are methodologies have been employed in different ways

to educate university language learners to learn slang. For example, students could learn
slang with guidance from a teacher in the classroom or perhaps be engaged to learn by
themselves, but educators ought to give resources and motivation to learn slang
independently. The other way is explicit teaching in the classroom, like vocabulary
teaching, which may help learners learn more slang. Motivating learners to retain

a “slang journal” might have a s

pot in a speaking, listening, or reading lesson.

Slang could be detected in movies, music, and communications with native

speakers. Learners must be motivated to spot the slang within those materials
themselves by observing slang as it happens in movies and their atmosphere. ESL
teachers might also employ authentic resources in the classroom to launch slang phrases
the ESL teacher can use genuine resources in the classroom to initiate slang phrases and
copy how various ranges could be monitored and employed, according to the situation.

The primary goal of ESL instructors who wish to motivate learners to acquire slang

words must be to give materials and the approaches to applying them. The materials and
the ways are extant, but learners are not acquainted with them. Therefore, several free
online materials can help students encompass, including bbc.co.uk, urbandictionary.com,
and YouTube.com.

Most slang dictionaries in hardcover are extant but prone to be outdated in a quick

way. A long list of published slang dictionaries can be placed in Appendix A. The teacher
had a conversation with students on the meaning of slang and then showcased slang
materials for learners to employ. After a few days, one learner had a question for the
teacher about a slang phrase that she had listened to and sought urbandictionary.com,

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which is a resource presented by the teacher in the classroom. Even though anecdotal,
this is a sample of how supplying learners with materials to instruct them to learn slang
could be an efficient way of making independent language learners, as well as of

improving learners’ general English teaching and enthusiasm for learning English.

CONCLUSION

To sum up, the scholars spotted that slang is vital for English language learners to

acknowledge because of its ubiquity of slang in the work and slang environment in

assisting learners in establishing social connections, but educating slang in classrooms is

not a standard execution. Moreover, learners must be educated on approaches for

acquiring the meaning of slang and idioms to upgrade their English literacy. ESL teacher

assistance and motivation for studying slang might assist learners to establish their

English mastery and feel more attached to the English-speaking society where they

reside. Since vocabulary and culture are connected, ESL could learn idioms through

exposure to the target language. Finally, idioms and slang are also an element of language

and that of universal conversation. In my project, I highlighted this statement with the

research, but ESL learners rarely use metaphorical language in their communications.

Primarily, native speakers implement idioms in the context, though ESL speakers should

know idioms so importantly.

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1.

Cowie, Anthony, P.R.Mackin, I.R.Mc Caig. 1983. Oxford dictionary of current

idiomatic English. London: OUP.

2.

Colloquial. (2012). Dictionary.com. Lexico Publishing Group. Retrieved from

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/colloquial?s=t

3.

Dumas, B. K., & Lighter, J. (1978). Is slang a word for linguists? American Speech

53 (5), 14

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15.

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Fernando, C. Idioms and Idiomacity. Penguin Books, 1996

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Huang, J. (2004). Voices from Chinese students: Professors’ use of English affects

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