Conference Paper

STUDENTS' USE OF SLANG AND ITS IMPACT ON FORMAL COMMUNICATION IN ACADEMIC SETTINGS: A CASE STUDY OF FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC, ILARO

This study investigates the presence of slang in students' speech at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro (FPI), Ogun State, Nigeria and its effect on students' ability to communicate formally. The study was conducted in a mixed-methods design that involved analyses of the 320 questionnaires completed by respondents from six departments, classroom observations, and a systematic analysis of students' written scripts. The study identified and classified common slang expressions currently used by the respondents of FPI and their impact on the formal academic writing and oral presentation of the students as they include some slang expressions from various digital platforms, the street slang of the Nigerian people and the slang acquired from their campus. Results show that 87.5% of sampled students reported using slang every day and 64.3% of them reported using slang unintentionally in their examination scripts and formal reports. The study also reveals a statistically significant negative correlation (r = −0.61; p < 0.05) between the scores of formal communication proficiency and the slang-usage scores. Pedagogical implications and the recommendations for interventions are discussed, including structured language awareness programmes and genre-based writing instruction. Keywords: slang, formal communication, academic language, Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, code-switching, language attrition.