Abstract

The global spread of English and its role as a lingua franca coincide with its dominance in the media, creating new opportunities for informal exposure. While extramural English learning has been studied in Northern and Central Europe, Italy remains relatively underexplored. This study examines the informal acquisition of English slang among 148 Italian undergraduate students. Participants completed a questionnaire on media habits, a Vocabulary Size Test, a Slang Test assessing general and social-media-influenced slang, and an Oxford Placement Test to measure proficiency. Analyses in SPSS (v. 31) show that students are more familiar with social-media slang than general slang, and that slang knowledge correlates positively with both proficiency and vocabulary size. Findings underscore the role of digital media exposure and personal interest in supporting variety-specific L2 vocabulary acquisition, highlighting the potential of informal, media-driven learning in the Italian context.

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