Language, Culture and Literature in the Modern Era: Pop-Culture References in Literature

Abstract

In a language classroom, the learner is expected to be familiar with the cultural aspect of the language. Pop-culture, specifically, is one of the most difficult subjects for language-learners to deal with especially in the modern era with the introduction of new symbolic forms of language such as memes, puns, vines, popculture references and expressions used by the youth . This symbolic language has found its way to literature where authors, such as Rick Riordan, use it to appeal to the youth. This paper aims to highlight the difficulties that arise when dealing with such literary texts and to explain these difficulties using illustrations. It also aims to provide possible solutions that will make the learning process a lot easier.