Linguistic taboos and swear words in EFL learning and teaching: an empirical study

Abstract

A taboo word is a word that should be avoided because it is considered to be wrong, embarrassing or unpleasant (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). A swear word is a word that is also considered rude and offensive according to the Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.). Despite the negative emotional features that these words might have, they are very present in everyday life. However, taboo and swear words are not present in the classroom curriculum as revealed by Holster (2005) who gathered the opinions and attitudes of ESL teachers towards teaching taboo or swear words in the classroom and showed that the majority of the instructors did not address them in that context. Consequently, L2 speakers do not generally acquire these words in ESL classrooms.

Yet, these words need to be taught to students for two main reasons. Firstly, the students might feel the need to use them in many situations such as socialising with native speakers and expressing their feelings. Secondly, swear words and taboo words (usually referred to under the term S-T words) have a very strong emotional force and L2 speakers might not be aware of their weight resulting in possible misunderstandings with native speakers.

The main goal of this paper is to gather information about the knowledge and attitudes of EFL students towards S-T words in their L1 and English. In order to do so, I conducted a study in which I analysed the responses of 320 high school EFL students in the Basque Autonomous Community regarding S-T words in English, Basque and Spanish. The study showed that participants with higher proficiency in English were more aware of the consequences of using S-T words and their emotional force in the L1 than in the L2. It was also noticeable that S-T words in English were mostly learned with friends, on social media, watching TV and listening to music. The paper concludes with some practical materials to work on S-T words in the classroom and a study plan based on Kaduce and Metzger (2019).