Taboo language and the ESL learner: An ethnographic study

Abstract

Taboo language (essentially 'bad' language) is a fixture of many aspects of contemporary English communication. Yet frank discussions regarding this topic are typically absent from ESL (English Second Language) classrooms. This ethnographic study, guided by a conceptual framework layering Bourdieu's Theory of Practice with insights from a multiple literacies perspective, seeks to understand something of the complex interplay of ESL learner/user identities and power relationships they experience as they relate to English taboo language. Findings indicate that taboo language literacy practices are taken up in hybrid and sometimes contradictory ways as ESL learners/users cross linguistic and cultural boundaries. Identities-in-transition become sites of tension and struggle, situated within the structures of symbolic domination, as ESL learners/users resist and appropriate different literacy practices in strategic struggles for legitimacy and symbolic power. By raising awareness of the social implications of taboo language, this research encourages ESL praxis more in tune with the identities and empowerment of ESL learners.