3. Make up a top ten list of stereotypes relating to teachers and teaching.

UNIT 5

What are pedagogical taboos?

THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES

The Characteristics of Taboos

Types of Taboos

Taboo is strongly forbidden by social custom because it is offensive and may cause social discomfort. Some words or behaviors are taboos in English teaching. The characteristics of taboos in English teaching are as follows.

First, taboo is a general phenomenon of linguistics in human cultural society. There are certain rude and bias words that are taboos in class. Noticing the phenomenon of taboo is the main principle of teaching methodology. Secondly, taboo is national. As every nation has its own characteristics in culture, the features of taboos are diverse. English teachers are required to improve their sensitivity to the cultural differences and make a good combination of language teaching.

Thirdly, taboo is modern and dynamic. Therefore, English teachers should consider that sexual topics are still improper in most conversations, especially in mixed classes with boy and girl students. If they must be mentioned, the terms should be euphemistic ones. English teaching is not only a process of teaching language system itself, but also of teaching its culture. Taboos in a language reflect a part of culture. It is essential to teach English language from an intercultural perspective, and to deal with the phenomenon of linguistic taboo. 

Talking about taboos in general can also be tricky! Here are some general actions and gestures to avoid as an ESL teacher in a multicultural class: swearing, touching students, eating or chewing gum in class, embarrassing students, pointing, holding eye contact for a long period of time, standing very close to a student.

Teaching Taboos : Unconventional Resources for the Rhetoric Classroom

There have been discovered a number of advantages, both practical and personal, associated with the teaching of taboos in class. In the first place, controversial topics such as taboos are quite productive in terms of allowing students to practise the kinds of skills that we teach in the rhetoric classroom. The challenging nature of a unit on taboos encourages students to learn to apply critical thinking skills to academic processes like reading, composition, argumentation, revision, and research presentation.

Also, readings on taboo subject matter are often missing from both the typical rhetoric anthology and the syllabi of our students' other coursework. The subject matter of our particular units on race and gender are also especially suited to the classroom because they help to drive home to students that the ways in which our words are used, and the manner in which we intellectually frame the objects of our discourse, matter. Language taboos are all about who gets to say what and how they can

Once students are convinced that taboos are culturally constructed, it is worthwhile to transition to thinking about the consequences that such taboos have for the lives of real people.

Finally, teaching taboos has brought about some personal benefits for our students that we did not expect. For many of our students, writing is a rather scary proposition. Facing the blank page or the empty screen is something they dread. However, students have expressed to us that our taboo units helped them to feel as though they “broke the ice.” Students felt that, once they discovered that they were capable of writing a paper about such uncomfortable subjects, more conventional assignments seemed easier.

Of course, there are those who have argued that politics and controversy have no place in the classroom. One worry is that a class that is focused on such issues will morph into a platform from which teachers can instill their own political beliefs into their students. We agree that such a classroom structure in which the teacher “resolves” contentious issues by telling students what they should or should not think is both totally inappropriate and contrary to the mission of rhetoric instruction. It is our belief that this potential problem can be avoided if proper care is taken to frame out for students the purpose for which the taboo is being evoked. So long as we continually and consistently attach every reading and every activity to a particular scholarly practice that we expect the students to attempt, we can escape the trap of inculcating our students with our own viewpoints.

READING AND DISCUSSING