Uncertainty and reluctance in teaching taboo language: a case study of an experienced teacher of English as an additional language

Despite its ubiquitous employment by users of English to achieve authentic communicative goals, taboo language has received little attention in the education literature. Even less focus has been placed on such language in English language teaching - specifically, in teaching English as an Additional Language (EAL). Given the multiplicity of communicative struggles experienced by EAL learners surrounding the use of taboo language in authentic communication, meaningful consideration of this aspect can be seen as crucial in EAL instruction. Classroom learning could prepare learners for navigation and negotiation of taboo language use they will inevitably encounter in social interactions in target language communities of practice. However, EAL teachers' uncertainty or reluctance to introduce taboo language in classroom instruction is a key impediment in developing learners' sociocultural knowledge regarding such language use. We foreground one case of such uncertainty and reluctance surrounding the introduction of taboo language in EAL instruction derived as interview data from an experienced EAL teacher.

Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah Bernhardt (born Sara-Marie-Henriette Bernard, 1844-1923) is the most famous French actress of the late nineteenth century. Celebrated for her golden voice and for the sinuous flow of her slender figure on stage, she was also a theatre manager, author, sculptor, painter, and a clever businesswoman. She developed and nurtured global fame in an era when the popular press facilitated international renown. Print media as well as the emerging phonograph and film industries enabled Bernhardt to cultivate and develop her celebrity into the early twentieth century, appealing to new publics and audiences. During the First World War she became a French porte-parole for the Allied cause, appearing on stage and in a propaganda film, as well as in demonstrations and events in support of Allied troops across France and America. When Bernhardt died in 1923 at the age of 78, millions crowded the streets to watch her funeral cortège pass through Paris. This essay explores her achievements in her lifetime.

Celebrating transgressive celebrity : Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah Bernhardt (born Sara-Marie-Henriette Bernard, 1844-1923) was the most famous actress of the late nineteenth century. Celebrated for her golden voice, for her use of the spiral as the building block for movement on the theatrical stage, for an innovative use of costume and jewellery, for her patronage emerging artists, and for the business acumen that saw her fast become a household name across the globe, she was the progenitor of celebrity as we know it today. This article explores the ways in which her achievements can be considered 'dangerous' today.