Cultural taboos in the German foreign language classroom : a multimodal investigation

Abstract

The teaching of culture and taboos has always been an issue when teaching a foreign language, with those stating that language should be taught separately and others relating language learning as part and parcel with the context it originates from. Indeed, this study investigates to what extent cultural taboos are addressed in the classrooms on the island of Malta, when teaching German as a foreign language (GFL). At the same time it seeks to find out whether culture and taboos are to be taught in class and to what extent. For this reason, eight teachers of German teaching at the same college were selected and semi-structured interviews were conducted. This qualitative approach led to a thematic analysis where a number of themes were brought out. Throughout the interviews teachers outline which culture elements in the German culture are considered to be taboos and which of these taboos are to be discussed in class or not. Consequently, the main finding of this research was that taboos do exist in the German culture but they are still mentioned in the GFL classroom. This said, teachers do not go into detail. They believe that when learning a foreign language, it cannot be separated from its own culture as it is important to have a context. In fact, although not part of the syllabus, cultural aspects are addressed in the classroom. As for taboos, there is still the fear to address these, however time is making them change perspective, especially knowing that media has revolutionized the way we view things. Moreover, they call for better addressing of these topics in textbooks and also ask for the syllabus to cater for these aspects so that proper timing could be allocated. Relating to this, the study concludes with giving suggestions on how to incorporate cultural and taboo aspects within the classroom, allowing the students to be motivated. Finally, limitations to the study and recommendations for further research are outlined at the end.