Presentation Schedule
Students’ Attitudes Towards Learning English Profanity (101605)
Session Chair: Karen Chung-chien Chang
Saturday, 7 February 2026 13:00
Session: Session 3
Room: Opal 106 (Level 1)
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Japanese students studying English as a foreign language are intentionally never taught the meaning or use of taboo words. This deliberate oversight might not be in the students’ best interests because ignoring profanity in the classroom creates a large blind spot in their productive and receptive vocabulary and puts them at a linguistic disadvantage in real-world communication. Additionally, data confirms that most Japanese university students that were surveyed for this research want to learn the meaning of profanity. This study’s central research question asked whether university students in Japan want to understand and use profanity. Survey responses (n = 173) revealed that while the majority of students wanted to learn the meaning of English profanity, far fewer wanted to learn how to use it actively. Chi-square tests showed that students’ interest in learning profanity was linked to their cultural views, their comfort level with hearing profanity, and their beliefs about whether it should be part of ESL teaching. In contrast, background factors such as gender, age, and proficiency level were not related. This suggests that students see profanity mainly as part of cultural and pragmatic understanding, rather than as something they want to actively use in communication.
Authors:
Joel Weinberg, Meiji University, Japan
About the Presenter(s)
Mr Joel Weinberg is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Meiji University in Japan
See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule
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