Most teachers agree that teaching the culture of native speaking countries is valuable, but how MUCH should this be done? Do you have a percentage in mind or other way of saying how much of the course should be about culture?
Language is a part of a culture of society and studying the culture enables one to easily know the basis of the social meanings and usages of words and narratives of the language under study. But to study or learn it as a foreign language, it is not a necessity. As a matter of fact English as a foreign language is taught by local people of non-English speaking countries who have no cultural background of the English speaking people who themselves have different dialects and cultures today.
The American English is different from the British and the British is different from people of other continents. In most cases the language is studied for academic purposes, for reading English documents and communicating with the language to teach non-English subjects such as mathematics or physics which do not require any cultural flavor of the language. Teaching mathematics in English for instance requires less English, as it by itself has its own language system of abstraction.
Good question, dear Michael! I have written extensively on this issue. Please see list of publications under my name!
Dear Prof. Michael,
Good question. I believe learning about culture is one of the important aspects while learning a new language. Without having a strong hold over cultural context in which that language occurs, students can't master that specific foreign language. This is more important for the students who take foreign language learning class prior to moving to that country for higher studies or whatsoever.
Dear Micheal, this is dependent from aim of the English teaching. In the case if main iam of Engklisgh teaching is to give mainly techinical English, culture is less important. But in the other case learning of the English culture have a primary importnace in understang of the English!
I agree with all above. Interest in a foreign language often coincides with interest to the culture of the country in which this language is used since many people have a desire spend some time in this country. I think it's good idea to talk some time about culture, but without fanaticism and tell only about part of the culture, which can motivate students.
Language is a part of a culture of society and studying the culture enables one to easily know the basis of the social meanings and usages of words and narratives of the language under study. But to study or learn it as a foreign language, it is not a necessity. As a matter of fact English as a foreign language is taught by local people of non-English speaking countries who have no cultural background of the English speaking people who themselves have different dialects and cultures today.
The American English is different from the British and the British is different from people of other continents. In most cases the language is studied for academic purposes, for reading English documents and communicating with the language to teach non-English subjects such as mathematics or physics which do not require any cultural flavor of the language. Teaching mathematics in English for instance requires less English, as it by itself has its own language system of abstraction.
"culture of nature speaking countries" -- what does this mean? Do you mean culture of the target language country(ies)?
I don't think one can identify a percentage amount of time because it would vary from level to level and even day-to-day.
As learners progress to higher levels of competence it is important (and perhaps inevitable too) that they should acquire cultural knowledge relevant to the target language. For example, how can you fully understand idiomatic phrases arising from sport (such as 'ballpark figure', 'clear the next hurdle' or 'a sticky wicket') if you don't know anything about their origins? However, if you take more of an English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) view, cultural references (and opaque idiomatic expressions) are not so necessary for the learner.
John F. Wilhite -- I meant "native speaking." But maybe I was making an assumption. As Brian Poole alludes to, there is no single culture of native English speakers.
I see culture as important in two areas -- 1) in understanding idioms and cultural references, and 2) in stimulating motivation. How we handle these two things may be very different.
Dear Michael
I believe that culture and its manifestation i.e. literature are two basic cornerstones of the language and as you know the focus of universities and language institutes all around the world has shifted from Teaching a language to Learning a language now. In other words, we try to enable students to learn how to learn a langugae more effectively and this would be useless without its cultural bases. To me it is necessary to pay lots of attention to the cultural aspects of a language (feeling the language) when learning that language (other than ESP courses). Even in specialized courses when you deal with students of History, Archeology, Antropology,... you understand how culture is important.
Consider a learner learning English and dealing with the 4th of july, is it enough to just say: it is the independence day of US?
As a speaker of Persian majoring in English I fully understand that learning a language without its essence (cultural basis) is useless especially in the idiomatic expressions.
Dear All; I am agree to @ Prof. Taras Pasternak; Ofcourse if aim is technical language only than it can be taught without teaching English culture. But again advncement of any language again require the basic knowledge of culture too. Thanks n regards
language is a part of culture; so, i think there is no percentage or amount. sometimes when you are teaching in the classroom, there may be a situation when you have to introduce a specific cultural aspect in order to help learners to grasp the sense or content of what is presented. i mean teaching culture should be done in a proper context when learners feel they need to learn about it NOT in isolation
Given that most speakers of English are from non-English speaking countries, I think you a more appropriate question might be: what cultures would be the most useful to teach about?
Dear Prof. Michael,
I agree with our colleagues Mr. sarangi and Ms.Azam. language is a product of a particular culture(Mind-set). learning about the linguistic conventions of a speech community will contribute quite a lot to comprehend the L2 System, and will promote its teaching and learning. For instance, In Indian culture, cow is considered urbane whereas the English consider Lamb is urbane. The moon is masculine for indians whereas feminine for the english. Dear Sir , the salutation, is quite common for the English, but for indians it seems odd, using the word 'Dear' for unfamiliar people. instead they use Respected'. Learning these cultural considerations related to language, i feel, can help L2- teachers effective.
In my idea Ra'ad is totally right. when a teacher introduces a cultural point in the classroom, it may or may not be acceptable or even pleasant, but the point is that teaching does not mean imposing. we have to explain to the learners that this is a part of target culture, know it, but it's your decision to accept it or not.
perhaps dated, but still highly relevant, joshua Freeman reminds us that language learning is as much about decodification as it is about acclturation. In effect, learning about culture is integral to learning about language, particularly if you subscribe to the concept of communicative rather than structural competence
The thing is that we don't teach British or American Elnglish anymore. We just teach English language. I belive though that it is more about intercultural awareness and openness than teaching facts of any particular culture.
In teaching English lessons, any of the lessons that bother on the English culture should be exploited. While the teacher explains the cultural practice among the British, for instance, he/ she should also find out from his/ her students how the practice works in his culture. I was doing a course in 'Techniques of relation' in France. The lecturer for this course was a German. One of the movements,involving the use of the hands he emphasized, can never be accepted in a public forum in Ghana. The point is that, when introducing cultural aspects of the English language in class, it should take the form of a comparative study. When this happens the students will not only be following the British or American culture but they will also appreciate and accept the good practices in their own culture.
I thank all of you for your comments. I agree that we should be teaching broad inter-cultural understanding as part of our language courses. But how about cultural understanding as a vehicle for idiomatic English?
For example, in the United States, we have hundreds of sports metaphors that are in common usage, such as "it came out of left field" to mean that something was surprising and unexpected. Do we just teach what the idiom means, or teach the cultural reason behind it? What if the same idiom is not used in other English-speaking countries?
The question we have to ask ourselves is: can a language be taught independently of its culture? I would say no. It is not a question of idioms only, it is a question of how to behave in that language as well. I cannot imagine teaching English without referring to topics such as literature, history, art, sports, etc. However, it all depends on the teaching context, the aim of learning the language, students' background, educational policy, among others. I cannot give you a quantitative estimate of the amount of culture that should be included. I would also stress the importance of contrasting the two languages and the two cultures.
In case of English, "language" does not equal "culture" any more (e.g. Indian, Pakistani cases) I'd like to define the language as a means for communication as many people, which automatically produces a question: "What are you learning the language for?" that will hopefully answer your question.
Culture is an additional factor to understand the use of language, but do not forget lingüísitc work at all.
Murat -- Dörnyei said that people who are best motivated to learn English imagine themselves in the future participating in a metropolitan international culture. Many of the people in this international culture use English as a second or foreign language.
That suggests that it is not only the cultures of English-speaking countries that students need to know about...but that makes the question of culture even more complex.
I think the cultural aspect is only appearing with higher depth of learning and purpose of your studies.To use english as scientific communication tool does not need cultural occupation.
I agree with all who try to differ the many "english" cultures depending on the place where you learn, the local cultural surrounding.
If you try to read english literature or you study this language you of course must get thorough knowledges of the culture.
Surely culture cannot be separated from language. What I mean is that culture cannot be the sole issue to be discussed here, and the aim of learning English may play the decisive role in determining 'how much culture?' should be taught intentionally. Otherwise the students are exposed to the culture
my answer has been cut for some reason. ...
Otherwise the students are exposed to the culture in any case, through the teacher or the materials presented. For someone who will live in a country where English is the first language, culture will definitely be the top priority.
In his second response you use the concept of culture in a sense different of your first question.
I think it is useful to know the culture of a language in its context.
But now you use it in a sense of international culture or to learn English by an international interesest not only as a lingúistic interest.
The point of view of the learner is different.
It depends on the aspects of language that you are teaching and also the students' level of proficiency. Greetings, for example, are related to culture. If you don't go into specifics, they may be taught without teaching the culture of the native speaking countries. Things may get complicated especially to the less proficient learners if you start talking about the greetings used by the different social class in Britain, America, etc- not to mention pop culture and others.
The way you use your language strongly depends on your cultural background. That's why, I think, when learning/teaching a foreign language, you can't help but also learn/teach the cultural context it was generated from.
Laura -- I think that you are exactly correct that it depends on the goals and objectives for the class. These are what should drive the content.
I think that cultural understanding has multiple roles in language learning. It can help people understand idioms, it can increase motivation for studying the language, and it can help provide an alternative to rote memorization lesson plans.
That implies that different classes, with different goals, may have different levels of culture, but I think that it should never be left out completely. Even for beginners, measured amounts of cultural information can help make the learning interesting and help the students envision themselves in the future using the language effectively. But I think that even for beginners, learning activities should have some kind of cultural context.
I work with colleagues in Asia where both the teachers and the students are Chinese native speakers. Understanding and presenting American or UK culture can be very difficult and time consuming, because they are not cultural insiders. So many of the teachers tend to avoid questions about culture. :-/
It is a good question, but there is no one right answer or formula to suggest as a solution. It depends on many things, including purpose of learning, content and context, and many others. The words we say (or write) refer to common experience or knowledge of the world that people share in that linguistic community. Words also reflect the speaker's (or writer's) identity - attitudes, beliefs, norms, and point of view. In all cases, language expresses, embodies and symbolizes cultural reality. When I taught English in Ukraine, culture (American or British) was infused into every lesson. For beginners, it starts with explaining a very simple greeting, such as "How are you?" or "How do you do?" I have been teaching in the United States for more than ten years now and find myself explaining linguistic signs in light of cultural perspectives to both native and non-native speakers quite often, too.
A few years ago, my colleague and I wrote an article that addresses your question to some extent, and here is the reference:
Chamberlin-Quinlisk,C.R. & Senyshyn, R. (2012). Language teaching and intercultural education: Making critical connections. Intercultural Education, 23, 15-23.
Culture and language are inseparable. By teaching a foreign language, you develop intercultural communicative competences (sociolinguistic, pragmatic competences - requests, advise, refusal, politeness, impoliteness, greetings, offers, etc.; non-verbal - greetings, gestures, mimics, eye contact, etc; socio-cultural knowledge - traditions, food, housing, habits, etc). When ever appropriate, these aspects need to be developed. Comparing cultures with one's own and other cultures is advisable to develop intercultural awareness and tolerance. Stereotypes should be avoided. :)
Hi Michael,
I would say that quantifying the teaching of culture in the foreign language classroom is problematic. If the teacher is a native speaker than even the way the instructors talks, behaves, communicates with the students is already teaching the target culture because the students would make some mental connections (perhaps, relying on the existing stereotypes) with the target language culture through observing their teacher.
As to the teaching of the idioms, those definitely must be a part of foreign language education since the beginner level. And also sayings, proverbs and even slogans, all of which Byram and Kramsch (2008) recognize as "lieu de mémoire" for the target language culture.
From my experience of teaching Russian the students are very receptive to the cultural information presented this way. From a pedagogical perspective, the learners not only acquire linguistics knowledge (e.g., the dictionary meaning of the words or new grammatical structures) but they also get a chance to understand social and cultural values embedded in the language. This makes learning a foreign language more meaningful and the newly-acquired knowledge more valuable.
In teaching of culture so much depends on the language educator and his/her ability to identify the ways (economical, if needs be) to saturate the teaching with cultural information.
Reference
Byram, Katra & Claire Kramsch (2008), “Why is it so difficult to teach language as culture?”, The German Quarterly, 81(1):20–34. doi: 10.2307/27676139
And this is my own paper that touches on the issue of teaching culture in the foreign language classroom (pp.76-77)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270564602_Il_Bel_Paese_as_seen_from_Malaysia_Language_learners%27_stereotypical_representations_of_Italy
Wish you success in your academic endeavours!
Article Il Bel Paese as seen from Malaysia: Language learners' stere...
Teaching Russian as a Foreign language in Russia is quite different from teaching the same in the USA. Cultural information is acquied not only in class but from everyday life experience. Sometimes life presents examlpes which differ from those postulated in books. The only way is: "to find" the human values which are recognized by all foreign students in the group; to learn as more as possible about the native culture of your students; to comment on cultural issues in countries giving positive assessment. 1\3 of the time is enough for this work despite the length of the teaching course. It may be 45 min or 640 hours.
The answer to question raised by dear Michael is apparently answered. But my question is "how can we acquaint language learners with the TL culture when it is sometimes frown upon in some countries?". I mean "what features of the TL culture are the most essential which are at the same time harmless to the SL culture?". This topic becomes more important when the language learners are very young.
I hope one day all countries respect each others' cultures and have a mutual understanding of them. Nevertheless, this is the case in some FL contexts.
Dear Sir or Madam,
If I assume correctly that by ‘culture’ you mean the culture of the Anglophone countries, i.e. The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, etc. I have to say that nowadays the teaching of the Anglophone Culture has become less central than before. One of the reasons is that English is now the world’s Lingua Franca (foreign language speakers of English are three times as many as native speakers). Therefore we have to ask ‘Whose culture?’ The teaching of culture, of course, as a general domain and I mean by that general culture is still important as content (in reading, for example) but people do not have to include Anglo-American culture, or Anglophone culture as a subject matter in teaching English as a Foreign Language. I would rather stress Anglo-American literature as a mean to talk about culture for the purpose of understanding the artistic expression of that culture, but in the same sense we will also need to speak of the culture of the more than a hundred countries where English is spoken as a foreign language. Therefore, I think literature would be one answer to this question. How much? It depends on the emphasis, the skills involved, the level, etc.
My five cents
I also think knowing the names of the states or main cities of the TL as well as its famous arts does not hurt. Nevertheless, if "world Englishes" is now a widely accepted concept, materials developers should start including more multi-nationally oriented texts in ELT textbooks. Unfortunately the governments of some countries are rather paranoid, but if they see English belongs to all countries, as there was a time Arabic was the lingua franca in Islamic countries, they may become more receptive...!
My dear Profs at UBC would say " what culture, whose culture? Culture does not really exist it's a discursive construct!!!!" Especially the poststructuralist ones. Indeed, whose English is it in the first place? In North America, the "formerly" owner of English the Anglo Culture is diminishing rapidly. Good or bad, globalisation mixes up cultures in this continent and slowly but surely in the others. How closely culture is related to its spoken and unspoken language is being rapidly forgotten and teaching English is step by step being left to non-native speaker teachers (like myself!), and they might not even be aware of Anglo culture ! I find it sad, many immigrants are very happy for this fact for sure :)
Hi, professor
Well, from my point of view, any interesting topic related to culture could be convenient and beneficial for the students in English classes. It is very useful to think in English just to communicate ideas and be very creative for them to imagine things but they can not invent phrases or words.
Remember that the learning process depends on the teacher and the group of students. So, you can take 5 minutes in each class prior a planed topic or, you can develop a class based on questions about culture and you do not want to stop your students' motivation.
For instance, how could you teach the students the proverb ¨when in Rome , do as the Romans do¨¨
In language teaching nothing is white or black, I believe that there is a big grey area in between.
So, teaching culture is in need if you want to connect the language to the area that is spoken and to explain the differences from your mother tongue. Sometimes teachers say that good knowledge of L2 is necessary if you want to move on step 2 - teaching culture. On the other hand, it is possible to motivate students to learn the language if they like the L2 culture.
It helps with my students (university students of class teacher education and preschool teacher education). In my experience, teaching culture helps a lot in understanding both the language and customs of a target country and motivates students to find more information on their own. For example, when I explain how is something said or done in England (I completed my MA there) my students listen to me with great attention and they ask for more of this talk. When I gave them a task to prepare a Power Point presentation in English and to choose a topic, they prepared the presentation with the title Famous Cities in England. This is a proof that speaking about the target culture can do more good than harm. Bare in mind that I speak about university level of students.
Best regards,
Ivana
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