How to Integrate Cultural Awareness and Understanding into English Language Teaching
Transcription
How to Integrate Cultural Awareness and Understanding into English Language Teaching
วารสารวิชาการศิลปศาสตรประยุกต How to Integrate Cultural Awareness and Understanding into English Language Teaching Rosukhon Swatevacharkul, Ph.D. 1 Abstract Culture is a crucial concept in language teaching; therefore, culture and language cannot be separated from each other. This paper therefore aims to explore the concept of culture and the relationship between language and culture. Cultural awareness, which is necessary for effective language learning, is also discussed. Integration of cultural awareness and understanding into English language teaching is explored in detail, followed by a brief discussion about cultural assessment. Keywords: Assessment, Awareness, Culture, Integration, Language Culture Culture is defined differently by many scholars. Brown [1] defines culture as a way of life. People exist, think, feel, and relate to others within the context of culture. "It is the 'glue' that binds a group of people together" (p.163). In addition, culture can be defined as "the ideas, customs, skills, arts, and tools that characterise a given group of people in a given period of time" (p.177). According to Seelye [2], culture is "the systemic, rather arbitrary, more or less coherent, group-invented, and group-shared creed from the past that defines the shape of 'reality', and assigns the sense and worth of things…" (p.23). In terms of reality, Brown [3] argues that it is likely that we perceive "reality" within our own cultural context; therefore, we tend to believe that our "reality" is the correct perception. Based on these definitions, culture clearly involves both behaviour and perceptions. In fact, Seelye [4] states that in a broad concept, culture involves all aspects of human life. Language and Culture According to Kumaravadivelu [5], language is in every aspect of human experience, and it creates and 1 reflectively represents that experience. It is not possible to imagine human life without language. As supported by Mitchell and Myles [6], language and culture have an interdependent relationship. "Language and culture are not separate, but are acquired together, with each providing support for the development of the other" (p. 235). However, in relation to language teaching, Bennett [7] points out that for many students and some teachers, language is viewed as a tool for communication. It is a method that is used by human to indicate the objects and ideas. Therefore, language is just a set of words with rules. Foreign or second language learning is then a process of getting the same meaning by substituting words and rules. Learning or thinking about language learning in this way causes learners to become a "fluent fool", someone who speaks a foreign language well but does not understand social or philosophical issues of that language. These people may encounter a problem when they are in a social situation that they are not able to understand an event well enough to avoid any unpleasant behaviour. In addition, these people may have a negative attitude towards the native speakers of a particular language because they lack English Language Instructor, Language Institute, Dhurakij Pundit University. Telephone number 0-2954-7300-29, E-mail address: [email protected] 50 l กรกฎาคม-ธันวาคม 2552 วารสารวิชาการศิลปศาสตรประยุกต the understanding of the culture of the native speakers. Bennett therefore strongly suggests that it is necessary to understand more deeply and completely the cultural contents and dimensions of the language in order not to be a fluent fool. Bennett argues that language is not only a communication tool, but it also guides us how to understand concepts and how we experience reality. It can be said that if we do not understand other people's culture well enough, our communication with them may be unsuccessful. This leads to a notion of language -- a two-edged sword -- in the view of Fantini [8]. Language includes only people who share the system while others who do not are excluded. In other words, language -- words or sentences expressed -- can be understood only by people who belong to the same group or culture. Those who are not in the same culture cannot understand that language. Language is culturally filtered and originated [2]; culture and thoughts can be conveyed by a language. Therefore, different languages reflect different cultures. The importance of understanding the culture of other people is reinforced for successful communication. The concept of 'intercultural competence' [8] emerges as a result. In foreign language learning, apart from an ability to use a language for successful communication as per the concept of "communication competence", it is imperative for learners to possess "intercultural competence". This is the case particularly for the English language, which is used for communication across cultures [8]. People need to know, be aware of, and understand cultures of other people. They at least need to recognise differences among cultures or in a better case can compare them with their own cultures. Normally, people who always live in their own culture and only speak their own native language do not realise that their behaviour is culturally-induced and are not aware of their own culture value. This is because they never have a chance to know about other people's cultures in order to recognise any differences. This explanation is in line with the frequent quote among interculturalists: "If you want to know about water, don't ask a goldfish" (p.13) [8]. A goldfish has never experienced living in a wide river. Cultural Awareness and Understanding In the last decade, the concept of culture has become very popular and important in language teaching [9] and second language teaching [3] because culture is a part of a language, and language is a part of a culture. They cannot be separated [3]. Learning a language means learning a culture. As pointed out by Seelye [4], it is necessary to understand the way of life or culture of foreign people in order to survive in the world full of conflicting ideas and value systems, which excludes those with different ideas. However, to enter into another culture, we need to know the language of that culture. It can be said that language acts as a gateway to culture. Language and culture are therefore interrelated. Maley [9] points out that to promote language learning is to raise cultural awareness. Therefore, it is worthwhile exploring the definitions of cultural awareness. According to Byram et al. [10], the concept of cultural awareness is regarded as the key innovation of the national curriculum in England and Wales. The term "cultural awareness" is defined as "the promotion of the understanding of and respect for other cultures (…) one of the most important aims of modern language studies" (p.36) [11] cited in Byram et al., (p. 75) [10]. In fact, cultural awareness signifies understanding. The term "cultural awareness" is also described by Tomalin and Stempleski [12] as "sensitivity to the impact of culturally-induced behaviour on language use and communication" (p. 5). There are three qualities concerning cultural awareness suggested by Tomalin and Stempleski, that is, กรกฎาคม-ธันวาคม 2552 l 51 วารสารวิชาการศิลปศาสตรประยุกต 1. Awareness of our behaviour influenced by our cultures. 2. Awareness of the others' behaviour influenced by their own cultures. 3. Ability to explain our own cultural point of view. It is clear that when we talk about cultural awareness, we do not mean only our culture, but also other people's culture. A lack of cultural awareness which is essential to language learning will definitely cause miscommunication. Therefore, cultural awareness raising is crucial because it helps promote language learning and communication success. This clearly reflects the relationship between language and cultural awareness, which can be concretely illustrated and concluded by this quote: A growing awareness of the culture of the people who speak the language of study is intrinsic to the learning of it …Without the cultural dimension, successful communication is often difficult. … Comparison between the learner's own way of life and that of the other language community are an essential means to better understanding of both (p.37) [11] cited in Byram et al. (p.75) [10]. Integration of Cultural Awareness and Understanding into English Language Teaching Many scholars in the field of culture teaching support a diverse range of how to integrate culture into English language teaching or how to teach culture. Lafayette [13], cited in Hadley [14], suggests that a simple, direct approach that makes use of existing content and practice be required in the teaching of culture. Students should acquire facts or basic information necessary for the comprehension of most cultural concepts. He groups 13 goal statements into five categories to suggest what students should know: 1) knowledge of formal or "high" culture such as major geographical monuments, historical events, 52 l กรกฎาคม-ธันวาคม 2552 institutions and arts; 2) knowledge of everyday well-known culture; 3) affective objectives such as values of different people and societies; 4) multicultural objectives plus the understandings of the culture of people living in the United States and non-European people who speak English around the world; and 5) process objectives such as evaluation of cultural statement validity. Seelye [2] points out that a teacher of English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) or a foreign language teacher needs to identify instructional goals of the task that aims to develop student skills in the cultural contexts to achieve intercultural communicative competence. Seelye provides six examples of the instructional goals as follows: Goal 1-- Interest Students exhibit curiosity about another culture and empathy towards members of that culture. Goal 2 -- Who Students recognise that role expectations and other social factors such as age, sex, social class, religion, ethnicity, and place of residence have an effect on people's behaviour and the way they speak. Goal 3 -- What Students realise that successful communication is resulted from an understanding of images conditioned by the cultures of those people when they think, act and react to people or events around them. Goal 4 -- Where and When Students recognise that people's behaviour is directed by the situational factors in crucial ways. Goal 5 -- Why Students understand that people employ choices of actions allowed in their society to act the way they do to fulfill their physical and psychological needs. Their need for satisfaction is supported by their cultural patterns. Goal 6 -- Exploration Students can assess a generalisation about a particular culture in terms of supporting evidence, วารสารวิชาการศิลปศาสตรประยุกต and possess the skills necessary to locate and organise information regarding culture from various sources. In brief, these goals assist the students to develop interest in who in a given culture did what, where and when, and why. It is suggested that these goals be a part of any language programmes that have an objective to enhance intercultural communication. Tomalin and Stempleski [12] strongly recommend that these goals should be considered when a lesson plan is prepared, and integrated into these practical teaching principles: 1. Use the language taught as a means to access the culture. 2. Incorporate the study of cultural behaviour in each lesson. 3. Aim that students achieve socio-economic competence which they feel is needed. 4. Aim that students of all levels understand cross-cultural dimensions: being aware of their own culture and the English language culture. 5. Realise that behaviour cannot be changed due to a teaching of culture, but only the awareness and tolerance of the cultural influences have an effect on everyone's behaviour. The fifth principle is a practically good justification of the importance of cultural awareness raising. However, Ryffel [15] warns that incorporating culture learning activities for language education programmes does not only mean adding such activities in a lesson plan. It is necessary to take two important things into account, i.e., structure and strategies. First, activities must be carefully structured. Activities do not mean only fun or meaningless games. Rather, they need to realise emotional reaction of both students and teachers. Meaningful learning must occur from the activities. Second, activities must be adapted by applying culturally sensitive strategies, which can help reduce discomfort and anxiety of the students. Safe learning environment must be established to comfort the students. This affective side of culture instruction is supported by Brown [3] who states that it is essential that the teachers be sensitive to the emotional aspect of the students when teaching a foreign or "alien" language. The teachers need to use techniques that promote cultural awareness and understanding. According to Brown [3], role-play can be used to help students feel more comfortable with cultural problems. Besides a promotion of oral communication, role-play promotes cross-cultural dialogues among students. Role-play can also be employed effectively with students of any proficiency level [14]. However, since culture is a sensitive issue, Ryffel [15] points out that there are two major concerns about learning activities that are culturally sensitive, i.e., choices of the activities, and the adaptation and use of the activities. It is noted that the adaptation of the activities has already been touched upon to some extent earlier. However, it is explored more in detail: 1. Choices of activities When choosing the activities, the teacher should consider the following: Logistics: time constraints, space limitations and materials. Aims and nature: objectives of the topic, risk level and balance with other kinds of activities. Students: language level, cultural adjustment stage, preferred learning styles, and classroom expectations. Teachers: teacher-student relationship, level of comfort with culture-learning activities and experience. 2. Adaptation and use of activities After the selection of the culture activities, consideration of how to adapt and use them will be the next step. The following are the criteria: Instruction: Be clear and consistent, use clear language and give examples or models, check whether students understand the directions. l l l l l กรกฎาคม-ธันวาคม 2552 l 53 วารสารวิชาการศิลปศาสตรประยุกต Pacing: Reduce anxiety by having set routines, do the activity slowly and step-by-step. Teacher participation or intervention: Participate in the activity and help students as deemed necessary; however, this should be done in a balanced manner. Be patient with students' silence. Grouping: Be careful when assigning students into groups. In some cultures, people with different hierarchical levels do not work together. Let them organise their groups in case of uncertainty. This is a particularly effective guideline for teaching adult learners. Student participation: Some activities such as role-play and simulations contain high degrees of risk because of uncertainty. Solution can be obtained by having a small group take responsibility for the role or task rather than an individual student. Learning preferences: Use a variety of tasks to serve all learning styles of different students. Have them work alone or in group. Discussion: Use open-ended questions, not yes-no questions to promote discussion except with low proficiency level students. Student as information source: Value students' ideas and have them realise that by writing their ideas on board, copying and distributing them to the class. Teacher as information source: Be willing to take a more traditional role of teacher as a source of information at the beginning by giving short lectures, guidance and input; however, gradually reduce this type of role over time. Some strategies for teaching culture are also given by Hadley [14] for non-native speakers of the target language, which can be applied for non-native English teachers: l l l l l l l l l l l l 54 l กรกฎาคม-ธันวาคม 2552 l The lecture: It is the most common and effective technique if the teacher is careful to deliver a short lecture; motivate students with visuals, realia and others related to personal experience; emphasise some specific aspects of cultural experience, allow students to take notes; and use follow-up techniques in case of the use of English to ask questions, practise new vocabulary, or structure. Native informants: The classroom teacher can use native informants as a valuable resource both for current information about English and language models. Audiotaped interviews: Informal interview with a native speaker can provide information about the English culture. Teachers can interview native speakers in their community and record informal conversation on topics relevant to the cultural course materials. It is suggested that language used should be at the appropriate level of the students. Videotaped interviews/Observational dialogues: Videotaped interviews and role-plays in different situations are very effective for teaching culture because it gives natural, authentic language exchanges. Non-verbal information can be provided as well. From the videotaped interviews, students can learn language and gesture conventionally used in various situations. Other important cultural features can be learned as well such as appropriate social distance, eye contact, and others. Videotapes showing "survival situation", such as oral interviews, which is good for listening comprehension and culture learning, are practically useful for beginning and intermediate language classes. Reading and realia for cross-cultural understanding: Usually students bring with them their existing cultural knowledge and experi- วารสารวิชาการศิลปศาสตรประยุกต ence from their native language [16] or the technical term "cultural schemata" [14]. When reading, students will try to interpret the texts by using their native-language cultural schemata which can cause danger for their understanding of the texts if their cultural schemata are different from those presented in English texts. Therefore, to solve this problem, Byrnes [17], cited in Hadley [14], suggests that firstly, teachers use the English texts about the English culture that are not too much different from the reality of the students' native language or their own cultural experiences. Secondly, as a starting point, students may learn from English texts about some aspects of their own native culture, with which they are familiar. In addition, regarding topic or theme, Byrnes suggests: 1) reading about an aspect of students' own culture in their language; 2) reading about the same thing as suggested in item 1, but this time in English and from the perspective of the English culture; 3) reading about the same theme or topic in the English culture and in the students' native language; 4) reading about the English culture in English. By reading different texts on the same topic but from different cultural perspectives, students can start to understand how culture may be different in two contexts and how attitudes may differ. Hadley [14] also recommends some common teaching techniques to help students understand behaviour that is culturally conditioned. Students should be able to compare and contrast the behaviour in their home and English cultures. The activities are as follows: Culture capsule: It is a short description of one or two paragraphs long. It shows at least one difference between the native culture and English. Culture capsules can be written by l l l l l teachers or students or found from commercial sources. Culture cluster: It consists of about three culture capsules that develop related topics and one half an hour simulation that integrates the information in the capsules and dramatises it through a skit or situational role-play. Decreasing stereotypic perceptions: Stereotypes are very dangerous if they cause barriers to understanding and a development of empathy. It is unfair if the cultural generalisation is based on only the behaviour of one person from that culture. Therefore, students should be helped to understand the unfair generalisations about people from other cultures. There is a diverse range of activities for this purpose. One interesting example is using advertisements. Mantle-Bromley [18] cited in Hadley [14], suggests that students can make a discussion on how well or poorly the advertisements represent people of the culture, and then try to understand what causes stereotypes, how they exist, and why it is difficult to get rid of them. Using proverbs: According to Richmond [19] cited in Hadley [14], proverbs can give crucial insights about the way of life of people. Proverbs are therefore appropriate for teaching culture; however, it is recommended that proficiency levels should be judged. Moreover, the categorisation of the proverbs in terms of similar concepts in the students' native language should be done so that students can relate to them accurately. Humour as a component of culture: Humour can be used to explore cross-cultural differences although it is difficult to understand a foreign culture's humour. Morain [20], cited in Hadley [14], suggests several ways to integrate humour into the foreign language instruction. Teachers กรกฎาคม-ธันวาคม 2552 l 55 วารสารวิชาการศิลปศาสตรประยุกต should try to 1) provide students with authentic examples of cartoons, jokes, puns, and other forms of humour; 2) teach students about the conventions of humour in English; 3) help students understand the cartoon scripts or jokes; and 4) provide opportunities for students to share humour from the English culture with one another. There is one more resource for cultural teaching i.e. the Internet. Hadley [14] states that without doubt technology can strongly affect language teaching both now and in the future since it provides texts, images, and sounds. This kind of resource can enhance the integration of language and culture. The Internet provides culturally authentic information, which reduces the burden of the teacher as the authority source of information. However, the teacher needs to determine whether the information on the Internet is appropriate for students' learning. So far, we can see that there are many ways to incorporate cultural awareness into English language teaching. However, as pointed out earlier, cultural awareness should not be raised only to have students understand the cultures of the target languages or the English language only. Students need to be aware of their own cultures as well. This concept can be regarded as a cultural paradigm shift, which is due to the fact that the role of English has been changed. At present, English is an international language (EIL), which signifies that English does not exclusively belong to the English native speakers. This is the reason why we have the notions like "Englishes" or "world Englishes" [21] [22]. Due to the new role of EIL, some crucial implications for teaching culture are suggested by McKay [23] as follows: 1. The content of EIL materials for teaching culture should not be limited to native English-speaking cultures. The role of EIL is to enable learners to use English to express their local culture to the world; 56 l กรกฎาคม-ธันวาคม 2552 therefore, the cultural materials should provide information and vocabulary on local cultures. 2. Teaching methodologies need to realise local expectations concerning the role of teacher and learner. Appropriate teaching methods are not necessary to be the same as those applied in the English native-speaking cultures; namely Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Instead, appropriate teaching methods are those that are viewed appropriate in the local context. 3. The ideal teachers are not necessarily the English native-speakers. Due to the international status of English, English has become "denationalised"; consequently, local teachers who are bilingual of both English and the native language should be suitable for teaching the culture. They are familiar with their local culture, which is a strength of the bilingual teacher besides English ability. It can be said that there are many culture activities that can be integrated into English language teaching. However, there are some points worth mentioning. Seelye [4] maintains that whatever can be taught in the target language, in our case English, should be taught in the target language. Moreover, it is not necessary for the activities carried out in English to be done in class. Instead, they can be completed outside of class via project or homework assignments. Above all, the activities should not be performed by ignoring cultural skill development which is extremely vital in teaching culture. Seelye also insists on the importance of cross-cultural communication and understanding. Students need to effectively acquire them. Assessment of Culture Learning In language instruction, assessment is one important aspect involved in the instruction process. Similarly, assessment is crucial to cultural learning. Teachers need to know whether students learn something. However, assessing cultural learning is given least วารสารวิชาการศิลปศาสตรประยุกต attention [10]. This part therefore aims to explore this aspect of cultural learning. Byram et al. [10] propose three areas of assessment, that is, knowledge, attitude, and behaviour. Knowledge: It is necessary to assess cultural factual knowledge possessed by students since they need some factual knowledge to communicate interculturally. As pointed out earlier, Lafayette [13], cited in Hadley [14], acknowledges the importance of "facts". The factual knowledge to be assessed will be selected as per the criteria set [10]. Attitude: The purpose of cultural study is to encourage positive attitudes of students towards both language learning and people from other countries and communities. Seelye [2] suggests that the easiest way to assess students' attitude change is to use pre- and post-tests. The pre-test is given to the students at the beginning of the course and the post-test at the end. However, attitude tests should be completed by students without their names given. Besides, the issues of validity and reliability of the tests should be given attention. Behaviour: Behaviour relates to culture and knowledge. "Culture -- the shared knowledge of a given social group -- is realised in part through behavioural norms and conventions" (p.141) [10]. Behaviour, however, does not limit to politeness, etiquette and nice social behaviour that people of a culture are aware of or want from a foreigner, but includes appropriate behavioural response. Behaviour is related to "social interaction", both verbal and non-verbal. l l l Conclusion This paper discusses the concept of culture and its relationship to language, the importance of cultural awareness and understanding, and guidelines for how to incorporate them into English language instruction. Assessing cultural learning is also briefly explored. References [1] Brown, D.H. (1994). 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