This chapter provides an essential review of the literature. It will be related to cross-cultural awareness, cross-cultural communication, global perspectives and English teaching.
Cross-Cultural Awareness
Tylor (1871) defined culture is “…that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” Culture is cultivated by a group of people who have the same beliefs, mutual affections and cognitions. When they become norms in the group, people will pass them down to their offspring and follow the norms. Hall (2001) used iceberg as a metaphor. He separated culture into two parts.
He stated that only 10 % of culture is visible which is on the tip of an iceberg and 90
% of culture is invisible which is under the surface of water. Compare with the culture under the surface of water, the 10 % of culture is obvious and easy to detect and investigate. On the contrary, the 90 % of culture is unconscious and difficult to study.
The visible cultural characteristics contain behaviors, tradition, customs, language, gestures and history. Kramsch (1998) stated that it is important for people to have cross-cultural awareness if they want to learn a second language because culture is the center of language learning. People will not be competent in language if they do not also understand the meaning and the shape of the culture. Cross-cultural competence is used to raise students’ cross-cultural awareness of their own cultures and other cultures. The competence requires students’ enhancement of cross-cultural knowledge, skills and attitudes. In this study, the teacher will focus on teaching students the 10 % of cultural traits, such as food, dress, music, dance, language and celebrations above
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the water because it is obvious for students to understand and learn. There was a study showing that studying abroad as a curriculum of internationalization movement could help enhance students’ language proficiency and gaining cross-cultural competence which contained attitudes, interpersonal skills and empathy (Watson, Siska, & Wolfel, 2013). Therefore, the curriculum could be a key element for students to learn and acquire cross-cultural awareness and competence. There was a research also showed that the short-term study abroad trips, instead of long-term ones, would also help students to enhance their cross-cultural awareness and increase their willingness to go abroad for long-term studies (Mapp, McFarland, & Newell, 2007).
English Teaching with Cross-Cultural Awareness
Kneebone (2007) indicated the difference between western and eastern students.
For example, the teachers would encourage students to ask questions, also to directly but respectfully against teachers’ viewpoints; however, it wouldn’t happen in Asian countries because students tended to be quiet and listen to teachers. It said that it was because of traditional Confucius’ ways of education which could be viewed as teachers’ one-way teaching. It would cause students to be more passive and uncomfortable in the class and this phenomenon would be more obvious when they were the students studying in western countries. In order to help students, the teachers and faculty members should focus on cross-cultural issues and enhance their cross-cultural awareness by attending workshops or training programs. Most important of all, the students should try to learn communicative skills with an understanding of different cultures to broaden their scopes. Yang (2011) mentioned when students learn English, they should learn more about culture first because it is the fundamental of the language. Culture is also very important for teachers when teaching English. The research showed teachers that they can immerse different
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cultures in their teaching so that students can cultivate their cross-cultural awareness and enhance their cross-cultural ability. The reasons why the research encouraged teachers to emphasize on cultures are because it wants to lower students’ cultural shock, decrease students’ cultural misunderstandings and prevent students from having cultural bias.
English Teaching with Cross-Cultural Communication
Interacting with people from other countries could reduce the bias and avoid the conflicts. It is also a good way to experience other cultures. The research showed that guided reflection activity and role play could help students be aware of the difference between different countries and try to build up a better relationship with them.
Students would be divided into several groups and then brainstorm the cultural misunderstanding situations which could always happen when they were in other countries. And then students would think of the solutions to solve the problems and improve themselves to think not from their own perspectives (Murphy, Censullo, Cameron, & Baigis, 2007).
Cross-cultural Communication does not only rely on verbal communication, it also relies on eye contact and body language. When students learn English, the most challenging thing is to learn the language with the combination of cultures in order to prevent cultural shock (Valadez, 2001). Teachers also needed to assist students to overcome their fear of both language and culture. Besides, teachers should encourage students to be open-minded to different cultures and create an environment which is entertaining and educational.
The research (Larsen, Bruselius-Jensen, Danielsen, Nyamai, Otiende, &
Aagaard-Hansen, 2014) showed that using information and communication technologies (ICT) could help students from Africa to communicate with students
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from other countries by Skype or sending letters. Students from Africa would not only benefit from improving their reading and grammatical writing in English, but also using cross-cultural communication to understand other students schools, environments and cultures.
Zofi (2012) indicated that teachers and faculty members in Australia tried to help students who were culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD). They may encounter some problems, such as isolation or lack of good communication skills. Therefore, the teachers encouraged them to acquire abilities which were related to cross-cultural communication, such as being adapt to different learning environments or teaching ways. It could also help to enhance their cross-cultural awareness by understanding other cultural issues and experiencing different cultural styles.
English Teaching with Global Perspectives
The teachers in Pakistan needed to be trained and be capable of having global perspectives because teachers’ teaching quality would have an effect on students’
learning (Moosa & Wahab, 2013). The teachers’ global perspectives include the global competence cultivation of knowledge, skills and attitude. Therefore, if the global education could be immersed into teachers’ curriculum, it would be very practical for students to acquire global perspectives and competency.
Some scholars mentioned that if teachers wanted to be capable of global perspectives, teachers’ contents of curriculum should include global issues, histories and relationships among different countries (Yoonjung & Minsik, 2012). The curriculum of global perspectives should also combine with students’ experiences so that students may understand that the development of global perspectives does have impact on them and their daily lives, instead of blurred concepts.
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The curriculum of global perspectives should be easy to understand and it is also a way to make students understand among different cultures. Lo (2001) indicates that reading international children’s literature was a method which could be used in developing the curriculum of global perspectives. The literature contains the authors’
original background or experiences. It represented different cultures and living styles internationally. In the research, discussing global issues could also raise students’
attitude and enhance their cross-cultural awareness.
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