Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Language and Culture
2.1.2 Culture Teaching and Learning
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critical awareness and analysis and motivated by the appreciation of diversity as the foundation of society (Lin, 2005). With the aforementioned definition and classification of culture, they indicated that culture is highly related to social activities and
communication skills, and above all, language.
In order to understand the mechanism and operation of representation, researchers should not only uncover its hidden stereotype and myth in text but examine in detail the representation style and techniques (Hsu, 2002). Therefore, in order to understand the representation of culture, the present study would focus on exploring the discourse structure, format, genre, and style in English learning magazines.
2.1.2 Culture Teaching and Learning
Development of Culture Teaching/History
The core of culture teaching changes from culture specific to general, from stereotypes to generalization, from absolute to variations, and from distinction to integration. From 1950s to early 1960s, big C/ high culture, the highest intellectual attainment in foreign language classroom pertaining to culture instruction, is the focus.
During late 1960s, small c/popular culture, people’s ways of living, behaviors on different occasions, beliefs, customs, educations, becomes the main theme. From 1970s to 1980s, it is known as socio-linguistic decades, and schools adopt integrate approach toward language and competence in culture teaching, strengthening and revising the theory of integration of culture teaching. Recently, integration of language and culture is the focus. The current literature emphasizes culture as the context for authentic
language instruction (Grittner 1996).
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Culture Teaching Strategies
Culture learning is a process of the development of cross-cultural communicative skills and cross-cultural awareness, that is, understanding of the ways of another people (Chuang, 2002). Language and culture interact (Brown, 1980, pp. 142), so culture learning takes place as an integral part of language learning. Culture learning was to understand the nature of acculturation, culture shock, social distance that one must be aware of. Language learning is a process of adjustment to a new culture. It means that learning to find the gap between the patterns of the native culture and that of the target language culture.
In Adaaskou, Britten, and Fashi’s (1990) research on the cultural context of a secondary English course for Morocco, they found that secondary learners are more motivated to learn English when it is presented in contexts that relate its use realistically to their lives as young adults in Morocco. So they suggested that “English should be used in textbooks with situations only in contexts in which it might plausibly be used in real life and not between locals in the absence of foreigners”. In other words, culture teaching should include both native culture and foreign culture so that it is highly relevant to students’ real life and real context of communication.
Mantel-Bromley (1993) suggested that teaching culture should begin with finding the similarities between target culture and native culture and then compare and contrast the differences. While comparing differences, teachers “need to prepare students to acknowledge and accept the differences that exist”. Lafayette (1978) provided guidelines for English teachers to teach culture in the classroom are as follows:
presenting cultural topics in thematic units, integrating all the 4 skills in teaching culture, grouping vocabulary into culture-related clusters, teaching vocabulary in the context of the culture, integrating culture in grammar-practice activities, and using small-group
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techniques such as discussions or role-plays to teach culture. Yo (2007) adopted
qualitative research method and conducted questionnaires through e-mail to 151 public elementary schools at 12 administrative districts in Taipei City. In her study, English teachers agreed that English materials with rich and diversified contents should be the priority. Most of them believe that to use authentic materials such as slides, DVDs, films, and to participate in authentic culture events are the most effective strategies.
Moran (2001) claimed a specific framework for learning/teaching culture including different contents, learning outcomes, learning activities and teacher roles for the four knowings; they are: knowing how, knowing about what, knowing why, and knowing oneself. Spinelli(1985) promoted to “integrate the culture and language teaching in curricula. Meaningful learning occurred through the contextualized activities. i.e.
currency exchange, time expression”.
Chuang (2002) suggested that teachers introduce students to linguistic and cultural items, have students interpret these linguistic and cultural phenomena, ask students to formulate linguistic and cultural concepts as a way to organize knowledge, and identify values and finally assist students to develop appropriate ways of responding in different cultural situations. Hsieh (1995) disclosed his experience on how to teach culture among college students. The teaching of the cultural information should be presented into every aspect in the whole teaching process, including textbook design and vocabulary building. There are three principles to promote: explanation on culture is required, i.e., each text should be followed by explanations and footnotes on cultural themes. Include exercises on culture by teaching, reviewing, and practicing. Add activities on culture after class, for example, interview with foreigners, read magazine, see movies, videotapes, and slides shows. Besides, Chuang (2002) and Lin (2004) many culture teaching activities listed as below:
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(1). Comparison and contrast: This approach emphasizes on comparing cultural differences between native and foreign culture (Chuang, 2002). Kramsch (1993) also claimed that by comparing the two cultures can learners construct their own meanings, thus establishing “sphere of interculturality”.
(2). Cultural assimilator: When conducting cultural assimilator activity, learners are provided with “a written description of a cross-cultural encounter which engenders confusion or out-right hostility in the participants (Li, 1994, pp 194). Then, provide students with three or four reasonable explanations to choose the most appropriate response from.
(3). Culture capsule: Culture capsules use materials such as lecture notes, visuals and realia to teach students “small c culture”, and it provides a “real life” situation. The cultural elements which are particularly difficult for outsides to understand based on their life experiences should be the focus of the difference (Li, 2004). Zheng (2006) further explained that cultural capsules can be posters, photographs, pictures, books, artifacts, music and various objects that represent the target culture. Use the “seeing is believing” strategy to motivate learners. A series of three or four culture capsules and a summarizing activity consist of a culture cluster. The use of culture cluster can help learners gain “interests toward a certain topic” and “lead to a multi-faceted understanding of the culture”.
(4). Cartoon/cultoon: Chen (2003) advocated that comic strips and cartoon are good media to convey abstract ideas and values and they are easily accessible starting points. Cultoon is a hybrid of culture and cartoon; it is used to teach “visual aspects of culture” through a one-picture cartoon implying cultural misunderstanding.
(5). Mini-drama/ mini-skit and role playing: It can be a short scene representing a cross- cultural misunderstanding. The objective is to arouse awareness of the cross-cultural misunderstanding and make students to put themselves in the shoe of
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foreign person (Chuang, 2002). Moreover, Donahue and Parsons (1982) pointed out that the use of role playing helps students overcome cultural fatigue and use
appropriate verbal and nonverbal messages in specific socio-linguistic settings.
(6). Folklore and folktale: Folklore and folktale are an important part of a people’s total culture. They reflect the customs and beliefs of people’s culture for many centuries. By using easy reading materials, folklore and folktale can shed a great light on many aspects of life.
(7). Celebrating foreign festivals: Celebrating foreign holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas can give learners ‘opportunity to experience the foreign culture at the happiest time (Chuang, 2002). Meanwhile, “the teacher can provide students some related cultural knowledge such as festival food, drink, costumes, and songs (Wylie, 1988).
(8).Visual aids/ photographs, and realia: By using visual aids, “students can identify what they see, recognize the messages delivered and speculate the facts they observed” (Lin, 2005).Among all kinds of visual aids, photographs serve an important role in illustrating ideas and culture. Sarkar (1978) stated that
“photographs can serve as a vehicle for the introduction of selected thinking skills and impart a heightened awareness of the culture aspects of the scene depicted as well as of the learners’ own environment”.
(9). E-mails or letters exchange: E-mails and letters exchanged with foreigners can bring language learning and culture learning to a personal dimension. Previous researches showed that using technology to connect nonnative with native English speakers has been successful (Kappus, 1996).
(10). Newspaper and magazines: Cultural materials can be drawn from almost any items of a newspaper or magazine, such as ports pages, weather reports,
advertisements, comics, and pictures. In other words, newspaper and magazines are
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up-to-date sources of information, they “convey many aspects of culture which normally do not appear in a textbook” (Chuang, 2002). According to Delamere (1982), magazines and newspaper “serve for comparison of the socio-cultural changes in the target society”.
In addition to these culture activities, audio-motor unit, folksong, nursery rhymes, short presentation (Chuang, 2002) can be included to guide students understand foreign culture through concrete culture products. Hirsch (1987) provides ways of representing cultural topics: Nursery rhymes, popular songs, proverbs, puns, similes, idioms, sayings, clichés, folktales, well-known characters, important historical events, etc.
The sequence of culture teaching is a noteworthy discussing issue. In the approaches developed both by Damen (1987) and Crawford-Lange & Lange (1984), analysis of first culture (C1) is postponed until after all students perceive a cultural behavior from second culture (C2). However, Arries (1994) presented the reverse order;
he argued that understanding of C1 should come earlier than acquisition of C2.
However, questions like should the language class concern itself with language proper and postpone cultural matters until the student has greater maturity and greater language competence will be raised. Brooks (1968) presented the following statement:
If the right things have been done in the basic course, find an added dimension of cultural significance in the stories he reads. He will find cultural values reflected in what the author chooses to talk about, to have his characters say and do, to have the
reader understand, infer, and reflect to in his presentation.
As we can see, the sequence of teaching culture is not a problem; instead, the ability to figure out the added dimension of cultural significance is more essential.
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Objectives of Culture Teaching and Learning
With the increasing attention to the importance of culture teaching, some scholars provided practical and multi-dimensional objectives of culture teaching. Yu (2006) listed five objectives to teach culture in EFL classroom: to gain “culture awareness”,
“command of etiquette”, “understanding of outward culture differences”,
“understanding of culture values”, and the ability to “analyze the target culture”. Culture awareness includes the knowledge toward geographical and parameters of the target culture, contribution of the target culture (Valette, 1977), differences in way-of-life patterns (Seelye, 1991; Lafayette 1976; Valette, 1977), differences in values and attitudes (Valette, 1977), and attitudes toward other cultures (Seelye, 1991; Valette, 1977). It is awareness that we are affected in our in actions by culture.
(Kubanek-German, 2000:50). To know the command of etiquette means not only to gain the knowledge of etiquette (Valette, 1977) but to acquire the ability to adopt patterns of etiquette( Seelye, 1991; Valette, 1977). To understand the outward culture differences means to know unfamiliar conventions, linguistic cultural referents (Valette, 1977), and try to perform appropriately according to unfamiliar conventions (Seelye,1991;
Lafayette, 1976; Valette, 1977); in addition, to understand culture values refers to the ability to interpret behaviors of members of target and native cultures (Valette, 1977).
Analysis of the target culture means to apply different approaches, such as the semiotic approach (Beauijour and Ehrmann, 1967), the thematic approach (Nostrand, 1967), the contextual approach (Santoni, 1976) to an unfamiliar culture model.
In general, the ultimate goal of culture teaching is to “help students achieve a better understanding of target culture, and the ability generalize from knowledge of specifics to an increased understanding of how culture pervades all aspects of human behavior – how it influences all peoples’ perspectives, beliefs, values, and actions”
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(Mantle-Bromley, 1993).
Divergent Views on Cultural Teaching
According to Adaakou, Brittenm Fashi (1990), to include cultural elements in foreign language learning is important because of the following five reasons:
First, to foster international understanding and counter negative stereotypes and other prejudice (Seelye, 1974); second, to encourage the learners to compare their own and the foreign culture and arrive thus at a better understanding and appreciation of their own (Byram, 1986:323); third, to facilitate the learners’ possible future visits to the foreign countries concerned or contacts with people from them; fourth, to integrate the language to the language course in an interdisciplinary, thematic curriculum; finally, to motivate the learners to hold a common point of view in British and America
(Courtillon, 1984: 51).
Martin’s (1993) study on intermediate level language learners’ views about contribution of literacy and cultural content to language learning showed that while learning vocabulary and studying culture were seen by most to be likely to contribute to oral proficiency, grammar study. In other words, intermediate second language learning students in college agreed that the literacy and cultural content would contribute to achievement of their linguistic goal, in particular those related to proficiency in the four skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
With additional culture inputs, learning culture information may motivate students to learn language. Chastain (1971) claimed that “explaining cultural aspects of the language would benefit the students’ understanding towards the real sound, people, and places”. Therefore, background knowledge of the culture can help learners to
communicate effectively. Yu’s (2006) study on teaching one of the culture themes-- holiday festivals to junior high school students in English as Foreign Language (EFL)
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Classroom showed that after taking the courses, most of the subjects are willing to know more about Western culture and people, so it is revealed that the long-term influences brought by festival learning are produced and the learners are highly motivated.
In Lin’s (2000) study on the design and development of a situated asynchronous courseware for English on study abroad found out that most of English learners think it necessary to have culture learning courses. Seventy-three percent of interviewees considered that understanding and communicating with foreigners of different culture is the most difficult part in language use. Besides, sixty percent of interviewees are
interested in learning culture-related knowledge and content and think it important to know more about foreign culture. Danison (2000, pp. 96) claimed that the study of culture is not merely the study of foreign ways. It is the study of the patterns of life that evolve as societies strive to meet universal challenges.
Chang (2004) claimed the necessity of language teaching in FL with the following three reasons: First of all, language is a particular and essential composite of culture.
Second, language and culture are systematically linked and closely intertwine with each other. Third, language would be understood improperly without cultural knowledge inlaid in it.
The familiarity with cultures is part of language competence. Knowledge of linguistic features of a language is seen as inefficient for learning the language; it must be combined with knowledge of the culture of the target language (Jacobs, 1989) Teachers should help students develop positive attitudes or, at least, empathy toward native speakers of the target language (Morgan, 1993). Besides, activity for introducing culture in foreign language class can stimulate interests in foreign language learning.
Cultural materials provide many topics of personal interest to a student, thereby increasing motivation.
Shih (1987) claimed that language is not only a communicative vehicle but an
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important means to demonstrate the culture of a people. The characteristics of language thus represent the characteristics of the society, the culture, and the lifestyles of this station.” She concluded that the ability to cope with cultural differences should also be a basic skill in foreign language learning. Huang (1993) and Teng (2000) believe that a adequate amount and wide range of one’s background knowledge and cultural
knowledge about the target country and people will help him or her a great deal in learning the language, especially in reading comprehension. Learning the cultural knowledge will improve his or her cultural awareness, the teaching of culture gives students a reason to study the language, the teaching of culture makes language more alive and makes things more real, the teaching of culture increases students curiosity and interest, culture teaching helps understand people of other cultures and their own culture, culture instruction provides students positive attitudes toward people put also their own culture better, and the teaching of culture contributes to an all-round
education.
In contrast, there are divergent views on teaching culture in language class, arguing that language can’t help teaching the foreign culture. Some scholars criticized on culture teaching from the perspectives of language curriculum and the way culture themes are introduced. Foreign language curriculum often represents culture to students as a body of static information to memorize, and does not provide them with the tools that they need to learn independently (Arries, 1994). Mantle-Bromley (1993) criticized that the
“culture content of the typical secondary-level second language class remains strikingly and disappointingly similar to the culture content in elementary classrooms” , focusing on themes such as “holiday celebrations, games, folk dances, realia, foods, and simple craft activities”(pp. 129). Moreover, “these activities may enrich the curriculum, rarely do they lead to meaningful understanding of culture”. Guest (2002) challenged whether it is worth introducing overt, direct, cultural content to EFL/ESL learners at all (pp. 160).
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Since overemphasizing on the generalized culture traits of a group is possible to sacrifice sub-group or individual factors within in. And some themes are verbalized principles and values while some may be elusive modes of thought or of feeling, expressed only in the presentational symbols of the imaginative arts. It is possible that students may put themselves “in a single explicit generalization about the foreign people’s value, or worldview, or strengths or weakness (Nostrand, 1956, pp.300).
Obstacles to Culture Teaching
Some obstacles may be encountered in culture teaching; for example, lack of methods preparation, unclear definition of cultural knowledge, the lack of emphasis on culture teaching, teachers’ limited foreign experiences, lack of time, teaching methods, and knowledge of the target culture, fear of controversy over teaching values and attitudes (Hunag, 1993; Tsou, 2001) are obstacles faced in culture teaching, and it might cause the problem that “culture continues to remain peripheral in both texts and
classroom instruction” (Bex, 1994; Mantle-Bromley, 1993; Fischer, 1996;
Crawford-Lange, 1987)
Also, there are some problems concerning the explicit teaching of culture.
Atkinson (1999) pointed out that the explicit teaching of culture often depends on stereotypes and ideologically fraught simplifications—or someone-in-particular’s notions of culture. And that “someone” usually is the curriculum designer, the teacher, or the textbook writer.