Pedagogical Implications

The current study is an action research in a junior high school in Taipei City, and the researcher was the English teacher of the students participating in the study. Based on the findings and conclusions, the teacher-researcher raised four pedagogical

implications. First, culture learning should be incorporated into formal language lessons. Second, more diverse cultures could be selected as materials when it comes to teaching culture. Third, multi-modalities should be implemented in culture learning to meet students’ needs in learning. Fourth, language teachers should train and

encourage students to explore culture in class.

5.2.1. Culture Learning Should Be Incorporated into Formal Lessons

The findings of the current study imply that culture learning has exerted some positive impact on language learning for junior high school students. In the study, the students’ knowledge of cultural content increased after the culture learning program.

As for its influence on the students’ intercultural awareness, three dimensions

revealed significant difference between the pre- and post-tests, whereas the other one remained unchanged. The only dimension with little statistical change still received positive qualitative feedback from the students. As a whole, the students benefited much from the culture learning program. Through this program, the students had broadened their horizons, learned to respect differences, became active in learning, and also became more competent in cross-cultural interactions.

With the conclusions revealed and discussed in the present study, the teacher-researcher suggests that culture learning should be incorporated into formal language lessons in order to help learners become not only proficient in linguistic skills but also competent in interactions with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. The current textbooks in Taiwan still put much emphasis on the four language skills with

insufficient cultural content, so teachers relying heavily on textbooks would find it

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hard to guide students to learn culture with current textbooks. In the new 12-year curriculum guidelines, teachers are highly encouraged to design and develop their own teaching materials based on textbooks. The main features of the new 12-year guidelines are shown in a wheel-in-action diagram, Figure 3.

Figure 3

The Main Features in a Wheel-in-action Diagram of Essential Literacies in the Official Brochure Published by Ministry of Education

Under the new 12-year curriculum guidelines, there are three main aspects:

Social Participation, Spontaneity, and Communication and Interaction. And under Social Participation, the significance of cultural and global understanding is

highlighted and it could be expected to receive more attention in the new curriculum.

The teacher-researcher found in the present study that many Taiwanese students cared much more about their own lives than the society and even the world. Therefore,

The diagram was cited from the website of Ministry of Education.

https://ws.moe.edu.tw/001/Upload/23/relfile/8006/51358/9df0910c-56e0-433a-8f80-05a50efeca72.pdf

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language teachers are advised to design culture learning lessons as extended materials not only to compensate for the current textbooks but also to prepare students for the real-life scenarios that they are all expected to encounter. Besides the four basic language skills, cultivating students’ cultural and global understanding is also vital for language teachers.

5.2.2. More Diverse Cultures Could Be Involved in Culture Learning

In the present study, the students’ knowledge of cultural content increased in three of the four topics. The only one topic that revealed little change statistically was Topic 4, in which American school lives was the main focus. Based on the students’

reflection, the teacher-researcher found that Taiwanese students had already been quite familiar with American cultures because they had learned a lot about them on TVs, in movies, magazines, pop songs, and from many other channels. The students’

textbooks also contain some American cultures. These might be the reasons for nonsignificant difference in statistics.

As mentioned above, the current textbooks contain insufficient cultural content.

Even if there’s cultural content, the topics are mostly about countries such as the UK or the USA, or the so-called inner circle countries. Therefore, it is greatly advised that teachers select topics that show more diverse cultural backgrounds. For example, in the present study, a Mexican festival was chosen to be one of the topics, and it received much positive feedback from the students. Since “culture” itself is the main focus in culture learning, every culture should be equally considered and fairly

incorporated into lessons. Besides the cultures of inner circle countries, the cultures of outer circle countries, or even expanding circle countries, should also be selected as learning materials by teachers. Learners’ own cultures should also be taken into consideration in culture learning. In this way, learners would have a broader view of the world and thus would be expected to step beyond stereotypes.

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5.2.3. Multi-modalities Are Recommended in Culture Learning

In the present study, the students who voted either Topic 1 or Topic 4 to be their favorite topic mentioned that the films not only aroused their interests but also helped them to learn the cultural content better. The findings were in line with some previous studies, which indicated that visual modalities were favored by Taiwanese students generally (Chen, 1999; Wu & Alrabah, 2009). Therefore, based on the findings of the present study and also some previous research, it is very clear that learners have different ways or patterns of learning. And there are various kinds of learning modalities that teachers could adopt when they teach.

Some learners prefer visual modalities, such as video clips, films, charts or even pictures. These visual learners tend to learn things or information better by “seeing”

the materials. For example, in the current study, the students watched the video clips and then they understood the information that the teacher would like to convey. Some learners like to learn new things by listening, and they favor auditory modalities, such as video or audio recordings. For these auditory learners, effective learnings take place when the information is being read out loud for them. In real classroom settings, teachers could ask students to read the learning materials out loud or to repeat some articles or sentences. Still, some people are tactile learners, who enjoy experiencing things by themselves. For these learners, more effective learnings take place once they are given chances to have some hands-on experiences.

In a real language classroom, chances are that students prefer different learning modalities. Thus, it is not effective and even impossible for teachers to focus on only one of these learning modalities when they teach. Teachers are advised to combine various kinds of modalities into their teaching in order to meet different students’

needs. For instance, in the current study, the teacher-researcher played some short movie clips for the students to have a broad picture of the Mexican festival in Topic 1.

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Some pictures along with short paragraphs were also presented to the students. In these activities, visual and auditory modalities were both utilized to cater to the students’ needs. Besides, the students were guided by the teacher to discuss some open-ended questions and to present in front of their peers. Some groups acted out, and some drew pictures. The students were given autonomy to decide on how they would like to share their ideas. To sum up, language teachers are advised to use more than one learning modality in their teaching not only to arouse learners’ interests but also to meet learners’ needs.

5.2.4. Teachers Should Train Students to Explore Culture

In the present study, many of the students considered Topic 2 and Topic 3 as their least favorite topics in that these two topics both required a large amount of active learning. In these two topics, the students were required by the teacher-researcher to do some research on a group basis and to present in front of the class. According to the students’ qualitative feedback as well as the previous research (Chu & Nakamura, 2010), the teacher-researcher found that Taiwanese students were more accustomed to passive ways of learning. They seemed to favor their teachers’ lectures instead of tasks that required their initiation in learning. Such learning style was observable in the results of the current study.

Based on Figure 3, one of the three aspects under the new 12-year curriculum guidelines is Spontaneity, which expects students to learn to be spontaneous in learning. Students are encouraged to be the master of their own learning, and they are expected to discover knowledge by themselves instead of passively waiting for teachers to pass on the information. Since spontaneity is one of the three major aspects under the new 12-year guidelines, the importance of being active in learning cannot be overemphasized. Thus, it is language teachers’ responsibility to guide and train learners to engage in more active learning activities.

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In the present study, the students joining the culture learning program chose Topic 2 and Topic 3 to be their least favorite topics because in these two topics, the way they were guided in learning was totally different from their past classroom experiences. It was obvious that the students were not that accustomed to this way of learning culture. Therefore, language teachers should train their students to explore culture by providing more instructional scaffolding for the students. For example, before having students do presentations or reports, teachers could give as much guidance or support as possible. At the same time, teachers should leave more room and time for students to ask questions or exchange viewpoints with their peers. Once teachers are willing to make some changes in their teaching, learners will gradually adjust their learning habits and are thus expected to become more willing and competent in exploring culture.