Cultural Orientation and the Study of Foreign Literature

Abstract

In the Philippines, high school students study via English, a second language. results of the present research suggested that Filipino high school students misunderstand American short stories because they read into them inappropriate values, attitudes, and judgments. technique of contrastive analysis was used to isolate potential areas of difficulty. A group of students taught using information provided by this technique, and then tested, performed more like an American control group than Filipino students who had not received this training. implications of these findings for other pupils studying via second languages are discussed. In the Philippines until 1957, English was the medium of instruction at all grade levels. At that time, the decision was made to use the local vernacular language as the medium of instruction in grades 1 and 2 with the result that classes in Manila are now taught using Tagalog; those in Cebu City using Cebuano, and so forth. From grade 3 onward, however, classes continue to be taught via English which in many instances appears to remain very much a weak language, even at the high school level (Tucker, 1968). Filipino high school students typically study American and British literature. In fact, they use many of our North American anthologies to read stories with which we are all familiar, such as To Build a Fire by Jack London, My Financial Career by Stephen Leacock, and The Hero by Margaret Weymouth Jackson. At first glance, their literature classes seem to be very similar to those in any North American secondary school; but observers soon sense that the Filipino students don't seem to enjoy the stories or to appreciate them in the same way that our pupils do-perhaps because they do not fully understand them. These casual observations suggest that cultural filtering may affect the literature appreciation of many students whose native language is not English, particularly those from non-Western backgrounds, who may bring inappropriate attitudinal and judgmental expectations with them to the classroom. These observations, if correct, suggest the desirability of teach* This study was conducted while Miss Gatbonton was a graduate student at Ateneo de Manila University and G. R. Tucker was a project consultant with the Ford Foundation at the Philippine Normal College. preparation of the report was financed, in part, by grants from the Canada Council and the Defense Research Board to W. E. Lambert and G. R. Tucker.