Exploration of the USA Culture by Mexican Language Students through Reading Chicano Literature

Abstract

Language students are expected to be conscious of the fact that the target language is an expression of the culture of those societies where it is used in everyday communication. Using literary texts is an important means of fostering and developing the learners’ intercultural awareness. Chicano literature (written by those authors of Mexican origin who permanently live in the USA) can be of special help in this process. Chicano writers’ experiences in their daily encounters with the North American culture can make it easier for language learners in Mexico to explore and understand this foreign culture, and to overcome their own prejudices and stereotypes towards it. Thus, a study was conducted among Mexican university language students to examine the possibility of increasing the learners’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC) through reading literary texts. The survey participants responded to a questionnaire related to the concept of culture and their knowledge of the target culture. They also read and discussed a short story written by a Chicano writer paying special attention to different cultural topics covered in them. On the whole, the study has shown that the learners’ sociocultural characteristics and experiences have an enormous impact on their perceptions of the North American culture. The results can help to optimize the process of choosing and elaborating didactic materials in English as well as class planning and methodology that would develop the learners’ intercultural competence.