Abstract
The importance of culture in learning a language is widely acknowledged even if the integration of culture into language learning and teaching materials has seen various opinions and approaches. Bearing in mind the ultimate aim of learning a language is for communication it is important materials developed for language learning consider content knowledge and linguistic knowledge. This paper discusses the impact of a supplementary reading module designed to improve communicative ability and cultural awareness with the integration of local culture. Focus group interviews were run over a three -year period with lower secondary students and English language teachers to elicit their perspectives on the value of the module and the benefits in helping to develop better communicative ability. Both teachers and students were asked similar questions about their opinions of the module, opinions about the lessons and on the use of English to teach the module. The responses matched with both claiming the module was interesting, attractive and varied in approach with a range of activities in each lesson that fostered communicative and collaborative skills. The findings imply improved cultural knowledge and awareness of local content did provide learners with ideas to harness which subsequently leads to improved communicative ability. Keywords: Language materials, communicative ability; supplementary reading programme; cultural knowledge; cultural awareness
Highlights
Culture has always been considered an important element in the learning of a language (Nambiar & Anawar 2017, Nguyen 2017, Brown 2007, Kramsch 1998, Kramsch & Zhu Hua 2016, Kuang 2007) and should be taught in tandem with the language itself (Schulz 2007)
The issue here is which culture should be integrated into language learning matters and in what proportion
It is pertinent to remember that the ultimate goal of learning a language is to communicate successfully with target language users whether, native or second/foreign language speakers (Pennycook 1994)
Summary
Culture has always been considered an important element in the learning of a language (Nambiar & Anawar 2017, Nguyen 2017, Brown 2007, Kramsch 1998, Kramsch & Zhu Hua 2016, Kuang 2007) and should be taught in tandem with the language itself (Schulz 2007). The issue here is which culture should be integrated into language learning matters and in what proportion. Tseng (2002) maintains to be successful in language learning it is important for learners to “acquire cultural background knowledge in order to communicate, and to increase their comprehension in the target language The language we learn in our individual cultures comes with its rules and norms and this determines how we communicate and comprehend what we read and hear (Gudykunst & Young 2002)
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