Cultural Knowledge Research Articles

Benefits, challenges, and recommendations of cultural instruction in second language learning

In the fast-growing globalized and culturally diverse society today, multiculturalism, i.e. knowledge of variegated culture, is considered to be an essential individual resource. This study examines the views of international postgraduate students on the benefits and challenges of incorporating cultural instruction into second language learning within an English-speaking higher education context in the UK. The objectives are to identify the advantages of cultural instruction, the barriers to its implementation in academic settings, and strategies to overcome these barriers. To achieve this, surveys and face-to-face discussions were conducted with a group of multiracial postgraduate language learners at Westminster University in London. The findings reveal that cultural instruction enhances learners’ understanding and engagement by providing contextually relevant information. The findings also show that there is a significant lack of institutional curricula and standards for integrating cultural materials into language learning, along with limited awareness among students and educators. The study recommends that academic stakeholders—including students, educators, and institutions—collaborate to incorporate cultural education into second language programs to enhance learning outcomes.

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN TEACHING LANGUAGE OF PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION IN RFL CLASSES

The article is devoted to the study of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and its development in the framework of teaching Russian for professional purposes to foreign students. In this context the relationship between language, culture and communication is considered, and the importance of parallel learning of language and culture is emphasised. The main purpose of the article is to identify the specifics of the formation of the ICC in classes of Russian language for professional purposes, within which specialised educational materials should be created not only promoting the assimilation of some professional terms, but also developing cultural understanding, which includes the study of communication norms, etiquette and traditions of Russian culture. The author gives examples of tasks that can be used in the process of developing the ICC of foreign students in language classes of Russian for professional purposes, such as discussions based on video clips, role-playing and business games. It is concluded that the achievement of high results in the formation of the ICC requires integration of cultural and linguistic knowledge, as well as constant interaction between teachers and students, with an emphasis on culture-specific characteristics of the audience, which will help prepare students for professional communication in the Russian cultural and linguistic context.

Supporting Holistic Health and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Risk Reduction Among Young Native Females Prior to Pregnancy: A Qualitative Exploration.

AI/AN communities are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Decreasing the risk of GDM can interrupt the intergenerational cycle of diabetes in AI/AN families, and can decrease diabetes-related health disparities. The goal of this study was to explore ways of supporting holistic health and reducing the risk of GDM among young American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) females prior to pregnancy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with adult AI/AN women (>18 years) who had GDM or who have young female relatives (e.g., daughters) (n = 41), AI/AN females between 12 and 24 years (n = 18), and key experts in food/nutrition and health within AI/AN communities (n = 32). Three themes emerged: (1) guidance on how to support young females' holistic wellness; (2) evidence that generations of colonial violence, including forced removal, forced poverty, and the imposition of a Western-based food system, causes deeper, systemic fracturing of traditional cultural food knowledge and practices; and the fact that (3) opportunities for improved adolescent female health are rooted in AI/AN values and how AI/AN people resist the impacts of anti-Indigenous racism through family-based, community-led, and holistic health. These themes suggest alternative understandings about the relationships between food insecurity and holistic pre-pregnancy health and can guide our next steps in decreasing health disparities in these communities.

Healthcare seeking for people diagnosed with severe mental illness: Sensations, symptoms and diagnostic work.

For people with mental and somatic illnesses, the interpretive process of attending to a multitude of bodily sensations and recognising them as potential symptoms represents daily and 'chronic homework'. Based on 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Denmark, this study explores diagnostic work and healthcare seeking among people with severe mental and somatic illnesses. As multiple studies have shown, the transformation process for a perceived sensation to become a symptom is a socially constructed interpretative process highly dependent on social legitimisation and shaped by prior cultural knowledge. We found that people with severe mental and somatic illnesses often struggle to 'read' the body and its boundaries and to define and distinguish when a symptom becomes a potential sign of illness. Furthermore, they often lack opportunities for social recognition of symptoms due to the absence of social relations. Finally, lifelong experiences with the healthcare system have taught them that they must distinguish between 'mental' and 'somatic' symptoms to fit the systemic organisation of the healthcare system. This deeply rooted mind-body dualism in the organisation of healthcare services and the daily struggles of diagnostic work to comply with this organisation impacted the interlocutors' healthcare seeking strategies. Moreover, even though they 'make up their minds' to seek healthcare, they risk being met with diagnostic overshadowing and reductionist clinical approaches.

Children as agents of cultural adaptation.

The human capacity for culture is a key determinant of our success as a species. While much work has examined adults' abilities to create and transmit cultural knowledge, relatively less work has focused on the role of children (approx. 3-17 years) in this important process. In the cases where children are acknowledged, they are largely portrayed as acquirers of cultural knowledge from adults, rather than cultural producers in their own right. In this paper, we bring attention to the important role that children play in cultural adaptation by highlighting the structure, function, and ubiquity of the large body of knowledge produced and transmitted by children, known as peer culture. Supported by evidence from diverse disciplines, we argue that children are independent producers and maintainers of these autonomous cultures, which exist with regularity across diverse societies, and persist despite compounding threats. Critically, we argue peer cultures are a source of community knowledge diversity, encompassing both material and immaterial knowledge related to geography, ecology, subsistence, norms, and language. Through a number of case studies, we further argue that peer culture products and associated practices - including exploration, learning, and the retention of abandoned adult cultural traits - may help populations adapt to changing ecological and social conditions, contribute to community resilience, and even produce new cultural communities. We end by highlighting the pressing need for research to more carefully investigate children's roles as active agents in cultural adaptation.

Ancestral Knowledge: Taptana Cañari, A Systematic Review of the Last Four Years

Objective: The research aims to analyze how this knowledge, especially Taptana, has been incorporated into educational systems during the last four years.. Theoretical Framework: This systematic review examines the integration of ancestral knowledge in education, focusing on the use of the Taptana Cañari, a mathematical instrument of the Cañari people in Ecuador. The work highlights the importance of ancestral knowledge, which encompasses cultural practices and knowledge transmitted over generations, in a context where globalization threatens its relevance. Method: The PRISMA method was used for a rigorous review and relevant studies were identified through various databases such as Scopus, SciELO, Redalyc, Dialnet, Erih Plus, Latindex and the César Vallejo University. Results and Discussion: The findings indicate that the Taptana Cañari is not only a valuable teaching resource, but also reflects an Andean worldview that can enrich mathematical learning and promote intercultural education. However, it is observed that its integration into educational curricula is limited, which poses a significant challenge for its recognition and use. Implications of the Research: The appreciation of ancestral knowledge is essential to strengthen cultural identity and promote more equitable education. Originality/Value: Generating spaces for dialogue in classrooms that integrate ancestral knowledge with modern knowledge contributes to a more sustainable future that respects cultural diversity.

Intertextual elements in French-language media headlines about the 2024 Olympics: A linguocultural analysis

The article presents the results of our analysis of intertextual inclusion functions in the headlines of the French press during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Within the framework of intertextuality theory, it examines the role of intertextual figures – such as allusion, quotation and paraphrase – in shaping associations that activate the cultural memory and background cultural knowledge of readers. The study is based on publications from “Le Monde”, “L’Humanité”, “Libération”, “Les Echos”, “Le Figaro” and “Le Parisien”. By analyzing 700 texts, published from May to September 2024, the research identifies the mechanisms through which intertextual inclusions influence the audience perception and their emotional responses.The results indicate that the inclusion of intertextual elements in media texts serves to create interpretative resonance by appealing to the cultural experience of the reader and activating associations and memories related to previously familiar statements, events or cultural phenomena. Out of 300 identified inclusions, allusions and quotations are the most frequently used, each accounting for 20%, while paraphrases and textual applications are significantly less common, each representing only 5%. This prevalence may be attributed to the fact that allusions and quotations tend to reference well-known texts or expressions, rendering them more accessible to a broader audience compared to paraphrases and textual applications.

Exploring Saudi Gamers’ Perspectives on Historical Characters in Digital Games

Digital games have recently increased in popularity, becoming a cultural phenomenon and a new way to explore historical characters, which aligns with the ambitious Saudi Vision 2030. This study aims to understand Saudi gamers’ perceptions of historical characters and the factors that shape their preferences. A quantitative descriptive approach was used, where a questionnaire was applied to 104 individuals who participated in events organized by the Saudi Digital Games Association and the Saudi Esports Academy. The results indicate that historical characters can enhance the appeal and engagement of digital games. In addition, they highlight the need for developers to gain insights into Saudi gamers’ preferences regarding historical periods and historical characters’ characteristics. It was concluded that the dynamic interaction between players and the virtual world of the game, which includes historical characters, can increase the attractiveness of the game and the players’ experience at all levels of entertainment, culture, and historical knowledge, reflecting the distinctive features of Saudi history. Future studies focusing on other elements of the digital game, such as story, period, or aspects of tangible and intangible heritage, are suggested.

Filial Construct States in Arabic: Exploring Metaphtonymies and Embodied Cultural Cognition

This study explores a specific category of construct states in Arabic, which involves the use of filial words to form the construct head, producing what we refer to as “filial construct states”, e.g., bana:t llajl, which literally translates to “daughters of the night” meaning “dreams”. Using a manually collected specialized corpus, and adopting Conceptual Metaphor Theory as based on main meaning focus (Kövecses 2010, 2011) as a theoretical framework, we argue that the way Arabic-speaking individuals perceive family and society may influence linguistic constructs leading to the development of filial construct states. Additionally, we propose that these constructs arise from the interaction between two cognitive processes: metaphor and metonymy, and as such they are of a metaphtonymic nature. We maintain that cognition is profoundly influenced by embodiment and cultural context. Thus, in order for cognition to be considered cultural, it needs to encompass and reflect the cultural knowledge that arises and develops from interactions and communication within a specific speech community.

Sacred Dimensions of Barong Ngelawang Sungsungan: Mythology, Process, and Performance

This research aims to explore the sacred dimensions of the Barong Ngelawang Sungsungan based on the interconnectedness of mythology, the process of sacralization, and its sacredness in performance. During religious ceremonies, the Barong symbolizes pride, magical power, grandeur, and divinity. The ethnographic methodology is employed to gain insights into cultural aspects observed, heard, and concluded, thereby understanding cultural knowledge from the perspective of the local community. Research findings indicate that from a mythological perspective, the Barong Ngelawang Sungsungan serves functionally as a sacred symbol, reinforcing the laws of cause and effect that must be obeyed and revered and a tool for creating a harmonious life. In its holy purpose, ngelawang can be manifested as a practice to strengthen fraternal bonds, interpreted as a signal of awareness, and a means of detoxification from the natural environment to eliminate negatively oriented forces..

Партнерский студенческий проект как эффективный метод адаптации иностранных обучающихся в русской культурно-языковой среде

This study examines the potential and significance of the partnership project method in facilitating the adaptation of international students, as well as the development of their external connections and social environment within the context of Russian society. The paper presents a student partnership project organized by the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language at Perm State Medical University and the Department of Foreign Languages at HSE University Perm. The project is executed through practice-oriented inter-university collaboration. Its objectives address interconnected challenges: firstly, the Indian student community in Perm remains isolated and inadequately integrated into the city's cultural and linguistic milieu. Secondly, residents of Perm and students at local universities have limited understanding of the living and educational experiences of the substantial number of international students residing in the city. The significance of the inter-university project lies in providing Perm and Indian students with opportunities to engage with one another, exchange cultural knowledge, establish both friendly and professional communication, and collaborate on the creation of a joint creative product. This initiative fosters interethnic dialogue and enhances the communication skills and intercultural competence of future professionals.

GIFs as Social Media Paralanguage

The central aim of this article is to explore how GIFs interact with language to make meaning in social media posts, comparing their intermodal semiosis to that of emoji and other graphiconic resources in terms of their meaning potential and the typical patterning of their convergence with linguistic meanings. To achieve this, a dataset of 100 posts containing GIFs sourced from the X (formerly Twitter) social media platform was analysed using social semiotic multimodal discourse analysis. The results indicate that GIFs can realise most, but not all, of the intermodal semiotic dynamics described for emoji-language semiosis, and that further to these, GIFs realise meaning via references to shared cultural knowledge, paralleling discourse semantic meaning in written co- text, and forging inter- and intratextual references.

Grounding lists

Abstract Drawing on findings from three distinct corpora encompassing interactions in Spanish, Portuguese, and German, this study investigates the role of lists as strategic devices employed by interlocutors in everyday storytellings and positioning activities to establish common ground (CG). Termed ‘grounding lists’, our research identifies them as a distinct communicative practice for dynamically co-building CG. We found three domains to be most relevant in our data: (a) Personal CG emerging from biographically shared experiences, (b) Communal CG emerging from shared cultural knowledge, and (c) Communal CG emerging from shared everyday knowledge. Our findings reveal the primary characteristics of grounding lists being stylized prosody, reduced itemization, general extenders, lexical elements or quotatives in the onset projecting generalizability, early affiliation, reported speech, as well as gestural depiction. Through empirical analysis, we demonstrate the extent to which each type of CG aligns with these identified features of grounding lists and highlight that it is particularly the dominant use of the list as an abstract gestalt, less as a sedimented practice in itself, that defines grounding lists. This kind of list is strongly marked by its gestalt projection, enabling intersubjectivity and co-building of CG through animated speech and gestural enactment.

Images Old and New: Buddhist Painting Preservation and the Transmission of Tradition in Premodern Japan

For the past two decades, scholarship has made great strides uncovering the multifaceted ways in which Buddhist objects provide insights into the beliefs, practices, and worldviews of the people who used and viewed them. Having moved past iconographic analysis as the sole lens with which to evaluate Buddhist art, scholars have demonstrated, for instance, how the religion’s visual and material culture served as conduits between the physical world and the intangible, and operated as nodes linking networks of people and places. This article adds another perspective to the study of Buddhist art objects by considering how their physical condition prompted new forms of engagement in religious practice in premodern Japan. In particular, it investigates differences between three ways to preserve images—to copy, to repair, and to re-create—and demonstrates that while both copying and repair kept objects in a good and presentable state, repair could additionally serve as a means for the production and diffusion of Buddhist cultural knowledge. Re-creation combines the practice of copy and repair and reveals how an object’s material properties, an aspect of any conservation effort, could also transmit information about associated miracles or numinous qualities.

Enhanced oracle bone corrosion detection using attention-guided YOLO with ghost convolution

Oracle bone inscriptions (OBIs), as the important records of early Chinese characters, possess profound cultural and historical significance. However, These fragments are susceptible to further damage due to corrosion. Consequently, the identification and localization of corroded regions on these fragments to prevent further deterioration has emerged as a critical task. Current object detection algorithms exhibit limitations in identifying corroded regions on oracle bone fragments, which is manifested by suboptimal detection accuracy, F1 scores, and average precision (AP) values. This deficiency hinders their capability to effectively manage the complexity and diversity of corrosion patterns present on oracle bone fragments. To tackle this challenge, this study incorporates advanced attention mechanisms, including Squeeze-and-Excitation Networks (SE), Coordinate attention, and Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM), into the YOLOv5 detection architecture. Additionally, we introduce Ghost convolution into the backbone network to effectively retain critical feature map information while optimizing computational efficiency. Our experimental results indicate that the integration of CBAM attention and Ghost convolution within the YOLOv5 backbone markedly improves the detection accuracy of corroded regions on oracle bone fragments. Specifically, compared to the baseline YOLOv5 model, the proposed models incorporating SE, CBAM, and Ghost convolution obtain the improvements of 2.2%, 6.3%, and 8.5% in AP, respectively. This improvement in detection performance not only facilitates the identification of corroded areas but also contributes to the preservation of oracle bone heritage and the continuity of cultural knowledge.

O Remo Apiaká na Escola Leonardo Krixi Apiaká

This article presents a culturally enriching educational activity carried out with students from the Leonardo Crixi Apiaká State School, in the Apiaká Kayabi Indigenous Land, in the municipality of Juara-MT, highlighting the work of high school students who carried out the traditional practice of making oars. The initiative provided a dialog between local cultural knowledge and the school curriculum, promoting an inclusive and decolonial approach in the school routine. By involving elders and community leaders, the activity provided a platform for intergenerational knowledge exchange and cultural preservation. The students not only learned practical handicraft skills, but also gained a deeper understanding of their cultural heritage and the importance of traditional practices.

Realidade sociolinguística do Povo Chiquitano da Aldeia Vila Nova Barbecho

This article deals with the sociolinguistic situation of the Chiquitano language in the village of Vila Nova Barbecho. The school is very important in the resumption of culture and language, as the partnership between the community, teachers and elders contributes to strengthening cultural and linguistic practices in the community and at school. The objective of this article is to discuss the situation of the language in the village and what actions can be developed to restore the language. The research methodology is qualitative and field-based. The investigation was carried out through a questionnaire and interviews with elders, parents, students and other people in the community. The results indicate that there are three elders who know the language, and when these elders meet or gather on a traditional festival day, they speak in the Chiquitano language, and this revitalizes our language and cultural knowledge.

PECULIARITIES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF GASTRONOMIC TOURISM IN GEORGIA

The article examines the essence of gastronomic tourism and its structure, considers its various definitions developed by foreign and domestic scholars. Gastronomic tourism is one of the types of excursion and educational tourism that was formed at the end of the 20th century. This is a relatively new but extremely interesting direction of the tourism business, which is actively developing, allowing travellers to learn about the cuisine of different countries and ethnic groups. The research uses the methods of structural-logical and semantic analysis (to clarify the terminology and conceptual apparatus of gastronomic tourism); system analysis (to assess the current state and prerequisites for the development of GT in Georgia), statistical method (to assess the place of GT in the tourist industry of Georgia), graphic method (for visual presentation of statistical data). The formation and development of gastronomic tourism in the world, its importance for the formation of the image of the territory are analysed. It is determined that gastronomic tourism is an integral part of all tours, and gastronomy has the potential to increase the attractiveness of the tourist product and tourist destination in general. It is proved that creating a favourable image of a country through the prism of national cuisine is a successful marketing ploy that helps attract tourists. It is intended, on the one hand, for tourists seeking knowledge and experience of new cultures, and, on the other hand, it provides additional value to the brands of tourist destinations. The influence of international (the World Food Travel Association and others) and national gastronomic tourism organisations on its development is characterised. The place of gastronomic tourism in the tourism industry of Georgia and the prospects for its development are analysed. It is proved that the culinary and wine sectors of Georgia play an important role. Thus, the contribution of the "Food and beverage service activities" sector in recent years has been approximately 20% in the GDP structure of the tourism industry. The analysis of the Georgian tourism sector has shown that gastronomic tourism in Georgia has significant potential to contribute to the development of new quality tourism products and experience. For its part, the National Tourism Administration of Georgia is doing its utmost to promote gastronomic tourism both nationally and internationally.

Towards a Meaningful Understanding of Organizational Leaders' Localized and Contextualized Implementation of UNSDGs in Bahrain's Changing Energy Sector Businesses

ABSTRACTDespite Network Leadership scholarship's emphasis on localizing and contextualizing leadership practices during organizational change, there is a dearth in the current theoretical framings on “how” to address the implementation failure of localization and contextualization towards broader SDGs/organizational sustainability. This paper fills this gap by offering deeper insightful theoretical and practical understanding of how organizational leaders can address socio‐economic and ecological sustainability concerns, and how a more meaningful reconceptualization and implementation of leadership practices can help Business and Management academics and practitioners address the organizational growth, human, and ecological well‐being dilemma in the energy sector. By drawing on Network Leadership, SDG, organizational change literature and 26 senior leaders' semi‐structured interviews, this study uses (Braun and Clarke's 2006) Thematic Analysis Procedure to resolve the theoretical and practical implementation lag in Business and Management scholarship. We contribute 4 novel implementation practices: (1) Operational; (2) strategic; (3) cultural and (4) interorganizational knowledge exchange alignment and a model on wider socio‐economic‐ecological well‐being. Showing ‘what’ leadership characteristics are needed and “how” to meaningfully reconceptualize the dominant localization and contextualization model of organizational change towards broader sustainability goals has been practically and scholarly overdue.

Turkish students’ intercultural challenges and aspirations in U.S. universities

In this paper, we present a study of Turkish international students' experiences in the U.S. by examining data from EksiSozluk, a Turkish social media platform. Drawing on social-emotional learning as a theoretical foundation, we investigated the types of challenges Turkish international students faced in the U.S. and the coping strategies and information they shared with each other. Adopting a thematic analysis, we analyzed the collected data, including 157 entries made by Turkish students about their study abroad experiences in U.S. higher education institutions between 2002 and 2023. The findings suggest that Turkish international students primarily struggle with social and emotional challenges, followed by financial, academic, and cultural issues. The main coping strategies employed by the students were building social relationships through interactions with other Turkish students on social media and seeking cultural knowledge through American pop culture.