Culture In Language Teaching Research Articles

CULTURAL INSIGHTS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING FROM LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE PERPECTIVES

Culture is regarded as an essential component of a society. It encompasses several aspects of human life, including the language, literature, art, attitudes, beliefs, customs, and morals of people who live in the same community and share the same history. The cultures of people living in different societies have their own unique cultures, even if they are somewhat similar to each other. In the same vein, language reflects the culture to which it belongs and differs from one society to another. Language is the most important communication tool that provides social elements of a society. It is best passed down from generation to generation through literature such as poetry, fairy tales, stories, or novels. Literature offers the opportunity to understand the lives, thoughts, and feelings of people from the same culture and society. As mentioned, it is clear that culture, literature, and language are interdependent and cannot be considered separate from each other. Culture is also important for language teaching and cannot be disconnected from one another. From this point, this paper focuses on how language, literature, and culture are interrelated and the role of culture in language teaching.

THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN LANGUAGE LEARNING: EFFECTIVE APPROACHES TO BUILDING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN THE CLASSROOM

This paper investigates the key role of culture in language teaching and explores effective approaches to building intercultural communicative competence in the classroom. As globalization brings people closer together and people coming from diverse cultural backgrounds study together within one class, the ability to manage and appreciate cultural diversity has become an essential component of language education. This study explores various teaching methods and strategies that are utilized to promote intercultural communicative competence, such as the comparison between two or more cultures, the incorporation of culturally authentic materials, and reflective activities that promote cultural awareness and sensitivity. Through comprehensive and thorough examination of the systematic literature review, this thesis outlines the significance of culture when it comes to the benefits of integrating cultural education into language instruction and demonstrates what practical approaches have been utilized so far by language educators seeking to cultivate intercultural competence in their learners. This study seeks to investigate various ways of implementing cultural elements into language classrooms based on teachers’ experience and expertise. Moreover, the research looks at the importance and impact of Intercultural Communicative Competence in the context of language learning by evaluating students’ level of intercultural competence. A quantitative research design was employed in this study to achieve this. The research was conducted through an online survey aimed at two groups of respondents: teachers and students. The survey was intended to collect data on educators’ experiences with the implementation of cultural elements in language instructions and students’ self-evaluation of their intercultural communicative competence levels. For this study, the quantitative research method was chosen in order to get statistical analysis and numerical data from a wide range of participants regarding the role of culture, efficient approaches, and the level of students’ competence when it comes to diverse cultures.

İngilizce öğretimine roman ve kısa hikayeleri katmak

Novels and short stories can be seen as motivating and authentic materials in English Language classes (Lazar, 1993). It is because novels and short stories are rich in not only language, but also, cultural aspects of the foreign language. Therefore, novels and short stories may act as great sources of language and culture in English as a foreign language classes. The language instructors’ role is important in teaching English through these sources. By the language instructors, the level and needs of the language learners need to be taken into consideration while selecting and using these literary texts. Researchers such as Byram (1989) and Brown(2007) claim that it is not any possible to separate language and culture from each other, for this reason novels and short stories can be seen as great sources both for language and for culture of the target language. Thanks to literary translation, it really is possible to be aware of other cultures of the world with the help of novels and short stories’ translations. In the following paper, it is aimed to show how using novels and short stories in EFL classes may develop students’ knowledge of English while increasing their cultural awareness. In that sense, togetherness of language and culture in language teaching, novels and short stories in the language classroom and ways to overcome cultural problems while using novels and short stories in EFL classes will be presented.

Integrating novels and short stories into English language teaching

Novels and short stories can be seen as motivating and authentic materials in English Language classes (Lazar, 1993). It is because novels and short stories are rich in not only language, but also, cultural aspects of the foreign language. Therefore, novels and short stories may act as great sources of language and culture in English as a foreign language classes. The language instructors’ role is important in teaching English through these sources. By the language instructors, the level and needs of the language learners need to be taken into consideration while selecting and using these literary texts. Researchers such as Byram (1989) and Brown(2007) claim that it is not any possible to separate language and culture from each other, for this reason novels and short stories can be seen as great sources both for language and for culture of the target language. Thanks to literary translation, it really is possible to be aware of other cultures of the world with the help of novels and short stories’ translations. In the following paper, it is aimed to show how using novels and short stories in EFL classes may develop students’ knowledge of English while increasing their cultural awareness. In that sense, togetherness of language and culture in language teaching, novels and short stories in the language classroom and ways to overcome cultural problems while using novels and short stories in EFL classes will be presented.

Exploring Culture as a Step in the Development of Intercultural Skills

Objective: This study aims to analyze the reflections of a group of ninth graders from a Colombian high school about their culture during the development of an intercultural-based classroom project. Method: This qualitative action research study was grounded in an intercultural approach for language teaching. The study used a questionnaire and the written production of students to collect data which were analyzed using thematic and frequency analyses. Results: The findings suggested that the inclusion of cultural topics motivated the students and enhanced their awareness of the value of their culture and the impact of racism and discrimination within their sociocultural context. Similarly, a few elements of culturally relevant pedagogies, such as factual knowledge about culture, cultural competence, and critical consciousness, emerged from the voices of the students. Discussion and conclusions: Addressing the local manifestations of culture in English as a Foreign Language classrooms open the path for discussions on social issues and recognize the relevance of one’s cultural landscape. Nevertheless, the systematic integration of culture in language teaching at the national level is a task that remains to be achieved.

Review of Werner & Tegge (2020): Pop culture in language education: Theory, research, practice

Review of Werner & Tegge (2020): Pop culture in language education: Theory, research, practice

Pop Culture in Language Education: Theory, Research, Practice

Pop culture has long been permeating many aspects of daily life in contemporary society. In the language education context, teachers consciously or unconsciously make use of materials from pop culture in the foreign language (e.g. films, television series, novels, and music) when planning, developing, and enacting their language teaching. Learners at different ages naturally access a large amount of pop culture in foreign languages through mass media. This phenomenon echoes what Awad Ibrahim, in his chapter in this book, calls ‘the new normal’ (p. 258). However, the potential for pop culture in language education has, as Werner and Tegge put it in their introduction, been ‘underused and underresearched’ (p. 3). A reader approaching this book is likely to have the following questions: (1) What are the boundaries of pop culture in language education? (2) Why is pop culture used in language education? (3) How should we choose proper materials from...

Review of Werner & Tegge (2021): Pop culture in language education: Theory, research, practice

Review of Werner & Tegge (2021): Pop culture in language education: Theory, research, practice

DOES THE SAUDI ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM REFLECT THE CURRENT STATE OF ENGLISH? A DOCUMENTARY ANALYSIS FROM A GLOBAL ENGLISHES PERSPECTIVE

The Saudi English language education has experienced a continuous process of reform and revision. Recently, the Saudi English Language Curriculum (SELC) has been introduced to the research and practice community. The lack of research investigating language policies in the Saudi context is where the current study situates itself. Thus, a qualitative documentary analysis was carried out to study the document. The findings suggest that the newly reformed curriculum recognises the new global status of the English language, though implicitly. However, this recognition of English as a global language is not reflected in the desired practices. The native-speaker model seems to be the one that SELC has adopted. This is shown in the use of CEFR as the assessment reference of grading and in the traditional teaching approach. Regarding culture depiction in SELC, there was an emphasis on the role of culture in language education. The local culture (source) has received a considerable amount of attention in the form of topics relevant to Saudi Islamic culture yet the understanding of the notion of culture was still that of a traditional one. A number of research implications and limitations are reported in the conclusion of this paper.

Chinese College Students’ Intercultural Competence: Current Situation, Barriers and Solutions

Situated in Byram’s intercultural competence model, this study employed survey questionnaires and face-to-face interviews to investigate the current situation of Chinese college students’ intercultural competence through exploring a class of English majors. The results show that students were not satisfied with their reported intercultural competence; their desire for cultural learning was constrained by the current language teaching methods and content. Suggestions are made on how to position culture in language teaching and learning with implications for how teachers could provide more opportunities for authentic intercultural learning and prepare students to participate as global citizens.

Vietnamese English Teachers’ Perceptions of Culture in ELT Materials in Vietnamese Universities

As one of the main purposes of using English today is for international communication and globalisation, English has been mainly used among bilingual speakers of English who come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds (McKay, 2006; Sharifian, 2014). In such multinational and multicultural contexts, today English learners have to deal with not only linguistic barrier, but also cultural barrier. Therefore, it is crucially important that they are provided with multicultural knowledge and cross-cultural awareness. However, so far, there has been little research into the perceptions of English teachers towards culture used in ELT materials in EFL contexts. Therefore, the research aims to identify how seven Vietnamese teachers of English in two universities in Hanoi, Vietnam perceived culture and the role of culture in language teaching. This paper also seeks to explore how their perceptions influenced the way they taught culture in their English class and the way they adapted and developed ELT materials for their students with the hope that it will provide useful and practical suggestions for developing appropriate ELT materials for EFL teaching contexts. The research is based on a qualitative research which applies mostly in-depth, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The data of this research reveals that most participants recognized the close and interrelated relationship between language and culture and the crucial role of culture in language teaching. They also identified the important role of English as an international language and cultural differences in ELT materials. Realizing a cultural gap in most of the materials they taught, they tried to adapt the materials based on their students’ needs.

Exploring the Role of Cultural Teaching in EFL College Programs: An Introspective Study

Culture-embedded teaching is integral to teaching foreign languages. In Saudi higher education, the cultural aspects of the target language is poorly integrated in foreign language education due to rigid doctrinaire ideologies. This study, using a survey research design, aimed to introspect the perceptions of EFL instructors about culture and literature teaching in EFL college programs, particularly in Saudi Arabia. The study also explored the perceptions and attitudes of EFL college English language instructors concerning the integration of culture in English language education programs. Utilizing a descriptive research methodology, the researchers made use of questionnaires and interviews to tap into the perceptions of faculty responsible for teaching English as a foreign language courses in the EFL program of the College of Languages and Translation, King Khalid University. The survey and interviews also examined the EFL teachers’ attitudes towards the integration of literature teaching in English education. The findings showed that EFL instructors were concerned with explicit teaching of cultural issues through literature as an excellent source of culture-laden material for foreign language learning. However, due to meagre literature teaching, the current program is short of presenting adequate culture content integration. Barriers perceived include over-use of indigenous cultural and Islamic themes that interfere with proper teaching of the target language. Findings also revealed that teachers entertained positive attitudes toward integrating culture in language education through using a variety of methods and techniques. Pedagogical implications advocate the importance of integrating culture into foreign language teaching courses, especially in the literature curriculum stream as well as integrating real-life conversational excerpts for teaching culturally-laden content in listening and speaking courses. Suggestions for further research topics on culture integration in ELT are presented eventually.

History and culture in language education: monuments and memorials as expressions of collective memory

History and culture in language education: monuments and memorials as expressions of collective memory

Culture in Language Teaching

AbstractLearning a language means also the study of a different culture. This study focuses on the introduction of the topic of culture in language teaching into the curriculum of the subjectLanguage Teaching Methodologyfor teacher trainees studying atTranslation And Interpreting Studies, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Faculty of Technical and Human Sciences, Târgu-Mureş. This topic has not been treated separately so far, it has only been discussed implicitly, included in other topics. But we believe that future teachers should have a more thorough theoretical and practical training in terms of what incorporating culture into language teaching implies. For this purpose, we are going to examine and discuss some of the recommendations and principles stated in the specialized literature regarding culture in foreign language teaching and reflect on what the ideal content of a course related to the teaching of this skill should be.

The Influence of Cultural Differences on Chinese College Students’ Listening Comprehension

In English listening teaching, the background knowledge of teaching material can help the listener improve listening skills. Traditional teaching neglects the teaching of cultural background knowledge, which influences the effect of listening teaching. Understanding the cultural background can help us better understand western culture and improve the effect of listening, thus improving the teaching efficiency. It should also be an important task for students to understand the cultural differences between the east and the west. In view of the current situation of students’ lack of western culture knowledge, it is an urgent task to strengthen the teaching of Western culture in language teaching.

<b>Concepções de cultura no ensino de línguas: reflexões para a formação professores

A crescente comunicação intercultural por meio das tecnologias digitais no mundo atual nos faz refletir sobre a necessidade de repensarmos a relação entre língua, cultura e sociedade na formação de professores de línguas. Neste artigo, discutiremos alguns dos resultados de uma pesquisa qualitativa conduzida no contexto do projeto ‘Teletandem Brasil’, da Unesp, em um curso de formação continuada para professores de língua estrangeira da rede pública. Os resultados evidenciam a tendência dos professores de tratar cultura como um conjunto de conhecimentos sobre os produtos, práticas e perspectivas de um povo, geralmente associados a um estado-nação homogêneo, estanque e isento de conflitos. Os impactos de tais resultados para a formação de professores de línguas apontam para a necessidade de uma revisão da base de conhecimentos de tal formação no que se refere ao ensino e à aprendizagem de cultura em sala de aula de língua estrangeira, a fim de dissociá-lo da ideia de um corpo homogêneo, fixo e transparente de conhecimentos.

English Language Teaching in Iran: Tradition versus Modernity

Abstract The present paper discusses the tension between tradition and modernity with respect to the teaching of English in Iran. It demonstrates that the second decade of the present century marks a shift, albeit nascent, in a) Iranian teachers and officials’ attitudes towards the content and method of English language teaching in terms of the need for greater interaction in the classroom, and b) raised awareness of the importance of culture in language teaching. We pose the question: “how can Iran continue to build on new ideas about English language teaching at school and tertiary levels with a view to improving not only pupils’/students’ performance but also embracing modernity in a globalized world?” The discussion is based on a survey of literature addressing the current state of English education in Iran.

Language teacher cognitions and intercultural language teaching: The New Zealand perspective

The New Zealand school curriculum was last revised in 2007, at which time a new emphasis was placed on culture in language teaching. The practice of intercultural language teaching is implicit in the curriculum document and explicit in the curriculum guide, which features a set of principles for intercultural communicative language teaching (iCLT). This article presents a study on the extent to which New Zealand language teachers’ beliefs and practices are aligned with intercultural language teaching (ILT). A questionnaire administered to New Zealand language teachers included a number of items used in a seminal seven-nation comparative study conducted by Lies Sercu and her colleagues, as well as other items developed from relevant literature. Expanding on previous studies’ use of item-by-item analyses, multi-item scales to measure alignment of New Zealand teacher’s beliefs and practices with ILT were developed, which yielded good internal reliabilities. The findings revealed an apparent mismatch between beliefs and practices, with teachers being favourably disposed towards ILT but not practising the approach in their classrooms. Interpretation of the data using concepts from teacher cognition research suggested that the differences represented tensions between teachers’ abstract, theoretical beliefs and their concrete, practical beliefs. We argue that supporting teachers’ applied knowledge of developing intercultural communicative competence (ICC) will allow them to recognize that those beliefs need not be discordant.

What teachers say about addressing culture in their EFL teaching practices: the Vietnamese context

This paper examines Vietnamese EFL teachers’ beliefs about the role of culture in language teaching. It also considers how they address culture in their teaching practices in a Vietnamese university. Ethnographic data collected from semi-structured interviews indicated that opportunities for culture to find its way into EFL classroom activities were still limited. Priority was given to teaching language knowledge and skills, while culture played a minor role only.

Towards a Quality Culture in Language Education

Towards a Quality Culture in Language Education