Learning a Foreign Language

Teaching for Cultural Awareness

Presentation by Dr. Christiane Gautier

University of California, Santa Cruz

STARTALK 2009 Berkeley Teacher Program University of California, Berkeley

August 7, 2009

Learning a Foreign LanguageNot just about learning a new linguistic code (“what”)

Learning "how, when, and why to say what to whom.”

Language/communication does not occur in a vacuum. => Culture provides the context within which communication occurs.

Language and culture CANNOT be separated.

Culture / ChallengesQ: Why is it challenging for us to teach “culture”?

Lack of agreement about what “culture” means as it involves several fields of study; our own definition(s) of “culture” are not always clear.

Even if we are native speakers, we are not sure of what to teach! (As a Mandarin teacher, which/whose “Chinese culture” do I teach?)

We are not always sure of when to teach it!

We are not always sure of how to teach it!

Culture / ChallengesQ: Why is it challenging for us to teach “culture”? (cont’d)

We don’t have enough time to teach culture. We have too many other important things to teach. “I’ll do it later!”

Our own lack of cultural knowledge; we fear that we don’t know enough.

It may be uncomfortable at times since it involves dealing with students’ stereotypes about the target culture, and/or students’ ethnocentric views, or possible negative beliefs/attitudes, etc.

Culture is multifaceted and changes over time.

Culture / Definition Q: How would you define “culture”?

“Culture is the logic by which I give order to the world. Part of this logic is ‘tacit, invisible,’ it is ‘everything that goes without saying.’ ” Carroll, Raymonde (1988)

“[...] culture learning, whether it occurs in a foreign language or second language context, inside or outside the classroom, with or without teachers, through books or through people, is best seen as a lived experience, as a personal encounter with another way of life.” Moran, Patrick (2001:3)

Culture / Definition Q: How would you define “culture”?

“Culture is all the accepted and patterned ways of behavior of a given people; it is that facet of human life learned by people as a result of belonging to some particular group; it is that part of learned behavior shared with others.

Not only does this concept include a group’s way of thinking, feeling, and acting, but also the internalized patterns for doing certain things in certain ways… not just doing them.

This concept also includes the physical manifestations of a group as exhibited in their achievements and contributions to civilization.” (Peck, 1998)

Culture is born of the interaction between what constitutes the formal culture of a society as a whole and the informal aspects of the individual’s daily lives within that society. => 2 major sides, and both are reflected in the language, in the behaviors, and in the values of the people.

Culture / Definition

Culture with a big C= formal culture / Olympian culture / culture MLA => social, political, and economic institutions, music, literature, and the arts.

culture with a little c = informal culture / hearthstone culture / culture BBV=> products of individuals’ everyday lives (e.g., clothing, foods, etc.) + personal beliefs, behaviors, and values.

Goals of Cultural Instruction

1) The Sense, or Functionality, of Culturally Conditioned Behavior

cf. Seelye (1984)

2) Interaction of Language and Social Variables

=> Students should be able to demonstrate an understanding that people act the way they do because they are using the options the society allow for satisfying their basic physical and psychological needs.

=> Students should be able to demonstrate an understanding that social variables such as age, [gender], social class, and place of residence affect the way people speak and behave.

Goals of Cultural Instruction (cont’d)

3) Conventional Behavior in Common Situations

4) Cultural Connotations of Words and Phrases

=> Students should indicate an ability to demonstrate how people conventionally act in the most mundane and crisis situations in the target culture.

=> Students should indicate an awareness that culturally conditioned images are associated with even the most common words and phrases.


5) Evaluating Statements about a Society

6) Researching Another Culture

=> Students should demonstrate the relative strength of a generality concerning the target culture in terms of amount of evidence substantiating the statement.

=> Students should show that they have developed the skills needed to locate and organize information about the target culture from the library, the mass media, people, and personal observations.


7) Attitudes Toward Other Cultures

=> Students should demonstrate intellectual curiosity about the target culture and empathy toward its people.

=> After articulating your own working definition of “culture,” define your own goals for your own cultural instruction.

=> Make sure that these goals translate into tasks that can be assessed.

FAMILY / HOME EATING / CLOTHINGHOLIDAYS / VACATION / TRAVEL LANGUAGE / SOCIAL INTERACTIONS /

GOOD MANNERSLEISURE ACTIVITIES / TRANSPORTATIONGEOGRAPHY / POPULATION / HISTORYEDUCATION / POLITICS / RELIGIONMONEY / WORKING / ECONOMIC SYSTEM

Themes Most Commonly IncludedQ: What exactly do you cover?

Themes Most Commonly Included (Cont’d) SERVICES : BANKING, POST OFFICE, ETC.COURTSHIP & MARRIAGE / DEATHHEALTH & WELFARECONTEMPORARY SCENE / MEDIA/PRESSNONVERBAL COMMUNICATIONETC.=> Remember that you just cannot cover everything!

=> Select cultural aspects that are relevant and interesting for students.

=> Be aware of the language level of your students.

=> Some cultural themes are dictated by our textbooks.

Some Traditional Teaching Approaches

cf. Galloway, Vicki (1985)

1. The Frankenstein Approach

A taco from here, a flamenco dancer from there, a gaucho from here, a bullfight from there.

2. The 4-F Approach

Folk dances. Festivals. Fairs. Foods.

(cont’d)

3. The Tour Guide ApproachIdentification of monuments, rivers, and cities.

4. The “By-the-Way” Approach

Sporadic lectures or bits of behavior selected indiscriminately to emphasize sharp contrasts.

=> Oftentimes “teaching culture” equals teaching facts and showing products/artifacts. Is this enough?

Q: Which methods do you use? What do you think of these methods?

Some Traditional Teaching Approaches

cf. National Standards for Foreign Languages

Consider three inter-related components of culture:* Perspectives* Practices* Products=the “3-Ps Approach”

The Prevailing Approach

=the cultural framework to keep in mind when we teach

The 3 Ps Approach * Perspectives => ideas, attitudes, beliefs, and values that

people tend to share within a group; they are molded by society's overarching framework and belief system (“world’s view”).

* Practices => certain patterns/behaviors accepted by a society (traditions/rules); what to do when and where (e.g., use of personal space, use of compliments, when to kiss, hug, shake hands, etc.)

* Products => inventions and innovations of individuals (e.g., clothing, foods, cars, songs, movies, novels, laws, etc.); they reflect the values and physical needs of a society.

* Exemple(s) relevant to the U.S.

Q: What would be some exemple(s) relevant to your target culture? (Starting with perspectives, for instance)

The 3 Ps Approach / Examples

Perspective/Value: Mobility/Independence

Practices: Going to school in another town, in another part of the country; moving to another state to begin a new job; etc.

Products: Use of cars (symbols of mobility and independence); every apartment is fully equipped with kitchen appliances (fridge, stove, etc.); etc.

* Scott & Huntington (2000)

Research

. Level and quality of recollection of two groups of students who learned about Ivory Coast.

. One group studied a fact sheet and the other group studied a poem about colonialism in Côte d’Ivoire.

. The group that studied the fact sheet retained very little information about the Ivory Coast culture, whereas the group that read the poem showed a capacity to empathize with the personal history of the Ivory Coast people.

=> “An information-acquisition approach to culture may lack essential dimensions that help students to comprehend, internalize, and feel comfortable with [certain] social demands.”

Research / Wright, David (2000)

. Measured two ways of teaching about German culture in a beginning language course.

. One group (A) was taught following a constructivist, process-oriented approach.

. The other group (B) was taught following a knowledge-based approach.

. Group A experienced more positive results on several post-tasks that assessed their cultural sensibilities and their cross-cultural adaptability.

Some Useful Techniques

* Use of music/songs and dances

* Creation of bulletin boards and collages

* Mini-lectures about a cultural aspect of the target culture (in L2, if possible)

* Study authentic materials: photos, pictures of ads, songs, video-clips, food items, red envelopes, films, movie-trailers, newspaper articles, magazines, slides, postcards, etc.

* Extension of TPR: Students act out some culture-related instructions given by the teacher (cf. table manners).

* Use of mini dramas/mini skits: Students create and perform a skit related to a specific cultural theme or situations (e.g., role plays, journalistic interviews, TV news reports, case studies, etc.)

Some Useful Techniques (cont’d)

* Cultural assimilator: 1) Give/read students a short passage demonstrating an intercultural exchange where a misunderstanding occurs;2) Offer four possible interpretations; 3) Get feedback from students on what they think and why.

* Culture capsule: Briefly present one aspect of the target culture (e.g., educational system) followed by a discussion of the contrasts between target and first cultures.

* Turn students into cultural detectives with culture-related research projects (e.g., present a region of China, a Chinese writer/painter/singer/athlete, etc.); using libraries, the Internet, community centers; they create maps, timelines, posters; they make PPT slides, short movies, etc.


* Share your own experiences of the target culture (and have students share theirs) using realia if possible (e.g., postcards, photos of trips, clothing, souvenirs, etc.)

* Presentation of a critical incident: 1) Situation: some problems occur in the interactions among people from different cultures (e.g., use a movie, a dialogue) 2) Students analyze the situation and the reactions of all people involved.3) They then reflect on the cultural values represented, and decide on a course of action.


* Study the language itself: use of proverbs, sayings, metaphors, humor (e.g., cartoons, excerpts of comedies)

* Use of literary texts, poems, folklore

* Use of self-awareness techniques (in L2, if possible): give students self-assessment questionnaires, sensitivity exercises, a checklist of value orientations, etc. -> very useful to check on students’ stereotypes and on students’ awareness about their own culture.


* Use of cultoons: a cartoon or cartoon strip that depicts some cultural aspects of the target culture; students must find the cultural clues and interpret the social signals of the target culture (e.g., select cartoons illustrating cultural values; delete some words and let students imagine them).

* Invite native speakers as guests and have students interact with them.


* Access the target culture available around you as much as possible, outside class time: field trips to local special events, visit to local community centers, write to e-pals/pen pals, set up Skype exchanges, get involved in study abroad programs, etc.

* Etc.

* “[…] more often than not we tend, in our language classes, to focus our attention on developing our students' linguistic skills and we spend rather limited time developing their understanding of the "foreign" culture.”

* Cultura’s objectives :. to help students develop their own understanding of the values, attitudes, beliefs and concepts inherent in another culture. to understand how people in the target culture interact, look at the world, and frame their thoughts and ideas.

An Interesting ProjectCultura / M.I.T.: http://cultura.mit.edu

* “Cultura supports a new methodology for learning about another culture --a methodology which is not based upon being "taught" what [the native culture and the target culture] are like or which does not reduce culture to a series of facts about the other country.”

* “Developing understanding of another culture is a process which involves a series of stages that take the intercultural learner along a journey of discovery and reflection.”

An Interesting ProjectCultura / M.I.T.: http://cultura.mit.edu

* Work on specific documents (e.g., answer questionnaires and analyze the responses, research national surveys, watch films, analyze ads, read articles)

An Interesting Project

* Come back to class and share their findings, and make connections from one document to the other, thus generating whole class discussions.

* In and outside of class, on their own and in groups, students do the following tasks :

Cultura / M.I.T.: http://cultura.mit.edu

Cultura / M.I.T.: http://cultura.mit.edu

* Come back to class with a selection of comments by their peers abroad which are then shared and discussed.

* Go back to the website to explore other materials.

* Go onto on-line forums, post their comments, make hypotheses, ask questions based on their individual observations and the class discussions

An Interesting Project

Conclusion: Building Bridges* Articulate your own working definition of “culture” and

your goals for cultural instruction.

* Move away from the idea of “teaching culture

* Don’t simply provide students with cultural facts or products. Students really need to EXPERIENCE aspects of the target culture for themselves => include more learner-centered activities.

* Instead, think of it as “teaching for cultural awareness,” “teaching for cultural understanding,” thus as helping students to build bridges between C1 and C2, and maybe find a “third space” (C3) in between (Kramsch).

References

* See the list of useful references (Word document) distributed to all participants

Documents

Learning a Foreign Language