What does it mean to teach culture in the classroom? Dilemmas and possibilities

Gloria GilUFSC

!XX Conve

ntion

APIRS Greatest H

its:

English Teaching

Then & Now

Discussing  the intercultural approach to English as an additional language from a

'practical' perspective

๏ First, I will briefly present the different meanings that culture has in language teaching.

๏ Then,   I will make a parallel between the communicative approach and the intercultural approach, pointing out their main differences.

๏ After that, to illustrate interculturality, I will talk about the characteristics of an intercultural communicator.

๏ Then, I will provide some examples of some intercultural tasks.

๏ Finally, I will show some of main problems and limitations that teachers have to be 'intercultural' and offer some ways to overcome these drawbacks.

Teacher’s dilemmas

What does teaching culture in the classroom mean?

What comes to our mind? !Food, customs, historical facts, geographical facts, festivals, paintings, music, ways of saying goodbye, values, ideologies.

Teacher’s dilemmas

How do I teach culture in the classroom?

๏ By talking about the culture of the other? ๏ Do I feel safe or comfortable? ๏ Do I know enough?

๏ Is this appropriate? ๏ By talking about our own culture? ๏ How can I do this?

Teacher’s dilemmas

How can I deal with stereotypes?

๏Do I have stereotypes? ๏What about students’ stereotypes?

What does it mean to teach culture in the

classroom?

Very difficult to answer. !Most empirical research show that teachers when asked this question say that they do not teach culture.

Different meanings that culture has in

additional language teaching

Culture as information or a set of facts

๏ Culture as an object or set to facts to be learned about “cultures”.

๏ Culture as information – About the other – About oneself. ๏ Usually brought by the course-books. ๏ Big C Culture vs. small c culture. ๏ Culture is separated from language.

Culture as pragmatic behaviour

๏ Culture is embedded in the pragmatic dimension of language, that is, what we do with words.

๏ Culture as pragmatic behavior: ways of apologizing, ways of initiating a conversation, turn-taking rules.

๏ Also it usually included in course-books.

Culture as language

๏ Some authors emphasize that by using and talking about some linguistic aspects such idioms, slang, metaphors, proverbs, we are dealing with culture as language.

๏ These are examples of how communities have different ways of inscribing realities.

Culture as pedagogy

Pedagogy = the way we teach:!๏ teacher-centered, student-centered; ๏ using authentic materials, using contrived materials; ๏ fostering student-student interaction; ๏ being language structure-oriented or communication oriented

(or in between).

Culture as awareness (attitudes) that:

๏ culture is a process; ๏ culture means dialogue and understanding; ๏ cultural issues can be seen from multiple perspectives

which lead to the complex understanding of difference (Byram, 1997; Kramsch, 2005).

Culture as classroom interaction

Culture as attitudes & awareness

Culture as pedagogy

Culture as information

Culture as language

Culture as pragmatic behavior

Culture as classroom interaction

Culture as interaction

Teacher

MaterialsLearners

How can we teach culture?

๏ We do not teach culture, culture is inside the classroom whether we like it or not. !

๏ A better question then is:!

How do we deal

with culture?

! THE INTERCULTURAL

APPROACH

COMPARISON

Communicative Approach

Intercultural Approach

In what way does

communicative language

teaching deal with language

and culture

Some Communicative Language Teaching - CLT - characteristics:

A STANDARD CULTURE

A STANDARD LANGUAGE

A PROCESSUAL OBJECTIVE

USA or BRITISH CULTURE

USA or BRITISH LANGUAGE

TO BECOME A NATIVE SPEAKER

!A Standard Culture

USA or British Culture

๏ CLT deals with cultures as national cultures.

๏ CLT avoids dealing with culture as difference and stresses monolithic or essentialist views of cultures.

๏ CLT disregards cultural factors related to age, gender, social class, race, profession, etc. and presents a homogenous view of society.

!A Standard Language

USA or British Language

๏ CLT deals with languages as national languages.

๏ CLT avoids dealing with other varieties of English.

๏ CLT emphasizes the informational dimension of language

The main cultural function of language is the transactional function

Exchange of information

function

CULTURAL INFORMATION IS USUALLY USED AS A PRETEXT FOR SPEAKING/WRITING.

!A PROCESSUAL OBJECTIVE: TO BECOME A NATIVE SPEAKER

๏ The native speaker is the ideal objective.

๏ Standard grammar, pronunciation and accent are valued.

How can the intercultural

approach fix those

drawbacks?

By re-interpreting the main objectives of the communicative approach

How can the intercultural

approach fix those

drawbacks?

OBJECTIVES OF THE INTERCULTURAL APPROACH

TO BE FLEXIBLE REGARDING LANGUAGE AND CULTURE PATTERNS

LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL VARIETY AND DIFFERENCE

OBJECTIVES OF THE INTERCULTURAL APPROACH

INCLUSION OF THE IDENTITY FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE

TRANSACTIONAL + IDENTITY FUNCTIONS

to establish and maintain contact

between people, being strongly

connected to a person’s or group

identities

Identity function: negotiating who we are.

Every time language learners speak, they are not only exchanging information with their interlocutors; they are organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and how they relate to the social world. They are, in other words, engaged in identity construction and negotiation.

(Norton 1997: 410)

OBJECTIVES OF THE INTERCULTURAL APPROACH

NATIVE SPEAKER INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATOR

!

What is the intercultural

communicator like?

!

HIS/HER OWN

CULTURE

STARTING POINT

Culture as information

She/He needs to know how to deal with culture(s) as information: his own and other cultures

She/He should be aware although culture is in the understandings and practices that are shared within groups of people (Phillips, 2003), these “shared” understandings and practices are loosely bounded, constantly changing, and subjectively experienced.

(Menard-Warwick, 2009, p. 30)

The ever-changing nature of culture

She/He needs to have a critical stance in relation to the issues of power related to the languages and

cultures at play.

Power relations

She/he needs to understand how participating in a community and sharing a language determines

his/her perceptions of the world

Linguistically and culturally determined modes to see the world

There are complex linguistically and culturally determined modes to see the world

She/he needs to be confident to use language and other semiotic resources (images, sound, music, etc.) in a creative way and understand their creative power. This is essential for the language learners who live in the current era, when creativity is one of the keys for successful communication.

(New London Group, 1996)

Creativity

How can interculturality

be dealt with the

classroom

!!

๏ Through spontaneous intercultural dialogue.!!

๏ Through planned intercultural tasks.

Two main ways

Example of

intercultural dialogue

1. S1: Recently I broke my earphone, so when I am in the bus I have to listen to another ones’ stories. So I was going to Canasvieiras and we have like this couple of Argentinos, oh it’s so boring, the voice, the tone of the voice, the fast they speak. It’s, it’s, make me uncomfortable, but I’ll not tell them that. I was like, oh my God.

2. T: But they were speaking in Spanish? 3. S1: Yeah. 4. T: In the bus? 5. S1: Yes. 6. S2: I think that’s wrong. 7. T: Wrong? 8. S2: Only if they don’t know to speak Portuguese, but they know. 9. T: Yeah, but they were in a group of (interrupted). 10. S1: Couple, two. 11. T: They are probably friends. 12. S1: Yeah, probably. 13. T: That’s why they were speaking. 14. S1: Oh, they were screaming. 15. T: So you didn’t like because they were loud? 16. S1: Too (laughs). 17. S3: It seems that their voice, it’s kind of annoying. 18. S1: Yes. 19. S3: The sounds it’s annoying, it seems there (inaudible). 20. T: And do you think that they think Brazilians can be annoying too? 21. S1: I think everything is possible. 22. T: Everything is possible? Because sometimes we say people from other places are

annoying but we never thought that might be, they might think that we are also annoying, right?

Spontaneous Dialogue

Example of (planned)

intercultural tasks

Jokes & Stereotypes

In heaven, the cops are British, the lovers are French, the food is Italian, the cars are German, and the whole thing is run by the Swiss. !In hell, the cops are German, the lovers are Swiss, the food is British, the cars are French, and the whole thing is run by the Italians.

๏ Read individually the following jokes. ๏ Get in small groups and discuss:

Jokes & Stereotypes

- What elements bring the comic effect in each of them? - Try to find the mechanism of the joke. - Do they make use of stereotypical information? - Do you believe that they are politically correct?

Q: A rich Mexican, a poor Mexican, Santa, and the Easter bunny are each in a corner of a room, and a dollar is in the middle. Who gets it? A: The poor Mexican, the other three don't exist.

Jokes & Stereotypes

Intercultural tasks prompt

learners to engage more deeply

with the cultural assumptions

implicit in texts and images.

๏ Students read an analyze some chapters of the book How to be an alien by George Mikes.

๏ Students decide on a topic to create a ppt presentation using text and images.

๏ Students develop the ppt with help of the teacher. ๏ Students present the ppt to the other students and generate

a dialogue.

How to be an alien

How to be a gaúcho

in F lorianópolis

There are many curiosi t ies about the relat ionship between gaúchos, and catarinenses. Jokes are very common.

So, you need to know that when you come live in F lorianópolis.

You will only find company for i t i f you know another gaúcho or i f go west. In F loripa, just gaúchos drink chimarrão.

But don’t forget this tradi t ion.

Some people are very famous,

travel around the world, and st il l

drink this.

- If you go in a bakery don’t ask for a “cacet inho”. - Yes, yes, they know what you are asking, but they will always seem “misunderstanding”. - So, never ask for a “cacet inho”. Just say: P lease, can you give me some salty bread!

Cacet inho?!Well, I don’t know why

gaúchos call salty bread

“cacet inho”.

For you, gaúcho, this is a “estojo”, right??? Forget! In F lorianópolis, just say “penal”.

O ther di f ferent words If you have the wish to eat

something sweet.

Remember: don’t say

“negrinho”. Say “brigadeiro”

P.S: When I was looking for this picture, I put on Google “estojo”, and found it. But, when I put “penal” I found just criminal subjects.

But, take care. Just talk about foot ball wi th this people.

The others can not understand.

O ther di f ferent words Don’t be surprised i f you pass by a sport store window and

find Inter and Grêmio soccer team shirts. Many people here

are supporters of the gaúcho teams.

So, in this way, you will feel at home.

In fact, all this is a funny joke.

We are compatriot, and

collaborate wi th each other for

our development.

Main components of intercultural tasks

Ethnografic

Multi-modal Critic and creative

Multimodal texts (verbal, auditory and/or visual) which involve the imagination of the reader/viewer: comics and graphic novels, jokes, advertisements, graffiti, song lyrics, films, video clips and blogs. In those texts, cultural content is often metaphorically expressed.

Multi-modal

๏ limited time and resources, ๏ textbooks without proposals for inter-cultural

activities, ๏ Syllabuses that emphasize linguistic goals ๏ and lack of teacher knowledge about how to deal

with (s) culture (s) involved, which creates uncertainty and fear of the reactions of the students.

Some reasons for the difficulties to implement an intercultural approach

๏ The last reason, in turn, related to additional language teacher education, is that the relationship between language(s) and culture(s) is not usually included in the curriculum, i.e. language and culture issues are not dealt with and problematized at college.

In teacher education

!

THANK YOU!

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