Download MODERNISM , POSTMODERNISM ( general outline )

Teaching Culture and Reading Comprehension
Lect. univ. drd. Marinela LUPŞA
Universitatea “1 Decembrie 1918” Alba Iulia
“ Regardless of different points of view , culture has taken an important place in language
teaching ; it has been widely recognized that culture and language are interrelated and that
language is used as the main medium through which culture is expressed “ (Montgomery
and Reid-Thomas , 1994 )
Some of the leading linguists of the last few decades , such as Brooks , Lado , Rivers
agreed with H.H.Stern ,1983 , Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching . London : Oxford
University Press , that “cultural understanding and cross-cultural comparisons are a necessary
component of language teaching .”
A language does not exist in vacuum ; it is embedded in the culture of a people and
reflects the totality of beliefs and sentiments of the speech community . Malinowski (1946 )
has argued that “ language is essentially rooted in the reality of the culture , the life and
customs of the people , and … cannot be explained without constant reference to these
broader concepts of verbal utterance .” Every language has specific vocabulary items , the
concepts of which are totally different in another language .
In reading a foreign language text , three levels of meanings are extracted : lexical
meaning , structural or grammatical meaning , and socio-cultural meaning (Fries 1963 :
104-112 ). For lexical or grammatical meanings students may turn to a dictionary or a
grammar textbook . It is socio-cultural meaning that is the most difficult for a second
language learner to penetrate , for it involves the values , beliefs , and attitudes of the
speech community .
Reading contains many different aspects and complex skill . It is not simply a decoding
operation . It is not enough for students to decode the surface meaning of the text
Reading according to Widdowson (1979 : 174 ) , is an “interaction between writer and reader “
which cannot be had without an insight into the culture of the target language . Teaching a
foreign language poses a serious problem and the success of a second language program ,
depends on reducing the culture bondage of a student and motivating him to understand the
culture of the target language .
One of the objectives of foreign language teaching is to promote international
understanding and cooperation by enabling students to gain access to the life and thought
of a people who speak another language . This objective becomes unrealistic when there is
hostility towards the culture of another group . The study of a foreign language not only
enables an individual to develop his cultural understanding of that language , but also
promotes his personal culture through contact with great minds and literature . For culture is
often defined as “ that training which tends to develop the higher faculties , the imagination
the sense of beauty and intellectual comprehension. ( Dobson , Julia. 1972 . Dialogues and How
to Teach Them ) Many linguists have questioned the usefulness of non-culture-bound reading
materials in foreign language teaching. In such an approach texts are designed on a them
familiar to the students and reflecting their own culture . This destroys the unity of language
separating it from its social context . Language and culture being inseparable , the one cannot
be learned without the other . It has been proved that the students who were given reading
materials that related to the target culture had greater comprehension than those who were
provided with reading materials based on their own culture.
Objections have also been raised to a direct method , which exposes the students to
the second language through itself alone . This method is based on the assumption that
objects and situations in the native environment provide easily interchangeable concepts in
the second language . As already pointed out , no two languages represent the same social
reality . Even the most familiar objects , such as food and household items , have different
connotations in two languages .
Since the majority of students live in a monolingual and mono-cultural environment ,
they are “ culture bound .” This implies a great responsibility on the foreign language
teacher to reduce their cultural prejudices towards the language he is teaching . As a foreign
teacher , he or she must have thorough insight into the culture of the students as well as
the culture of the language he or she is teaching . This bicultural understanding is essential
to identify those areas of cultural background that will be unintelligible to his or her
students if presented without explanation . This will help him remove the misunderstandings
resulting from the outward manifestation of cultural identity .
Since many language teachers are not exposed directly to the foreign culture , they should
make up for this lack by disciplined reading . They should read critically the works of
culture , analyzing the differences of interpretation . They should supplement this with the
study of literature , because it is a repository of culture . Cultural insights can also be had
from the various media such as newspapers , magazine , radio , and television . Furthermore ,
they should enter into friendly contact with native speakers , wherever this is possible .
Most essential , while introducing cultural content in the classroom , the foreign
language teacher must maintain complete neutrality . he must not give his or her students
the impression that he or she is selling a foreign culture to them . The teacher’s approach
should be informative , analytical , and objective. As Wilga Rivers (1968 : 271 ) says :
“The teacher’s approach to culture , whether he be foreigner or native speaker , should not
be a chauvinistic one : he must overcome any temptation to try to prove the superiority of
one culture over another . He is not in the classroom to confirm the prejudices of his
students nor to attack their deeply held convictions . His aim should not be to win
converts to one system or the other . “
If the primary task of a language is to teach the language , he should introduce the
cultural concomitants as a musical accompaniment of independent importance to the process
of language learning . The teaching of cultural content should be integrated with the
teaching of language patterns and lexicon . Otherwise , the students will wander away from
the basic task of language learning . Through language use the teacher should make the
students aware of the correct levels of discourse and behavior as well as the social attitudes
of the people . This will motivate them to observe the cultural differences and reduce their
strong dislike towards another culture .
Regardless of the level of students , teaching materials should be culture-bound . Textbooks
that are “culturally neutral” ( culturally neutral situations are those which a student interprets
as familiar patterns of his own culture – Rivers 1968 : 275 ) will blunt the curiosity of the
students , and thus the task of language learning will be defeated . Right selection of
teaching material is very important to the success of language learning .
At the beginning level , the dialogue is usually considered a good medium for
introducing cultural items and patterns of behavior . Both the language and the situations
should be natural and easily comprehensible . The dialogue should be based on an
experience that is compatible with the age and interests of the language learner as well as
culturally appropriate for the speaker of the target language . It should cover major areas of
similarity and contrast between the native and nonnative cultures . The students should
memorize the dialogue and act it out . Through role-playing they will be able to identify
with the speakers of the dialogue and so gain much more insight into the target culture
than hours of comment and explanation would afford .
Another way of providing cultural knowledge is to use pictures to illustrate the lesson
. The teacher should select the pictures judiciously , so that they do not represent aspects
of the target culture that might be offensive in the culture of the students’ language They
should illustrate one main aspect of cultural behavior , and show life as it is lived at the
present time . In case pictorial materials are not available , the teacher himself should draw
a sketch of the culture and its people .
Films is also a powerful medium for projecting cultural life . It provides a living
experience of the foreign culture . The teacher should explain the cultural content presented
through the film , for observation alone can often mislead the students .
As the students gain more proficiency in the language , the use of dialogue and
pictures should be replaced by factual and expository materials . The strategy should now
be to teach the culture through the medium of language . A textbook comprising short
stories , poems , scenes from plays , and articles from leading newspapers and magazines
should be used for classroom instruction .
Reading materials should be representative of contemporary attitudes and situations in the
modern language . In addition , from time to time native speakers should be invited to the
classroom , and the students should be encouraged to ask questions about cultural matters
or things that puzzle them .
At the advanced level the students will get most of their cultural understanding from
the study of literature . Literature reflects the life and culture of a people . The study of a
foreign literature enables the student to experience the target culture through artistic means .
The aim of these activities is to increase students’ awareness and to develop their curiosity
towards the target culture and their own , helping them to make comparisons among
cultures . These comparisons are not meant to underestimate any of the cultures being
analyzed , but to enrich students’ experience and to make them aware that although some
culture elements are being globalized , there is still diversity among cultures . This diversity
should be understood and respected , and never underestimated .
Having in view this cultural diversity , it doesn’t mean that only one target culture such as
British or American is emphasized . Instead , a miscellaneous style in which cultural
elements of any English speaking country could be employed in an activity should be
chosen . This variety of cultures was grouped under predetermined cultural topics .
By cultural topics , there are considered all properties that are included in the definition of
the word “culture “ ( cultural artifacts , family talk ) . These properties are extensive and
practically impossible to be explored by all activities . Four different sources of general
categories were analyzed ; they were : Teaching and Learning Language and Culture by
Byram , Morgan and Colleagues , Cultural Awareness by Tomalin & Stempleski , British
Studies : Designing and Developing Programmes Outside Britain published by the British
Council , and a list of categories developed and presented by the Bulgarian teachers at the
Third International Summer School on British Cultural Studies . These topics were : social
identity ( groups characterized by social class , ethnic minorities ) , social interaction at
different levels of familiarity ; belief and behavior ( patterns of every day life ) , national
history and geography ( historical events , geographical places ) ; media ( TV , radio , newspaper
arts ( literature , cinema ); language variation ( black English , Cockney –how language is
presented ) . These activities are described under the following headings : aims , materials ,
level , preparation , procedure , follow-up , and variation . they are devised in such a way that
allows the teacher the flexibility to adapt them according to his or her needs and audience
Whenever possible linguistic items which may be used with the cultural aspects emphasized
are introduced .
Reading without comprehension is sheer verbalization ; comprehension ignites interest ;
interest loses attraction when comprehension is poor . One of the reasons for poor
comprehension is the lack of insight into the culture of the target language ; the reading
teacher should bring cultural understanding to his students . The greater their cultural
knowledge , the more confidently will they be able to approach the textual material ; to
expect that a student will develop reading efficiency without cultural orientation is an
illusion . This is not to say that students should be immersed in the foreign culture at the
cost of their own cultural identity ; the study of a foreign culture does not necessarily
mean shaping one’s life according to it. It should rather be confined to an academic interest .
REFERENCES
Fries , C. C.
1963 . Linguistics and Reading . New York : Holt , Rinehart & Winston
Hockett , C.
1968 .The state of art . The Hague : Mouton
Malinowski , B
1946. The meaning of meaning : A study of the influence of
language upon thought and of the science of symbolism , ed. Ogden
and Richards . London: Trubner & Co .
Rivers, Wilga,
1964 The psychologist and the foreign language teacher, Chicago
University of Chicago Press.
Widdowson , H.G. 1979 . The process and purpose of reading . In Explorations
in Applied Linguistics , ed. H.G. Widdowson. London: Oxford Univ.
Press