Download 02 The Meaning of Culture

02 The Meaning of Culture
Lecturer: H. Cindy Lee
Intercultural Communication & English Education
Conceptualizing ‘Culture’
• ‘Big C’ Culture
– Achievement Culture/ Objective Culture/
Elite Culture/ High Culture / Formal Culture
– e.g. geographical monument, history, arts,
literature, political system, religion,
education, customs, etc.
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Conceptualizing ‘Culture’
• ‘little C’ Culture
– Behavior Culture / Subjective Culture /
Daily Culture
– e.g. worldview, a shared system of
attitudes, values, beliefs and behavior,
‘collective mental programming’, ‘software
of the mind’, etc.
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Characteristics of Culture
• Culture is learned
– Enculturation
– Conscious Learning / Unconscious Learning
– We learn our culture through:
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proverbs
traditional literature
art
mass media
elders, parents…
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Characteristics of Culture
• Culture is subject to change through:
– Innovation
– Diffusion
– Acculturation
• Culture is integrated
• Culture is ethnocentric
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Culture in Language Education
(Conventional Views)
• Culture as element of pragmatics and
semantics
– e.g. the cultural history of lexis, particular
usage of vocabulary
• Culture as Macro-context for language
use
– e.g. politeness in context
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Culture in Language Education
(Conventional Views)
• Culture as thematic content
– e.g. topical issues for reading texts or
lecture such as human rights,
environmental problems, festivals, etc.
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Culture in Language Education
(Communicative View)
• Subjective Culture in learning of language:
– Language use (social context of language)
– Nonverbal behaviors (e.g. body language)
– Communication style (patterns of discourse)
– Cognitive style (e.g. preferred forms of logic)
– Cultural values (e.g. judgment of behaviors)
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Note of Culture in Language
Education
• In current English teaching and learning
materials, there are more or less
culturally relevant content.
•All kinds of culturally relevant content
contribute to IC teaching and learning to
a certain degree. The effect depends on
how you interpret and teach it in class.
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The Focus of This Course
• We concern about what drives people to
do things in a certain way (cultural root).
• We will also look at various cultural
patterns in different communicative
contexts.
• The way people communicate is the way
they live. It is their culture.
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The Focus of This Course
behavior
clothing
food
cultural patterns,
products, life style
meanings, beliefs,
attitudes, values
cultural roots
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The Aim of This Course
Intercultural Concept
Intercultural Knowledge
Intercultural Understanding
Intercultural Communication
Intercultural Competence
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Reflection
• Describe a typical day from morning to
night in terms of the cultural values that
govern your actions. For example:
Action
Culture Values
Brush teeth (Do you take
shower in the morning?)
Hygiene is part of basic manner. (Most Taiwanese people
take shower at night, but you may find many Westerners
take shower in the morning to avoid odors.)
Eat breakfast (sandwiches,
porridge/bun? )
Breakfast often reflects the origin of one’s family and
cultural influence. For example, families from North of
China may prefer 燒餅,油條,饅頭, those from the South
may have 稀飯. If you live on your own, probably you buy
a bread or whatever the vendor next to your school sells to
you!? Isn’t this like western-style ‘fast-food’?
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Reference
• Smith, A. G. (ed.) 1966. Communication
and Culture: Readings in the Codes of
Human Interaction. Now York: Holt,
Rinehart & Winston.
• Gibson, R. 2002. Intercultural Business
Communication. Oxford University Press.
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Discussion & Assignment
• Please go on the section of Discussion
and Assignment.
-End-
See you in next unit!
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