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There Is No Such Thing As Language Without Culture. A Possible What and How of Teaching Culture

by Oana Andone, Colegiul National "Mihai Eminescu", Iasi

Key-words: “Capital C” Culture, “Non-capital c” culture, cultural awareness, cultural competence

 

Abstract: Language is a carrier of culture and it cannot be taught without teaching culture as well. However, culture is amorphous, hence the difficulty of choosing what and how to teach it. This article aims at answering the questions of what and how to teach culture through/with language.

 

The world is fluid. Values such as mobility and communication skills are not only in fashion, but also seen as a guarantee for success in life in a variety of fields, from science and technology, business and trade to arts. Everybody agrees that mastering a foreign language is essential in this world free of fixed shape. But how many understand that one of the forces the world yields to is culture? And how many teachers consider teaching culture in their ordinary language lessons? While it is generally accepted in any language teaching community that culture is an integral part of language learning, there is little consensus on what, much less how, we should teach it. Unlike vocabulary and grammar, unlike the skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) which are concrete in their content, culture is quite amorphous and therefore difficult to define. This article aims at providing a personal and therefore highly subjective answer to the questions of what and how to teach culture.

Without attempting to summarize everything that has ever been written about culture in one exhaustive definition, here is one version that I find useful for me as a language teacher: culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, historical background, religion, cuisine, social habits and arts. Along with the other four skills already mentioned, our aim as language teachers should be to teach culture as a skill in itself, a skill that would emphasise and foster the learner's ability to perceive, to understand, and ultimately, to accept cultural relativity, i.e. difference.

Two general categories of culture have been identified by people who studied the concept extensively: “Capital C” culture and “Non-capital c” culture. In school we are all exposed to elements of “Capital C” culture and when we become teachers we tend to feed our students the same type of information. Who are the nation’s great writers, artists and musicians? What are the lasting pieces of art, music and literature? What are the great moments in this culture's history? These are all examples of content that many language teachers will automatically include in their lessons. However, we tend to ignore overt teaching of “Non-capital c” culture such as the features of daily life, food, popular culture, and social mores. If our students are to get a real chance to adapt to today’s world, it is easily understandable that the latter should occupy as prominent a position in our teaching as the former, if not a more central one.  

Moving on to the second question of how to teach culture, particularly the “Non-capital c culture”, there are various simple, and time-saving instruments that teachers may employ. The first such tool is already old news-using authentic texts, i.e. texts written by native speakers for native speakers to be used in a native environment. While it is not a new idea at all, it is helpful to understand that a text is not limited to something written down. A text may be a film, a song, a train ticket, or anything else in a language and culture that conveys meaning. Exposing students to authentic material provides the opportunity to observe native speakers’ language mannerisms and the social situations associated with these. It takes the language out of the classroom and into a natural setting where nothing is constrained. Furthermore, it fosters curiosity and strengthens self-confidence when students discover that they can go beyond the meaning of words and understand the complex cultural context within language/ a community of speakers. 

A second method at hand is food, i.e. cooking (and of course eating) some traditional dish from the target culture with the students. An increasing number of schools are either equipped with a culinary lab or have started focusing on teaching healthy eating and cooking.  Food is a great way for culture to get to our students’ hearts. When eating something new and different, and perhaps slightly unusual to them, the fact of cultural diversity will become a reality. There’s nothing like tasting something new to understand that a language is a different way of seeing, using and arranging things. We are not all born great chefs, but we may be surprised to discover that some of our students are. It is enough to sparkle some enthusiasm about the process, and then the experience becomes easy and gives students the occasion to prove what they can do in the kitchen, while learning that there are more ways to get something done. And to take advantage of the linguistic side of culture, food can be a great vocabulary-teaching tool.

Another tool to be used is comparative analysis. They’ll be able to appreciate it more because they’ll have a way of comparing practices and traditions. The peculiarities of the target culture can make for memorable points of comparison when set against one’s own culture. As a readily accessible example, one can observe the concept of time as a fascinating cultural oddity. In England 5 o’clock means exactly 5 o’clock, therefore if you have an appointment at 5, even if it is with your best friend, it is considered rude and totally inappropriate to be there at quarter past five. However, in Romania, the concept of time includes more flexibility- 5 o’clock may mean between friends anything between 4:45 and 5:15 and on occasion it is considered to be good taste to arrive 10 to 15 minutes after the set time. Cultural differences such as these can be used to develop cultural awareness, but also to teach language. Due to its novelty for students, a single cultural practice may be used repeatedly for a variety of language lessons with different focus. 

Finally, the richest resource we can tap into as teachers consists in our students. No matter what culture a people are part of, one thing is always true- it will eventually change. Culture is always in motion and it is the dynamic youth who tend to be more up to date with the latest trends than us, teachers, who have settled into our tastes and routines. If we pay attention to the language our students tend to repeat, to the gestures they use more frequently, to the way they dress and to their posture, to the topics they are more interested in and to the topics they would like to avoid, if we show interest in their hobbies and in the online resources they access, we may also learn and then spread cultural issues that we are not otherwise likely to come into contact with. 

By teaching culture, not only do we equip our students with the skills they need when using the target language in the real world, but we also make it easier for our students to learn the language by accepting and even embracing diversity. Open-mindedness will enable our students to approach grammar more willingly.  What may seem illogical vocabulary at first may disappear if students are aware that there is more than one valid way of expressing something.

Biodata:
Oana Andone holds an MA in American Cultural Studies from "A. I. Cuza" University and was the beneficiary of a postgraduate programme focusing on Translation Studies at the University of Copenhagen. She has been teaching English for almost two decades. Her interests include literature, cultural studies, gender studies, and translation studies.