{"id":4119,"date":"2013-08-03T03:01:47","date_gmt":"2013-08-03T03:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eltweekly.com\/elt-newsletter\/?p=4119"},"modified":"2013-08-03T03:01:47","modified_gmt":"2013-08-03T03:01:47","slug":"vol-5-issue-28-research-paper-integrating-culture-with-english-language-education-by-dr-anand-mahanand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/?p=4119","title":{"rendered":"Vol. 5 Issue 28 \u2013 Research Paper: Integrating Culture with English Language Education’ by Dr Anand Mahanand"},"content":{"rendered":"

ELTWeekly Vol. 5 Issue#28 | August 5, 2013 |\u00a0ISSN 0975-3036<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

* This paper is submitted for publication by\u00a0Dr Anand Mahanand<\/strong>.\u00a0Dr Mahanand\u00a0 teaches English at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. He is interested in\u00a0 Language through Literature, English\u00a0 for\u00a0 Specific Purposes, and English in Multilingual (Indigenous) Contexts. He has conducted and supervised research projects and published books, materials and research papers in these areas. His publications include English through Folktales<\/i> (2011), Tribal India in Fiction<\/i> (2011),\u00a0 English Language Teaching: Perspectives from the Periphery <\/i>(2012), and English for Academic and Professional Skills<\/i> (2012).<\/em><\/p>\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n

English language practitioners\u00a0\u00a0 earlier emphasized on developing four skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing in order to develop learners\u2019 proficiency in English. It had been\u00a0 thought that if learners developed proficiency in these four skills\u00a0 then they\u00a0 could use the language\u00a0 effectively. In addition to these four skills, they \u00a0added vocabulary and grammar components.\u00a0 But\u00a0 they \u00a0generally ignored another important aspect that has assumed importance in the process of language learning as well as language use. That component is culture. In recent years\u00a0 language experts have recognized its importance in language teaching. For this reason, it has been termed as the fifth skill for language learners that \u201cenhances students\u2019 over all learning experience\u201d(Kramsch 1993 p. 1). The role of culture was over looked earlier by\u00a0 practitioners as language educators as language\u00a0 education was thought to be a process of mastering the linguistic codes. It was mostly confined to language skills plus vocabulary, grammar and punctuation.<\/p>\n

However, they have realized its importance as language learning and teaching can\u2019t take place without contexts and cultures. Earlier, emphasis was on the culture associated with the target language. For instance, if one wants to learn\u00a0 French one needs to learn some aspects of French culture.\u00a0 Now, with the advent of learners\u2019 centred teaching, the focus has shifted to culture\u00a0 and contexts of the learner. This paper makes an attempt to explore the place of culture in English language education and explores ways \u00a0of\u00a0 integrating\u00a0\u00a0 it\u00a0 in English language education through collaborative tasks and activities. Here, \u00a0\u00a0first the term culture has been defined, then rationale for integrating culture is elaborated. Theoretical support for integrating culture with language teaching is also added. Then it has been shown through tasks\u00a0 by way of example how we can integrate culture with English language\u00a0 education.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/b><\/p>\n

Culture is an important aspect of our life. It has been defined in so many ways. It can be seen as a concept. We can also understand it as a process. We can see culture as a way of life. It includes manners, values, food, dress, language, literature, symbols art and craft of people of a particular place at a point of time. Gail Rabinson (1985), an American researcher classifies culture into three interrelated categories: products, ideas and behavior. He put literature, folklore, art, music and artefacts under products ; beliefs, values and institutions under ideas\u00a0 and customs, habit, dress, foods and leisure under behaviours. \u00a0Culture is fluid and variable. It differs\u00a0 from people to people, place to place and from time to time.\u00a0 Let us take a very simple example. In the U.K. people say \u2018thank you\u2019\u00a0 very often. If mother passes on\u00a0 a bowl of salad to the child at the dining table, the child says \u2018thank you.\u2019 If\u00a0 the child passes on the napkin to the father , father says \u2018thank you.\u2019 Such conventions are not\u00a0 found\u00a0 in most Indian families as we\u00a0 take this\u00a0 gesture for granted and understood even\u00a0 without\u00a0 an utterance.<\/p>\n

As it has been mentioned, language learning is not confined to learning of \u00a0the four skills only , vocabulary and grammar and the linguistic code of the language but the culture and context in which it will be used. For instance, if one goes to teach the Chinese learners, one has to be aware of Chinese culture or else they will be misunderstood. If some one comes to teach at Hyderabad, they need to be acquainted with the local culture.\u00a0 In Hyderabad, it is generally, asked as a\u00a0 gesture of greetings whether one has had one\u2019s food. The same is not the case in the North of India. If one asks \u201c Have you had your food? The other person\u00a0 might feel offended. He might think why he has been asked about his food habits. Once an Indian\u00a0 student invited by\u00a0 a family in the U.K. to have dinner.\u00a0 It was a special occasion. Good food was offered. While having food, the student was offered \u00a0to have some more. The student\u00a0 had the habit of saying \u2018no\u2019 as a matter of politeness (In\u00a0 India usually if we are offered something to eat it is customary to say \u2018no\u2019 for the first time, then if we are offered again, we say yes). So he said, \u201cNo, thank you\u201d expecting that they would ask him again. They offered him different dishes but every time he said \u2018No, Thank You.\u201d In the U.K. they\u00a0 go by what you say and don\u2019t ask you again and again. So he was not given any food for the second time. As a result he was half- fed and came back hungry. To explain the cultural variation it is said in Odia, \u201c Eka deshara boli ,anya deshara\u00a0 gali\u201d meaning \u201cOne nation\u2019s language could be the another\u2019s taboo!\u201d The above mentioned incident happened \u00a0to the student on a social occasion. This\u00a0 kind of problem can also occur in our classroom. \u00a0A teacher\u00a0 may\u00a0 come across certain objects or practices of culture,\u00a0 about which they may\u00a0 not be aware of. They need to be aware of some of these as they have to interact with others in the teaching learning process. Certain texts\u00a0 though written in English, might have such cultural\u00a0 elements. A teacher has to be aware of them.<\/p>\n

Hence there been stress on cultural aspects in language teaching these days.<\/p>\n

Theoretical Support<\/b><\/p>\n

The urge for inclusion of culture in language teaching is a result of inputs and ideas given by different linguistics and intellectuals\u00a0 such as Jean Piaget, Halliday, Vygotsky and Cummins. Jean Piaget\u2019s Constructivist theory of learning maintains that\u00a0 learning is an active process in which the learner constructs meaning. He was influenced by John Dewey\u2019s (1938) ideas that a learner learns by doing which means that a learner learns by participating in one\u2019 environment or cultural contexts. The social integrationist theory of Vygotsky (1962) proposes that children learn through meaningful interactions with their environments. Environment and cultural contexts play an important role in social\u00a0 interactional\u00a0 theory. The role of\u00a0 primary language described by Jim Cummins is also important here. School and community create an important role in raising self esteem of a learner. Halliday places culture in grammar and calls\u00a0 it a theory of human experience. When he calls it a theory of human experience, it entails larger scope beyond linguistic confines.\u00a0 All these suggest that language education\u00a0 should be looked\u00a0 from a broader perspectives including social and cultural\u00a0 factors in to account. \u00a0In the next section, we shall discuss why is culture important in English language\u00a0 education?<\/p>\n

Why Culture?<\/b><\/p>\n

It has\u00a0 already been mentioned why culture is important in English Language education. We can reiterate that culture helps in bridging the gap between language and cognition.\u00a0 In other words we can say that it provides a kind of background\u00a0 or contextual knowledge for the learner to understand and acquire\u00a0 skills. For example, if\u00a0 a learner is reading a story by\u00a0 R.K. Narayan say\u00a0 \u201cA Horse and Two Goats\u201d, some \u00a0cultural input\u00a0 on \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0food habit of farmer in a small village in Southern India, relationship between wife and husband (narrated in the initial page of the story) \u00a0will help them to comprehend the text easily .Without this,\u00a0 learners might have problem\u00a0 due to contextual difficulties even though the language\u00a0 suits their level.<\/p>\n

Culture\u00a0 can foster\u00a0 critical thinking in learners. There are many\u00a0 cultural practices that\u00a0 can evoke serious discussion, argumentative writing and so on. For instance, we give learners\u00a0 a text on dormitory system of the tribal people from Verrier Elwin\u2019s\u00a0 book which describes this system it will lead to very fruitful discussion, argument and debate.<\/p>\n

Vocabulary building will be easier if we bring in culture into it. Suppose a primary level child reads a word and sees an object on its side, it will be easier for the child\u00a0 to pick up the word.<\/p>\n

Integrating culture\u00a0 can ease out the difficulty level or in Krashen\u2019s term lower the affective filter. With the inclusion of cultural elements learners\u00a0 become more familiar with the context and hence more interested and motivated. Their\u00a0 level of anxiety and strain\u00a0 is reduced and learning\u00a0 process becomes easier.<\/p>\n

Integrating culture\u00a0 can\u00a0 foster understanding and harmony among people. There are\u00a0 misunderstandings and\u00a0 stereotypes\u00a0 among people because people don\u2019t know\u00a0 about one another\u2019\u00a0 culture. Knowledge of others\u2019\u00a0 culture will make us more understanding, tolerant and help to co-exist in peace and harmony.<\/p>\n

If language\u00a0 like English (as it has been seen as a dominant language) is taught just as a code, children from indigenous communities will have a feeling of lack diffidence but if their cultural elements are used they feel resourceful and confident. This may happen to teachers too. Research ( Meher,\u00a0 2010) has shown that\u00a0 when the learners culture is integrated with English language education, the proficiency level\u00a0 of the learners has gone up.<\/p>\n

How?<\/b><\/p>\n

The composition of an average English classroom in India is multicultural and multilingual. Children from different linguistic and cultural background\u00a0\u00a0 come to the classroom. This is not a hurdle for us. It should be treated as a strength. There are plenty of cultural resources available in our learners\u2019 contexts. They include course or text books, folktales, songs, riddle, proverbs,\u00a0 audiovisuals,\u00a0 newspapers, magazines which could be used as materials. For using cultural resources\u00a0 \u201c task oriented approach towards culture\u201d should be used through cooperative learning tasks ( Tomalin and Stempleski 1993, p.9). Here are some examples:<\/p>\n

Activity 1<\/b><\/p>\n

Food Festival<\/b><\/p>\n

Level:\u00a0 Intermediate<\/b><\/p>\n

Skills: Speaking, Listening and Writing.<\/b><\/p>\n

Time: 30 minutes<\/b><\/p>\n

Make the students form into groups of six. Each group\u00a0 is asked to prepare a recipe of a particular region. They plan in group what to prepare and discuss the ingredients and describe how it is prepared. They collect information and materials such picture and clips \u00a0about the recipe to present in the class. One of the member writes down\u00a0 the points to present in the class. The write-up should contain Introduction to the recipe, Where do we get it? What are the ingredients? How do we make it? \u00a0Once\u00a0 each group is ready with their recipe, they make a presentation on their recipe describing all these points.<\/p>\n

Activity 2<\/b><\/p>\n

Poster Workshop (Show cashing your place)<\/b><\/p>\n

Level: Intermediate<\/b><\/p>\n

Skills: Speaking, Listening and writing.<\/b><\/p>\n

Time: 30 minutes<\/b><\/p>\n

The class is divided into a group of five according their region\/state\/town. They are\u00a0 told that they will be making a\u00a0 presentation to the class about their state\/region or town. They\u00a0 need to discuss in the\u00a0 group, what they want to tell or show their class about their state\/region\/town. They can use pictures, clips and\u00a0\u00a0 any other materials. After the discussion and preparation of the write up. One member or two members\u00a0 from each group make their presentation.<\/p>\n

Activity 3<\/b><\/p>\n

Role Play (Say with a Smile)<\/b><\/p>\n

Level : Intermediate<\/b><\/p>\n

Skills: Speaking and listening<\/b><\/p>\n

Time: 20 minutes<\/b><\/p>\n

A few students are identified to come\u00a0 and\u00a0 show\u00a0 the class\u00a0 in their first language and then in English the following<\/p>\n

a. How do two people\u00a0 greet each other?<\/p>\n

b. How do they take leave? What do they say?<\/p>\n

c. How do they introduce the third person? \u00a0Show\u00a0 by introducing a friend.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n

English language teaching is not\u00a0 about four skills, grammar, vocabulary and phonetics but it also culture. Any language should be taught in context and culture\u00a0 and not in vacuum. Integrating learners\u2019 culture empowers the learner and make the local culture survive. We have tried some of these activities in a class on English in Multilingual Contexts at\u00a0 the EFL university Hyderabad. Students enjoyed the activities and the class made them feel resourceful and therefore\u00a0 confident and\u00a0 enthusiastic. What was most striking was that even the most quiet and shy students could take active part in these activities.<\/p>\n

References<\/b><\/p>\n

Mahanand , Anand .(2010). \u201c Using Indigenous Oral Narratives as Scaffolding in L2 Learning.\u201d Languaging<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Meher, Sadanand.(2010). Using home Language as a\u00a0 Support for English language Education.<\/i> Diss. Hyderabad: EFLU.<\/p>\n

Kramsch, C.(1993). Contexts and Culture in Language Teaching<\/i>. Oxford: OUP.<\/p>\n

Narayan, R.K. (1992). Malgudi Landscapes: The Best of R.K.Narayan<\/i>. Ed. S. Krishnan. Delhi: Penguin.<\/p>\n

Robinson, G.L.N.(1985). Cross Cultural Understanding<\/i>. New York: Prentice Hall.<\/p>\n

Tomalin, Barry and Susan Stempleski.( 1993). Cultural Awareness.\u00a0 Oxford: OUP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

English language practitioners earlier emphasized on developing four skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing in order to develop learners\u2019 proficiency in English. It had been thought that if learners developed proficiency in these four skills then they could use the language effectively. In addition to these four skills, they added vocabulary and grammar components. But they generally ignored another important aspect that has assumed importance in the process of language learning as well as language use. That component is culture. In recent years language experts have recognized its importance in language teaching. For this reason, it has been termed as the fifth skill for language learners that \u201cenhances students\u2019 over all learning experience\u201d(Kramsch 1993 p. 1). The role of culture was over looked earlier by practitioners as language educators as language education was thought to be a process of mastering the linguistic codes. It was mostly confined to language skills plus vocabulary, grammar and punctuation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","omw_enable_modal_window":"enable","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,39,218,238],"tags":[710,873],"class_list":["post-4119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elt-articles-and-research-papers","category-elt-newsletter","category-eltweekly-vol-5","category-eltweekly-vol-5-issue-28","tag-dr-anand-mahanand","tag-elt-research-papers","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}