Culture is defined as
the culmination of various aspects in a community, including their personal
habits, community habits, their behaviors of living day to day life and during interactions,
their literature and fine arts, their values, and their language(s). These can be
shaped by factors such as geographical location, population size, and religion.
It is very important
to teach L2 culture while learning the L2 because it helps students to better
contextualize the language. Students are able to visualize and refute Higg’s Lexical
Analog Hypothesis, the hypothesis that the foreign language is the same as the
native language, except that it uses different words. Students can better
comprehend that grammatical order and rules of the language, based on
historical and cultural themes.
Although harder than learning culture in the actual
target language country, it is possible to teach L2 culture in the classroom
setting. Teachers need to command a great use of time sensitive, authentic
materials in order to best pass along the real culture of the L2. These can
include recently published magazines similar to those in the United States,
news broadcasts, and popular music. Culture needs to be shown, not told.
Teachers should not be standing in front of the classroom and telling students
that this, this, and this happen during Semana Santa in Spain, but rather let
students investigate it, learn for themselves, and construct their own assumptions. Some limitations that may
exist, as Seelye points out is the negativity that can come out of
ineffective “fact only” approach to teaching culture: establish stereotypes rather
than diminishing them, not preparing students for all situations, and teaching
out dated lifestyles. Teachers should be sure to give students a well-rounded
view of the culture, especially when culture exists in multiple provinces or
countries.
i really like your idea about the way that teaching the L2 with the target culture together helps students to contextualize the language. Without knowing about the target culture, many problems will present in learning the language itself. Also, culture being shown rather than told is highly important in the classroom, especially with the limited time that most classes are experiencing. It is important that teachers are not giving students facts, but rather a real look into the lives of the people past and present.
ReplyDeleteI agree that culture should be shown, but how do we really do that in the classroom? Almost any lesson will have to do with telling students about customs or culture since they cannot experience it. I suppose you could have food days and such, but how much attention do students pay to the actual lesson behind the food? I'm not sure how to do it, but if you really could show culture in the classroom I think it would be an amazing opportunity.
DeleteI like that mention the need for authentic materials while teaching culture. I think we've all seen those high school language textbooks that try to teach students about culture with a small "cultural section" at the beginning of each new chapter, but I just don't think this is going to cut it. Students need REAL stuff! If students have a real magazine from the target culture in their hands, they won't be able to help but compare it to the magazines they see from their own culture, and this will probably be interesting for them! The same goes with food, TV shows and movies, newspapers, nursery rhymes/fairy tells, political information, sports information, and the list goes on and on. Authentic materials mean more than non-authentic ones, and the use of authentic materials is much more memorable.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree Marie. Having an actual authentic piece of information is so much better than reading about the culture in a textbook. I know that I used to be so intrigued when my Spanish teachers in high school would pass around objects that they bought in Latin America or Spain because it was legitimately a piece of their culture. It just makes the learning experience more real if you can bring in authentic materials because it makes the culture much more distinct and important...it becomes more than just a bunch of facts in a book.
DeleteAlthough I agree with you that culture should be presented in a well-rounded way, I think this can be exceedingly difficult in short periods of time. If the teacher's goal is to teach the culture of various countries or regions (say Spain, Mexico, Argentina, and Peru) within one semester while still teaching other things like vocabulary, grammar, writing and reading, I think it becomes necessary to exclude certain parts of the culture teaching just because of time restraints. I think teaching culture can be a very time demanding thing because, as you said, there is simply so much to teach and even more to be learned.
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