In this book, it is emphasized that in Classical-Humanist
models of language education, culture traditionally occupied a prominent
position.So while teaching a language, the question of whether culture can be
taught or not is tried to be answered. Here, it is attempted to show that what
we can do is to raise awareness of cultural factors. In so doing, we shall aim
to
·
sharpen observation,
·
encourage critical thinking about
cultural stereotypes,
·
develop tolerance.
These are seen as educational issues which reach
out well beyond mere language teaching and cultural awareness raising is an
aspect of values education.
The description of Cultural Awareness is as
follows in the book:
Cultural awareness is the term we have used to
describe sensitivity to the impact of culturally-induced behaviour on language
use and communication. And the activities are designed to develop:
*awareness of one’s own culturally –induced
behaviour;
*awareness of the culturally-induced behaviour of
others;
*ability to explain one’s own cultuural stanpoint.
Seven Goals of Cultural Instruction:
1.To help students to develop an understanding of
the fact that all people exhibit culturally-conditioned behaviours.
2. To help students to develop an understanding
that social variables such as age,sex,social class and place of residence
influence the ways in which people speak and behave.
3. To help students to become more aware of
convential behaviour in common situations in the target culture.
4. To help students to increase their awareness
of the cultural connotations of words and phrases in the target language.
5. To help students to develop the ability to
evaluate and refine generalizations about the target culture , in terms of
supporting evidence.
6. To help students to develop the necessary
skills to locate and organize information about the target culture.
7. To stimulate students’ intellectual curiosity
about the target culture, and to encourage empathy towards its people.
Ned Seelye(1988)
It is recommended to keep these seven goals
cultural instruction in mind while doing lesson planning
And incorporate them into the following
practical teaching principles:
1.
Access the culture through the language being taught.
2.
Make the study of cultural behaviours an integral part of each lesson.
3.
Aim for students to achieve the socio-economic competence which they feel
they need.
4.
Aim for all the levels to achieve cross-cultural understanding-awareness
of their own culture, as well as that of the target language.
5.
Recognize that not all teaching about culture implies behaviour change ,
but merely an awarenwess and tolerance of the cultural influences affecting
one’s own and others’ behaviour.
What materials and what approach?
Suggested Materials:
course textbooks, audio-cassettes(ELT- based and others), radio broadcasts, TV
broadcasts, specialist British and American textbooks and readres, videos,
cuttings from newspapers and magazines, and all kinds of realia from Underground
tickets to replicas of theStatueof Liberty or Big Ben!( Students need to be
trained to extract appropriate information from the material.)
Approach:
“Task-Based Approach”. The approach is charactized by co-operative learning
tasks in which students
*work together in pairs or small groups to gather
precise segmentsof information;
*share and discuss what they have discovered , in
order to form a more complete picture;
*interpret the information within the context of
the target culture and in comparison with their own culture(s).
How The Activities Are Organized:
The activities are divided into seven sections ,
dealing with cognitive as well as affective aspects of cultural awareness. In
the Introduction part of each of the seven sections more specific information on
the pedagogical aim of the section is given.
The Seven Sections In The Book:
1.
Recognizing cultural images
and symbols: It introduces Ss to
the concept of culture, and encourages them to discuss it from the start
Activities are designed to help students to familiarize themselves with popular
images and symbols, expressed in personalities, architectural features,landscape,
and song.
2.
Working with cultural products:
Realia, postcerds, stamps,newspapers,radio broadcasts,etc.
3.
Examining patterns of everyday
life: Activities which focus on the
lifestyles of people in English –speaking cultures, and on what people in these
cultures usually do in common situations(employment, dating, shopping)that are
part of normal everydat experience.
4.
Examining cultural behaviour:
Information-oriented activities designed to raiese awarenessof culturally-appropriate
beahaviour in English speaking countries, as well as activities invbolving
experiaental learning and awareness of the students’ own culturally-influenced
behaviour.
5.
Examining patterns of
communication: Activities designed
to increase awareness of the expectations of native speakers about the verbal
and non-verbal communication in English.
6.
Exploring values and attitudes:Activities
designed to increase awareness of the students’own culturally-influenced values
,as well as the cultural values and attitudes of people in English –speaking
cultures.
7.
Exploring and extending
cultural Experiences:Activities
allowing Ss to explore and to share their own experiences of the target culture.
Kaynakça:Tomalin,B&Stempleski,S, and ed.M,Aley
(1993) Cultural Awareness, Oxford Univesity Press,London.
Presented by Asuman BÝRDAL
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