University of Babylon College of Education for Human Sciences Department of English/ PhD Programme

Teaching Culture
in Foreign Language Classrooms

A term paper submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of a PhD course in Applied Linguistics

by Ahmed Sahib Jabir

May, 2013

1. Introductory remarks
Language and culture are so interrelated that they are said to be inseparable entities. Brown (1994: 165) describes the relation between them saying that any language is part of a culture and any culture is part of a language; the two are so interwoven that one cannot split them without losing the significance of either of them. Consequently, teaching a language is inevitably teaching a culture. Consequently, a learners mastery of the linguistic elements of a certain language without assimilating its culture does not guarantee the learners ability to effectively communicate in the foreign language. Smith (1985: 2), for instance, explains that the presentation of an argument in a way that sounds fluent and elegant in one culture may be regarded as awkward and repetitive by members of another culture. An analogous example is the patterns of greetings in Arabic and English, for instance. Alaoui (2011: 9) reports that it is viewed as polite in Moroccan to elaborately greet acquaintances, even though they are not their close friends, as in: Hello! How are you? Its been such a long time since I last saw you. Where have you been all this time? How is the family, the wife, the children, your parents? Are they alright? My regards to all of them Indeed this kind of greeting is usually originated in our Iraqi culture, so it seems that such a pattern of elaborate greeting is common for all Arabs. Such a greeting, Alaoui (ibid) comments, would shock a native speaker of English who would regard it as unnatural, overfriendly and tautological and who, in a similar situation, would use Hello! or even Hi! alone. Although quite simple, this example clearly shows that linguistic knowledge alone is not enough to communicate effectively in a foreign language.

2. What is culture?
Kohls (1996: 23) defines culture as a complicated system of acquired behavioural patterns which are characteristic of the members of any given

society. It refers to the whole way of life of particular groups of people embracing everything that a group of people thinks, says, does, makes, etc. Interestingly, Brown (1994: 122), who gives a similar definition, likens culture to the "glue" that binds a group of people together! Culture can in general be divided into two types: capital C culture and small c culture. Lee (2009: 78) identifies the former as denoting a set of facts related to art, history, geography, business, education, festivals and customs of a target society. The latter, on the other hand, involves the routine aspects of life covering everything as a total way of life. Nieto (2002: 136), on his part, breaks up culture into three components: content or product (what culture is), process (how it is created and transformed), and the agents of culture (who is responsible for creating and changing it).

3. Culture and language teaching

Culture and language cannot be separated: If we teach language without simultaneously teaching the culture in which it operates, we are teaching meaningless symbols or symbols to which the student attaches the wrong meaning (Brooks, 1960: 86). In the same spirit, Bennett et al (2003: 237) states that when someone learns a foreign language without learning its culture he risks becoming a fluent fool! Mitchell and Myles (2004: 235), therefore, argue that language and culture are inseparable and they should be acquired simultaneously, with each supporting the development of the other. Buttjes (1990: 55) advocates that language codes cannot be taught in isolation because the processes of socio-cultural transmission are bound to be at work on the contents of language exercises, the cultural discourse of textbooks, and the teacher's attitudes towards the target culture. Additionally, language teachers need to go beyond monitoring linguistic production in the classroom and become aware of the complex and numerous processes of intercultural mediation that any foreign language learner undergoes.

More significantly, an important objective of a foreign language program is the mastery of the communicative competence. To achieve this, a learner should be able to live with the native speakers of target language in authentic situations. One needs a practical understanding of the background knowledge of the target culture in order to communicate successfully with speakers of another language. Above and beyond, cultural learning is very effective in increasing learners motivation, which greatly affects every learning process. Culture classes do have a great role in achieving high motivation because most learners like culturally based activities such as singing, dancing, role playing, or doing research on other countries and people (Hammerly 1982: 69).

4. Approaches to teaching the foreign culture

Various approaches have been suggested by different scholars to teach the foreign culture. Saluveer (2004: 29) mentions that the choice of one approach rather than another depends on a number of factors among them are: 1. The situation in which language is taught (second or foreign language learner, immigrant, a tourist intending to visit the foreign country, etc.). In some situations watching films or reading newspapers are quite adequate while at other situations role-play, authentic live dialogues and discussing literary works fit better. 2. Learners age, maturity, mastery of the foreign language, educational level, self-motivation, etc. 3. The teacher who plays a vital role in successfully implementing the whole process of teaching. Teachers preferences, attitudes, knowledge, and levels of preparation affect to a high extent the choice of an approach. Generally speaking, the approaches to teaching culture are classified into two broad categories: the mono-cultural and the comparative approaches. The former approach, which typically rests on the culture of the foreign language, seems to be inappropriate nowadays because it does not recognize the importance of the learners understanding of their own culture (Bennett et al,

2003: 21). Some examples of the mono-cultural approach are The Tour Guide approach and The By-The-Way approach. These approaches focus mostly on factual information of the foreign culture and because of their very limited nature, they should not be encouraged (Galloway, 1985: 61). The comparative approach, on the other hand, is based on comparing the learners native culture with that of the foreign language, emphasizing the differences between them. Drawing on the learners own knowledge, beliefs and values, the comparative approach constitutes a solid basis for successful communication with members of the other culture. Whereas the essence of this approach is to provide a double perspective, it does not mean that the learners need to evaluate which culture is better. It should guarantee that there are many ways of doing things and their (i. e. the learners) way is not the only possible one (Bennett et al, 2003: 21). So, appropriate communication in the foreign language demands doing things in the way of the foreign culture.

5. Material for teaching culture

Although the necessity of teaching culture in the foreign language classroom is beyond doubt, what and how to teach it remain two disputable issues. While some scholars believe that, because of its importance, culture should be separately introduced to foreign language learners to have due attention, others oppose this view proposing that it should be implicitly introduced through incorporating it within the linguistic materials. Basically, in the early stages of learning, songs, photos, television programs, histories, music, films, maps, etc. provide a good supply of the cultural information that suits the level of learners. Obviously this list, by no means exhaustive, can be expanded to include any available means of illustration; seeing as not all of the items in the list above are at the teachers disposal, specifically in our EFL context. The well-experienced teacher, however, can make something interesting from nothing to create a cultural island in the foreign language classroom (Brooks, 1960: 92).

With the more advanced students, the teacher can utilize such materials as reading comprehension passages, dialogues, literary works, biographies, etc. that mirror the target culture in a more vivid and interesting way. Nowadays, with the recent technological advancements, even more complicated means (e. g. online interactive programmes) have made the teachers job much easier.

6. Conclusions
This paper has made an attempt to shed some light on the importance of culture in the foreign language teaching and learning. It arrives at the following conclusions: 1. Language and culture are inseparable entities, thus the successful teaching of the target language demands the simultaneous teaching of the target culture. 2. Culture plays a vital role in shaping the speakers communicative competence which is a prerequisite for the appropriate use of language. 3. Anthropologists differentiate between two types of culture, both of which are important and necessary for the optimal language acquisition. 4. Incorporating cultural materials in the language classroom render the lessons more interesting and thus enhance self-motivation. 5. The various approaches to the teaching of culture fall under two main categories: the mono-cultural and the comparative. 6. The choice of a certain approach depends on a number of factors among which are the learning situation, the learners personal traits, and the teachers preferences and qualifications. 7. The implicit teaching of cultural information appears to be more beneficial than dedicating separate lessons to teach culture. 8. The sources of cultural material to be utilized are so many and various that they definitely include some means that are accessible at any time and place and for any level of learning.

References
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