What are the four ways of getting around barriers formed by lack of knowledge of the foreign language?
- Increase the number and availability of translating and interpreting services
- Develop an auxiliary language that everyone will understand
- Develop an existing language that everyone will understand
- Provide increased motivation and opportunity to learn foreign languages
Explain “increase the number and availability of translating and interpreting services” and its disadvantages (ways of getting around barriers formed by lack of knowledge of the foreign language)
The most usual way to go round a foreign-language barrier is to find someone to interpret or translate it. The aim of translation is to provide semantic equivalence between source and target language. However, there are many problems because exact equivalence is impossible and so, there is always a loss of information, even with an accurate translation. There are also technical problems if we use translation on a large scale.
Explain “develop an auxiliary language that everyone will understand” and its disadvantages (ways of getting around barriers formed by lack of knowledge of the foreign language)
Some people believe that the foreign language barrier can be surmounted through the use of an artificial or auxiliary language. However, several problems arise. How are we going to persuade people to learn it, when no one else knows it? How can we identify with an artificial language? Can we really create a language without a particular language or language-group bias? All these problems have not yet been solved.
Explain “develop an existing language that everyone will understand” and its disadvantages (ways of getting around barriers formed by lack of knowledge of the foreign language)
Others feel that the only realistic chance of breaking the foreign language barrier is to use a natural language as a world lingua franca (a language used for communication between different groups of people, each speaking a different language). Historically speaking, Latin was used as a medium of education, and nowadays English seems to be the main contender for this position. However, this spread of English language is not regarded at all by countries like France and Spain; secondly, it is not easy to predict future tendencies towards languages.
Explain “provide increased motivation and opportunity to learn foreign languages” (ways of getting around barriers formed by lack of knowledge of the foreign language)
This seems to be the most realistic way and so, organizations such as the Council of Europe have adopted recommendations to the governments of member states to ensure that all sections of their populations have access to effective means of acquiring a knowledge of foreign languages.
Why is learning a foreign language necessary?
The path towards a united Europe rests upon our ability to understand each other, and it is obviously a strength to be able to meet people from other countries on equal linguistic terms. Second, foreign language learning promotes understanding, tolerance and respect for the cultural identity, rights, and values of others, whether abroad, or at home in minority groups. Third, foreign language teaching has an essential role in preparing our pupils to cope with an ever-changing environment. Fourth, success in international commerce is becoming more and more dependent on foreign language teaching. Finally, learning a foreign language is the only way to fully appreciate your own language.
What is, by and large, the view of the role of cultural learning in the foreign language classroom?
The role of cultural learning in the foreign language classroom has been the concern of many teachers and scholars and has sparked considerable controversy, yet its validity as an equal complement to language learning has often been overlooked or even impugned.
What are the two main perspectives that have influenced the teaching of culture?
One pertains to the transmission of factual, cultural information, which consists in statistical information, that is, institutional structures and other aspects of the target civilization, highbrow and lowbrow information (Kramsch, 1993). The other perspective, drawing upon cross-cultural psychology or anthropology, has been to embed culture within an interpretive framework and establish connections, namely, points of reference or departure, between one’s own and the target country.
What is the role of language in culture?
To begin with, language is a social institution, both shaping and shaped by society at large. To be part of a culture means to share the propositional knowledge and the rules of inference necessary to understand whether certain propositions are true (given certain premises). To the propositional knowledge, one might add the procedural knowledge to carry out mundane tasks such as cooking, fishing, giving a formal speech, answering the phone, …
Why are culture and communication inseparable?
Because culture not only dictates who talks to whom, about what, and how the communication proceeds, it also helps to determine how people encode messages, the meanings they have for messages, and the conditions and circumstances under which various messages may or may not be sent, noticed, or interpreted. Culture is the foundation of communication.
Why should we overtly focus on culture when there are other aspects of the curriculum that need more attention?
On the one hand, to believe that whoever is learning the foreign language is also learning the cultural knowledge and skills required to be a competent L2/FL speaker “denies the complexity of culture, language learning, and communication” (Lessard-Clouston, 1997). On the other hand, it is deemed important to include culture in the foreign language curriculum because it helps avoid the ingrained stereotypes. Finally, learning about culture enables students to take control of their own learning as well as to achieve autonomy by evaluations and questioning the wider context within which the learning of the target language is embedded.
According to Tomalin & Stemplesky (1993), what is one of the goals of teaching culture?
The aim to stimulate students’ intellectual curiosity about the target culture, and to encourage empathy towards its people.
What are the four lines of thought that have emerged in relation to new ways to teach a language and its culture? (Kramsch, 1993)
- Establishing a “sphere of interculturality”
- Teaching culture as an interpersonal process
- Teaching culture as difference
- Crossing disciplinary boundaries
Explain “establishing a sphere of interculturality” as one of the four lines of thought that have emerged in relation to new ways to teach a language and its culture (Kramsch, 1993)
The link between linguistic forms and social structure is not given, it has to be established, and understanding a foreign culture requires putting that culture in relation with one’s. It is necessary to reflect upon both the English and the Spanish culture, this comparison being a real educational process.
Explain “teaching culture as an interpersonal process” as one of the four lines of thought that have emerged in relation to new ways to teach a language and its culture (Kramsch, 1993)
The conception of language as social practice implies that meaning is not an isolated property of the text; meaning only appears in discourse, being relational. We cannot analyze cultural differences in a logical way, but we can highlight cross-cultural aspects.
Explain “teaching culture as difference” as one of the four lines of thought that have emerged in relation to new ways to teach a language and its culture (Kramsch, 1993)
It is more and more difficult to label characteristics as belonging to one culture or another, since there is a growing multiethnicity, as well as multiculturalism of modern Europeans societies. Even if national characteristics may be isolated, we cannot take them without further specification of other cultural factors such as: age, sex, regional origin, ethnic background and social class.
Explain “crossing disciplinary boundaries” as one of the four lines of thought that have emerged in relation to new ways to teach a language and its culture (Kramsch, 1993)
The teaching of English culture is not only a matter of words and institutions; we must link our teaching of language and culture to anthropology, sociology and semiology. We must not read only usage books and phonetics treaties, we must also get used to what social scientists, ethnographers and Sociolinguistics think about our target language community.
Explain why the teaching of culture is more difficult because of the intermingling of myth and reality
A nation’s history and culture are shaped not only by actual events and facts, but also by a powerful cultural imagination that is equally real. Myths are tenacious and it is impossible to get rid of them: they affect the way our pupils see others. Due to this fact, Kramsch thinks that the teacher of foreign culture is faced with a kaleidoscope of at least four different reflections of facts and events.
To facilitate the development of cultural awareness we should give our pupils regular opportunities to:
- Come into contact with native speakers
- Work with authentic materials
- Consider and discuss the similarities and differences between cultures
- Identify with the experiences and perspective of people from other cultures
- Learn the appropriate social conventions of the target culture
- Employ problem-solving techniques to develop a “cultural strategic competence”
- Introduce forms of non-verbal communication (signals, gestures and facial expressions) that are used in the target culture
How can we “teach” culture to and stimulate the curiosity of Spanish foreign language students who usually do not have close contact with native speakers of English?
By exploring culture-based activities
What is the aim of culture-based activities?
The aim of these activities is to increase students’ awareness and to develop their curiosity towards the target culture and their own, helping them to make comparisons among cultures. These comparisons are not meant to underestimate any of the cultures being analyzed, but to enrich students’ experience and to make them aware that although some culture elements are being globalized, there is still diversity among cultures. Diversity that should be understood and respected
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