sign in sign up
<<
Home , Cultural behavior, Cultural framework, Cultural learning, Language, Language (journal), Linguistics (journal)

▌1

Linguistics across : The Impact of on Second Learning

Ming-Mu Kuo Assistant Professor, the Department of Instruction Wenzao Ursuline College of Kaohsiung, Taiwan [email protected] Cheng-Chieh Lai PhD Program Student in Educational Leadership Prairie View A& University Texas, USA

Abstract:

The purpose of this is to discuss the inseparable relation between culture and lan- guage and the implementation of instructional strategies for teaching through culture to enhance students’ linguistic comprehension. Language is not only the product of culture, but also is the of culture (Gleason, 1961). Culture must be in- corporated outright as an essential component of second language learning and teaching. Only after cultural issues become an inherent part of the language curriculum and instruc- tion, can students be successful in their target language learning. Second language teachers, therefore, should pay more attentions to the diversities of cultures, identify key cultural items in every aspect when they design a language curriculum, and apply appro- priate teaching strategies to learning activities in order to help students to bridge the cul- ture gaps. 2 ▌Journal of Foreign Language Instruction

The purpose of this article is to discuss people live, their behaviors and thoughts fol- the inseparability of culture and language and low and are generally based on their own cul- to propose ways of implementing instructional tures. Culture has many different dimen- strategies for teaching second language sions. It includes ideas, customs, skills, through culture to enhance students' linguistic and tools that characterize a group of people comprehension. People who live in different in a given period of time; it is also the beliefs, areas of the world have different cultural values, and material objects that create our backgrounds and use different languages. way of life. Culture establishes a context of Language and culture appear on the surface to cognitive and affective behavior for each per- be two distinct fields, but they have an inter- son. It influences individual estimation and twined relationship and affect each other mu- attitudes, and can also have an effect on prac- tually. Gleason (1961) indicated that lan- tical aspects of life such as hobbies. guages are not only the products of cultures, Culture is also a matter of habit, and it is but also are the of cultures. The de- habit that becomes and tradition that velopment of a language frequently affects its gives rise to culture. Local people begin with associated culture, and cultural of habitual actions and go on to create common and custom are often explicitly stereotypes. Condon further explained that coded in language. stereotypes assign group characteristics to in- Furthermore, language is also a social in- dividual purely on the basis of their cultural stitution, both shaping and being shaped by membership. The cultural stereotypes affect (Armour-Thomas & Gopaul-McNicol, how people think, speak, act, and interact with 1998). Ihis means that language is not an in- one another. Samovar, Porter, and Jain (1981) dependent construct but social practice both also stated that culture and are creating and being created by the structures inseparable because culture not only dictates and forces of social within which who talks to whom, about what, and how the we live and function. Certainly, language communication proceeds, but also helps to cannot exist in a vacuum and there is an in- determine how people encode messages, the evitable kind of “transfusion” at work between meanings they have for messages, and the language and culture (Fairclough, 1989). It conditions and circumstances under which follows, then, that learning a new language various messages may or may not be sent, no- will also involve grapping with the notion of ticed, or interpreted. In a , culture is the culture in relation . foundation of communication. Without culture, we can not understand the lives and motivations of others and con- Definition of Culture nect with their concerns and interests. Culture is inherent in our being and a powerful According to Condon (1973), culture can tool to develop our society, add to our knowl- be defined as a way of life. No matter where edge, and establish the relationships between across Cultures: The Impact of Culture on Second Language Learning ▌3

people. However, culture is fragile. The traits tion. In many ways the structure of language of culture are constantly changing and easily reflects the structure of how our process lost. If we do not it, we will lose it the world. According to Douglas (2000), there eventually. are four different dimensions of language. There are: competence and performance; comprehension and production; and What is Linguistics? nurture; and universal . Three ques- tions need be considered before analyzing the Linguistics is the scientific study of lan- structure of a language: guage. It is a foundational discipline in the sense that it bridges the social sciences, the 1. What are the rules or principles that natural sciences, and the (Harris, predict how are made and 1951). Linguistics is an exciting field, not only how are they used (phonol- because of its own achievements, but also be- ogy-patterning of sounds)? cause of its contributions to other fields. In the 2. How do sequences convey language domain, the study of linguistics en- and how are meaningful deavors to answer many questions, one of sound sequences strung together to which is: What is language and how is it rep- form (-patterning resented in the ? Linguists on de- of sound sequences and words)? scribing and explaining language. It is a disci- 3. How are words strung together to pline concerned with how languages are simi- form and sentences (- lar to and different from one another. In addi- ing of phrases and sentences)? tion, linguistics is also a that shares common ground with other social sci- a language should first ences such as , , soci- involve understanding its patterns of sound. ology, and archaeology. For this , to All languages have definite patterns in the understand the changing nature of language, sounds that the speaker use, how those sounds we have to look at psychological issues, such are combined to form symbols, and how those as learning ability and perception, and social symbols are organized into meaningful sen- factors. We need to understand the structures tences. Douglas (2000) further indicated that and functions of languages which play a part each language structure consists of four dif- in our social activities in order to be a suc- ferent areas: (the basis of cessful use of language. sound), (word meanings and or- ganization of ), (include Structure of Language Morphology and ), and (the use of language in contexts). In fact, some Language is a of symbols and languages have similar structural patterns rules that is used for meaningful communica- while others are totally different. One of the 4 ▌Journal of Foreign Language Instruction

why some people have difficulty vironment, to cause certain events to learning another language is often related to happen. language structures. For instance, Chinese and 2. Regulatory function: when language English languages have unique and totally controls events. The regulations may different structures. encounter the approval or disap- However, the structure of a language can proval of the listener. be learned because human beings have a 3. Representational function: when natural and inherent competence to acquire language is used to make statements, languages. According to convey facts and knowledge, explain theory, language learners usually need a or report. transformational period when they are learn- 4. Interactive function: when language ing a new language. They must apply and serves to ensure social maintenance, compare the structures of their mother this implies knowledge of slang, jar- to the new language in order to understand its gon, jokes, , cultural mores, patterns. A good example of this is in bilin- politeness, and formality expecta- gual education. The theories of bilingual edu- tions in social exchange. cation believe that when new second language 5. Personal function: when language learners encounter an unfamiliar language in expresses feelings, , and the first time, they are often confused and dis- personality. oriented. But, after becoming familiar with the 6. Heuristic function: when language is structure of the language, they eventually dis- used to acquire knowledge and to learn. cover its rules and how the various parts are 7. Imaginative function: when language interrelated (Krashen, 1994). is used to create tales, write a novel, , tongue twisters, and etc. All functions of language lead back to the Language is a system of signals, includ- three elements that are indispensable to the ing sounds, gestures or written symbols formation of a : the , the which encodes and decodes . The , and the link between them. Each goal of language is to communicate meaning. function has its objective to help us to deal When we begin to develop our language abili- with the necessities of daily life. ties, the main purpose is to communicate or interact with others. Halliday (1973, p. 10) suggests that the functions of language can be The Relationship between - separated in seven areas, included: guistics and Culture

1. Instrumental function: when lan- Language and culture are intertwined, guage is used to manipulate the en- and one will affect the other. Language and Linguistics across Cultures: The Impact of Culture on Second Language Learning ▌5

culture have a kind of deep and symbolic rela- cal” culture and blended into people’s lives tionship. Language stands for the whole cul- (Allison & Vining, 1999). ture because language represents culture in the minds of its speakers. Conversely, culture also Culture Affects Language symbolizes language and is summed in the economic, religions, and philosophical sys- Culture can be defined as a learned sys- tems of a country. tem of values, beliefs and/or norms among a group of people (Greey, 1994). Broad defini- Language Affects Culture tions of culture include ethnic background, nationality, gender, disability, race, sexual Language is formed to present our ideas orientation, and religion. Culture not only or ; these can change depending on changes people’s values and habits, but also which cultural elements are dominant at any affects people’s language and behaviors. Cul- given moment. Whenever language expands, tural knowledge is crucial in achieving lin- the culture changes. An obvious advantage of guistic proficiency, and the culture of a society human language as a learned symbolic com- can be changed depending upon the language munication system is that language has infi- used. For instance, some old words remain nite flexibility. This means that the meaning even when they are no longer used cultural. of a word can be changed, and then a new New words emerge as they become identified symbolism is created. For example, the Eng- with particular cultural activities. The slang lish word “Nice” now generally means pleas- words used by our parents were very likely ing, agreeable, polite, and kind. But, in 15th different from those we use today. Different century “Nice” meant foolish, wanton, las- eras often have differing “pop languages”. civious, and even wicked. This simple exam- These languages are mostly likely to be influ- ple reveals that languages can evolve in re- enced by TV programs, politics or , and sponse to the changing historical and social little by little they create their own cultural conditions. As we know, the culture of the trend. Examples of this can be seen with the is made up of many different Beatles and most recently in Hop Pop music. In cultures and languages. Each of these indi- brief, language is always cultural in some re- vidual cultures is impacting on, shaping, and spects. Language should be conceptualized an redefining the American culture. Many new integrated as part of a society and its culture. words are being added normal American daily speech. For example, the “long time no see” is not standard English. It was trans- Second Language Learning is lated from Chinese; others like sushi and tofu also appear in American society. People accept and understand them because these adapta- According to the National Standards for tions have already become a part of the “lo- Foreign project (1996), 6 ▌Journal of Foreign Language Instruction

students cannot truly master new language because languages usually have until they have mastered the cultural context differences of syntax, , and in which the new language occurs. This means structure. It is perhaps through cultural sup- that understanding a new culture is an impor- port and understanding that the diversities of tant element in achieving the success in sec- languages can be resolved and students’ ond language acquisition. In fact, the learning learning stresses can be reduced. of language and the learning of culture can be compared with a child’s first with the family into which he or she is born, the Six Recommendations as community to which he or she belongs and the Instructional Strategies for environment in which he or she lives (Lu, Teaching Second Language 1998). When we are infants, we acquire our within a in a natural way because our society, our environment, and our culture con- Second language learning involves a tinually feed us. Similarly, when we acquire a number of different dimensions, including new language, we also need to ingest the new grammatical competence, communicative culture’s nutrients. competence, language proficiency, and cul- The perception that teachers have of a tural understanding (Thanasoulas, 2001). student’s culture may have a positive or nega- Teaching second language is not simply about tive effect in the learning process of a second giving about or language (Stevick, 1982). To be a second lan- learning new , but should incorpo- guage or bilingual teacher, cultural perception rate cultural elements. Cultural activities and and intercultural training is very important. If objectives should be carefully organized and children are given cultural knowledge, im- incorporated into second language lesson mersed in a culturally rich environment, and plans to enrich the teaching context content. exposed to culturally basic material, they may Six proposals for strategies to include cultural learn the second language with more ease be- items in the second language classrooms are cause their background knowledge about the described in the following section. second-language culture will make compre- hension less difficult. Strategy I: Provide Culturally Learning As Lado (1957) mentions in his book Materials Linguistics across Cultures, if certain ele- ments of a second language differ greatly from The use of appropriate materials can help the student’s native language, that student is students engage in real cultural experiences. likely encounter difficulties. It can be assumed These materials can include , news from this that the learning of second language broadcasts, television shows, Web sites, is facilitated whenever there are similarities magazines, newspapers, menus, and other between that language and the learner’s printed matters. Teachers can adapt their use Linguistics across Cultures: The Impact of Culture on Second Language Learning ▌7

of cultural materials to suit the age and lan- currently applied in second language instruc- guage proficiency level of the students. For tions (Wertsch, 1991). The major objective of example, beginning language students can a sociocultural approach is to prepare learners watch and listen to video clips taken from a for intercultural communication and dialogue television show in the target language and fo- between cultures. According to Savignon cus on such cultural conventions as greetings. (1997), sociocultural strategies can be seen as The teacher might supply students with a de- one of the most efficient ways for learners to tailed or give them a chart, diagram, achieve sociocultural competence within sec- or outline to complete while they listen to a ond language . dialogue or watch a video. Using appropriate Tomalin and Stempleski (1993) further indi- audiovisual resources can strengthen students’ cated that role play activities can examine images of the target culture and enhance their and patterns of communica- second language learning. tion. For example, in one of these role plays, students can dramatize an incident that hap- Strategy II: Using Common Proverbs pened to them and caused cross-cultural mis- as Transferred Tool understanding. In this way, it will enable them to develop communicative strategies to over- A discussion of common proverbs in the come similar problems in real second lan- target language can help students to under- guage communication. stand how the proverbs are different from or similar to proverbs in their mother . Strategy IV: Encourage Students Search This can also help them to understand how and Present through the Culture Capsules differences might underscore the historical and cultural background of a country (Cic- The use of culture capsules is one of the carelli, 1996). Using proverbs as a transferred best–established and best–known methods for tool to explore two different cultures can teaching culture (Jerrilou, 1979). The concept guide students to analyze the similarities and of cultural capsules was developed by Taylor dissimilarities of cultures. It is also a good and Sorenson in 1961. It is a brief description method for students to explore the values that of some aspects of the target language culture are often represented in the proverbs of both alongside contrasting information from the the target culture and their own. students’ native language cultures. The con- trasting information can be provided by the Strategy III: Apply the Role Play teacher, but it is usually more effective to have as Sociocultural Approach the students themselves point out the contrasts. Taylor and Sorenson further suggest that stu- Role play is also a useful instructional dents can be presented with objects or images technique in a sociocultural approach. A so- that originate from the target culture. The stu- ciocultural approach is the most useful method dents are then responsible for finding informa- 8 ▌Journal of Foreign Language Instruction

tion about the item in question, either by con- language learning programs can provide sec- ducting or by being given clues to ond language learners with more independ- investigate. They can either write a brief ence in the classrooms and allow learners the summary or make an oral presentation to the option of working on their learning materials about the cultural relevance of the item. at any time of the day. Second language stu- In fact, Brigham Young University has already dents usually come from different countries published culture capsules entitled “Cultur- and have different cultural backgrounds. It is grams” for 100 different countries. Each Cul- difficult to create a large of different turgram is divided into sections on family learning environments due to the limited space lifestyle, attitudes, customs and courtesies, in a normal classroom. The use of computer and history. Through the practice of Cultur- can provide multicultural interac- grams, students can compare and contrast the tivities without students having to the class- customs and of other cultures with room. It is easy to use computers to create their own. various virtual spaces in order to meet each learner’s needs. Today, the of Strategy V: View Students as Cultural 580 million network users and the information Resources of 4 billion websites operate as a big library. Through the computers and the Internet, sec- Currently, second language classrooms ond language learners can link to anywhere are more culturally and ethnically diverse than and at anytime to access to appropriate mate- they have ever been. Teachers can utilize the rial and information on learning. The World resources this provides. Teachers can invite Wide Web can provide instantaneous access to exchange students, immigrant students, or in- websites in other countries. Learners can find ternational students into the classroom as ex- resources written in the target language and pert sources to present aspects of their own learn about other countries’ cultures. Those cultures. In this learning activity, students not websites cover a variety of topics including only learn the diversity of cultures, but also news, sports, , and health, etc. have opportunities to organize and make con- They provide various cultural learning oppor- nect between their native culture and target tunities for students to pursue their cultural language culture through these presentations. understanding and practice their and vocabulary skills. Strategy VI: Use Computer Technology to Help Student Gain Cultural Information Conclusion Educators (Salaberry, 1999; Rost, 2002) indicate that the current computer technology The purpose of this article is to discuss has many advantages for second language and the inseparable relation between culture and cultural learning. A computer and its attached language and to purpose ways to implement Linguistics across Cultures: The Impact of Culture on Second Language Learning ▌9

instructional strategies for teaching second Halliday, M. (1973). Exploration in the Function of Language. London: Edward Amold. language through culture to enhance students’ Harris, Z. S. (1951). . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. linguistic comprehension. Cultural learning Jerrilou, J. (1979). Living language: USA culture cap- helps us to discover that there are a multitude sules for ESL students: dialogs on life in the United States for students of English as a foreign language. of ways of viewing the world. Understanding Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers the relationship between culture and linguis- Krashen, S. D. (1994). Bilingual education and second language acquisition theory. In bilingual Education tics will help us to develop instructional Office (ed.) Schooling and language-minority stu- strategies and pedagogies for teaching second dents: A theoretical framework (2nd ed., pp. 47-75). Los Angeles: Evaluation Dissemination and As- languages. In the information driven world, sessment Center, California State University. language ability gradually becomes an essen- Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and Culture, OUP: Ox- ford tial skill. According to Kramsch (1993), cul- Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across Cultures. Ann Arbor: ture in language learning is not an expendable University of Michigan Press. Lu, M. (1998). Language learning in social and cultural skill. For achieving true linguistic comprehen- contexts. Digest. Retrieved October 11, 2006 from http://www.ed.gov.databases/ERIC_Digests/ sion, culture and language should be learned ed423531.html together. After all, the more cultural concepts National Standards in Foreign Language Education Pro- ject. (1996). Standards for foreign language learn- we learn, the more language abilities we gain; ing: Preparing for the . Lawrence, KS: the more language we gain, the more competi- Author. Rost, M. (2002). New in Language Education: tiveness we have. Opportunities for Professional Growth. Retrieved Oc- tober 12, 2006 from http://www.longman.com/ ae/multimedia/pdf/MikeRost_PDF.pdf Salaberry, R. (1999). CALL in the year 2000: still de- veloping the research agenda’. Language learning References and technology 3/1: 104-107. Samovar, L. A., Porter, R.., & Jain, N. C. (1981). Un- Allison, S. R., & Vining, C. B. (1999). Native American derstanding intercultural communication. Belmont, culture and language. , 24, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company. 193-207. Savignon, S. (1997). Communicative competence: The- th Armour-Thomas, E. & Gopaul-McNicol, S. (1998). As- ory and practice. (6 ed). N.Y.: McGraw Hill. sessing : A Bio-Cultural Model. Sage Stevick, E. (1982). Teaching and learning languages. Publications, INC. New York: Cambridge University Press Web-site: Ciccarelli, A. (1996). Teaching culture through language: Center for Applied Linguistics: Definition of Terms. Suggestions for the class. Italica, (2002) Retrieved October 12, 2006 from 73(4), 563-576. http://www.cal.org/ Condon, E. C. (1973). Introduction to Cross Cultural Taylor, H. D., & Sorenson, J. L. (1961). Culture capsules. Communication. New Brunswick, NJ: Rogers Uni- Journal 45: 350-354. versity Press Thanasoulas, D. (2001). The importance of teaching culture Douglas, B. H. (2000). Principles of language learning in the foreign language classroom. Retrieved October and teaching (4th ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman. 12, 2006 from http://radicalpedagogy.icaap.org Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and Power. London: /content/issue3_3/7-thanasoulas.html Longman. Tomalin, B., & Stempleski, S. (1993). Cultural Aware- Gleason, H. S. Jr., (1961). An Introduction to Descriptive ness, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Linguistics. New Delhi: Oxford and IBH Publishing Wertsch, J. (1991). Voices of the mind: A sociocultural Company. approach to mediated action. Cambridge: Harvard Greey, M. (1994). Honouring diversity: A cross-cultural University Press. approach to infant development for babies with special needs. Toronto: Centennial Infant and Child Centre.

10 ▌Journal of Foreign Language Instruction