Алла Марчишина
(Кам’янець-Подільський національний університет імені Івана Огієнка)
Галина Гаврилюк (Кудровська)
(Кам’янець-Подільський національний університет імені Івана Огієнка)
Target language teaching is teaching culture and competence
Nowadays, everybody will agree that a language is in fact culture-bound. Notwithstanding the fact that English is an international, world-wide means of communication, it is no way non-ethnic or nation-neutral. Here, we agree with C. Kramsch that “culture is not an expandable fifth skill” [1] and support the idea of integrated teaching language and culture. This approach fits the objectives of teaching English as a target language in Ukraine as far as it is a marker of well-developed Western civilization within which our country shares values and is obvious to belong to. Such tendency facilitates “expansion of the cultural-civilizational component, focusing on the style of life and behaviour in the target language country” [2, p. 195]. The teacher is expected to take the students into the realm of the foreign culture making them aware of certain facts and standards of behaviour in the target culture and enabling them to analyze and correctly interpret cultural phenomena. Naturally, culture is an integral part of language learning and goes hand in hand with all the language activities, as one cannot possibly master a foreign language without studying the culture of the people who speak it as their mother tongue.
The objectives of the present paper are to state the dependance between the language and the culture it functions in and to suggest possibilities of combining teaching the language alongside with the cultural values of the nation. Thus, language acquisition is viewed as a complex and discrete process consisting of stages, components, relations, and layers.
So, what do we usually have in country-studying aspect at the English classes at school or college? Most teachers admit that they occasionally introduce information about some British or American customs and traditions; they try to provide the cultural context when teaching culturally loaded expressions (e.g., ways of greeting or apologizing). They mention some literature but do not normally discuss current affairs, geography, history or politics. As a matter of fact, teaching culture predominantly looks like getting acquainted with empirical data without deepening into the spirit of the nation, its roots and contemporary aspirations. This is what we would like our teachers to pay attention to.
As far as learners of English are concerned, there are particular goals, too. For several reasons, they would like to see more culture in learning English. As A. Strzałka states, “They recognize the need to study cultural issues, as many of them regard it as way of improving their general knowledge, as well as a potentially successful way of increasing their interest in the lessons” [3, p. 158].
As far as teachers of English are concerned, culture cannot be taught simply through a few explicit lessons about some specific customs, holidays, songs, or works of literature. It is a much broader concept than that, implicitly present in the appropriate use of different linguistic forms as well. So, it requires some extra efforts both to prepare for the lesson and to conduct it. It is important to offer the possibility to language learners to experience and understand how culture and language shape people’s world views. The key fundamental aspects of intercultural language teaching include the teaching of a linguaculture (links between language and culture), a comparison of the students’ native language and culture with the target language and culture, and intercultural exploration (a third place between two cultures).
Here, the problem of methodology arises. As a rule, the country/culture studying component of the English language course contains texts or text fragments for practicing reading or discussion of listening comprehension. Beside the undeniable importance of such approach, we would suggest other effective activities like role play where learners have to behave, communicate or even dress as English native speakers do. It is meant to make them not only speak but somehow “feel” the spirit and values of the nation.
Another important issue is the of ficient introduction and practice of such
culture-specific elements as collocations, idioms, or proverbs. The proverb is crystallized generalization of national wisdom. Proverbs reflect attitudes of the English nation to some aspects of human life. For example, it is praised to be honest (“Better go to bed supperless than rise in debt”) or patient (“He laughs best who laughs last”).
The use of different culture-specific realia may also help in finding out more about the everyday life and routines characteristic of the target language culture. Realia in language teaching refers to “actual objects and items which are brought into a classroom as examples or as aids to be talked or written about and used in teaching” [4, p. 485]. Objects such as photographs, kitchen tools, articles of clothing, souvenirs, musical instruments, or even food may be used to discuss their cultural relevance and plan various activities based on their cultural or historical importance.
Introducing more culture into the process of teaching and learning English responds to the students’ needs. Internationalization and globalization as the mainstreams of the world’s politics require multifaceted competences which Ukrainian educational establishments are bound to provide. And they will.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Kramsch C. Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. 304 p.
- Zając J. Od nauczania cywilizacji do refleksji interkulturowej na lekcji języka obcego. Języki Obce w Szkole, 1997. № P. 195-199.
- Strzałka A. The Position of Target Language Culture in Teaching English to Secondary School Students: The Real Versus the Ideal. The Legacy of History: English and American Studies and the Significance of the Past. 2004. Vol. 2 “Language and Culture”. P. 154-163.
- Richards J., Schmidt R. W. Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. London: Pearson, 2010 [1985]. 644 p.