Teaching culture in the English Classroom

Teaching culture in the English Classroom Abstract:This essay argues that culture and language are inseparable and therefore must be taught together. It recognizes that there are two ways of understanding the world culture and it is important to be aware of this in any discussion on the subject. A superficial understanding of the concept of culture and a deeper understanding of culture in the language of a people. It also argues that students may learn to speak with grammatical accuracy but fail to understand the discourse system and so be culturally inappropriate. English, as an international language challenges the need for teaching specific cultural information of a superficial kind and still needs to expound the deeper and more subtle linguaculture of the language. Finally, the essay puts forward the value of movie studies as a comprehensible means of teaching language with its culture.

Key Words:linguaculture language teaching language learning

Culture plays an important role in language teaching and learning, while language is also the carrier of culture, when language learners expect to master a foreign language ( their target language),they need to get a good command of its culture so as to use the targte language efficiently ang effectively.This paper discusses the significance of culture in language teaching and learning by presenting some examples in some aspects.

Ⅰ.Language and linguaculture When the Pepsi Cola company began to sell their product in China they advertised themselves with the arresting slogan: Come alive with the Pepsi generation!”Come alive” here means”be rejuvenated”or “refreshed”, “reawakened”, “reanimated”, “reactivated”. The image is of a person whose life is colourless, bland, insipid, boring, jaded and irrelevant, who is not “with it”. This person is encouraged to drink a Pepsi and by doing so to identify themselves with other Pepsi drinkers who are pictured as awake, alive, vital, engaged, vibrant, successful, dynamic and vigorous. Pepsi is the agency, medium or instrument to change a person, to bring about a metamorphosis, a conversion from dullness, irrelevancy, from being a “stuffed shirt”, an old “fuddy duddy”a stick-in-the-mud to being cool, chic, trendy, up-to-the-minute, sophisticated, groovy and hip. When it was translated into Chinese it came out as:Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave!

This amusing story illustrates the difficulties of understanding English when one is unaware of the cultural context in which it exists.What becomes startlingly clear is the complex interpenetration of language and culture.”Come alive with the Pepsi generation!”when isolated from its culturally-specific bed of meanings, becomes an absurd statement.The slogan is packed with metaphorical connotations, implications and nuances. It exists within a linguaculture which is the larger social, cultural and psycholinguistic structure in which all languages are embedded.

Ⅱ.Definition of culture What then is culture?Peterson and Coltrane offer the following definition:“an integrated pattern of human behaviour that includesthoughts,communications,languages,practices,beliefs,values,customs, courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting and roles, relationships and expected behaviours of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group; and the ability to transmit the above to succeeding generations.”They are:Thoughts,Communications,Languages.Practices,Beliefs,Values,Customs,Courtesies, Rituals. Manners of interacting and roles, Relationships and expected behaviours.

Ⅲ.Courtesies and Rituals The courtesies and rituals of a culture present an immediate and particular problem for strangers.

An American was visiting a Chinese home. The host introduced the American to his wife. The American turned to his host and said, ‘Your wife is very beautiful.’ The host smiled and demurred politely.Where! Where! (Nali!Nali!) The American, somewhat puzzled, took this to be a question and proceeded to detail the outstanding features of the wife’s beauty. Her hair, her smile, her eyes!” he said.The host was confused and embarrassed as was the American visitor when he realized that Where! Where!’ was not a question in this instance but a ritualistic response, a courtesy specific to the Chinese culture. The American was linguistically correct in responding to “Where! Where!” as a question.But his response was not culturally appropriate.