Teaching Culture
Of all the changes that have
affected language teaching theory and method in recent years, the greatest may
be the transformation in the role of culture. This change reflects a broader
transformation in the way that culture itself is understood.
Traditionally, culture was
understood in terms of formal or "high" culture (literature, art,
music, and philosophy) and popular or "low" culture. From this
perspective, one main reason for studying a language is to be able to
understand and appreciate the high culture of the people who speak that
language. The pop culture is regarded as inferior and not worthy of study.
In this view, language learning
comes first, and culture learning second. Students need to learn the language
in order to truly appreciate the culture, but they do not need to learn about
the culture in order to truly comprehend the language. This understanding can
lead language teachers to avoid teaching culture for several reasons:
- They may feel that students at lower proficiency levels are not ready for it yet
- They may feel that it is additional material that they simply do not have time to teach
- In the case of formal culture, they may feel that they do not know enough about it themselves to teach it adequately
- In the case of popular culture, they may feel that it is not worth teaching
however, teachers are expected to integrate cultural
components because language teaching has been influenced by a significantly
different perspective on culture itself.
The communicative competence model is based on this
understanding of the relationship between language and culture.
Reference
http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/culture/cuindex.htm
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