Influence Of Culture In Second Language Teaching

Fernane Zouhir

TEFL/GR: B

29 November, 2016

Culture in Second Language Teaching

Language?is the most common aspect among human beings, and the most complex and interesting cultural inheritance in any given ideological reality. It is the instrument for communication through which humans express their existence, identity, culture, philosophy, etc. Humans are social beings; every act of social conduction involves communication with others. we build communities, societies, and nations via the use of language. It is even the case with learning a foreign language; the learners acquire the language for different reasons, but mainly for communicative purposes. Teaching a foreign language has become a necessity nowadays; it is a mandatory

If language learning is viewed this way, it includes mainly vocabulary, grammar rules, and the way students should construct sentences. Here, Language learning focuses on these areas in order to develop communication and enrich speaking abilities to communicate with the native speakers, etc. language becomes a social practice that aims at interpreting linguistic codes, and conducting meaningful sentences in order to establish consistent social and interpersonal relationships with others. In This view, language teachers do not explore the cultural inheritance of the language; their main concern is to promote the teaching of the language as a mere linguistic and grammatical

In order to reinforce the student?s identity when learning a foreign language, teachers must, first, drive the attention of the students towards the importance of culture as a main cross cultural communication. Second, limit students understanding of the foreign culture in mere cultural facts, such as traditions, works of arts, literature, science, etc. this way the students learning of the foreign language does not affect their behavior nor does it reinforce cultural hegemony. To reinforce the latter cultural contents, Teachers of EFL should enroll students in a variety of activities; students can work in groups on a cultural activity and compare their observations (the teacher should make sure that groups deal with many different cultural manifestations). This is followed by a whole-class discussion during which all teams report on what they have found out. For example, students might come up with statements such as: ?In Poland, you have to take off your shoes when entering somebody?s house, etc??[footnoteRef:3] the aim of the activity should emphasize on knowledge based contents, so as to compare or contrast certain elements of the foreign culture with students? own culture. [3: Chlopek, Zofia. The Intercultural Approach to EFL Teaching and Learning. Poland: 2008. ]

It is evident then that a relationship exists between language and culture. There is a need for EFL