Task 2 – Collaborative Activity

Tutor: Vanessa Villarraga

Students:

Hellen Daniela Arias – 1.110.600.163

Vivian Tapiero

Martha Ortiz

Elvis Tabares

Group: 551036_6

Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia UNAD

Escuela de Ciencias de la Educación

Course: Language and Culture 551036

May/2020
Step 2 - Links of the PowToon presentations

Hellen Arias

https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/fqBf28bdZXN/?mode=movie#/

Vivian Tapiero

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=v3WMbToXa_I

Martha Ortiz

https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/eKkEEcGAknh/?mode=movie#/

Elvis Tabares

https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/ggolJiQkuSe/?mode=movie#/
Step 3: Evidence of meaningful feedback

Hellen Arias

 As far as I know, your video is good, and you are a creative person. Keep it up. The

answers that the teacher of your video provided are interesting.

 I want you to recognize that you are such a responsible student. Your video is

interesting, I like the Argentinian example of culture in the language. In order to

improve your pronunciation, try to imitate what the actors say in a series, that

worked for me.

 Martha, your interview with professor Javier Vanegas is very interesting because

you clarify that is important to create an identification of the culture with the

language with the students, which is essential for everyone to build new knowledge.

Vivian Tapiero

 It seems to me comrades that we have done a good job since, as this, the

circumstances we could not go to an institution but we looked for the best way to

make the video, I see that we did a good interview and learned from the opinions of

our surveyed teachers. (Message for everyone)

Martha Ortiz

Hello Vivian! the didactics used in the presentation of his Pow Toom is very explicit on the

subject of sociocultural theory, which focuses on the important contributions that society

makes to individual development and highlights the interaction between the development of

people and culture in the who live.

Hello Hellen! His interview with English teacher Steven Reyes was very ordered, and the

strategies he uses as books of English literature are very interesting, and it is important to

highlight that literature within the teaching of a second language has undergone many

changes throughout history and it is not very common to use it in all educational

classrooms, however, there are already several schools that have increasingly included it in

educational proposals of teaching English in school classrooms and above all have

promoted its use among teachers to demonstrate that the integration of literature is possible.

Hello Hellen! Important the subject presented in his Pow Toom, in which let me highlight

the value of Byram's model (1997) which its importance lies in the training of the teacher to

be able to face the different cultural challenges following the design of the curriculum of
the educational institution, integrating the different skills linked to the use of the language,

without forgetting the knowledge

Elvis Tabares

 Hello Hellen! I was checking your presentation out and I can tell your English is

very clear and natural. Then, when I got to the conclusions there was a part I did not

understand very well. It is when you said “language and culture must be well

asimulated”. Sorry, But I did not catch that. In the other side, you said the

relationship between language and culture is crucial in the classroom and I totally

agree with that. Language and culture must be stuck together so there is a real

understanding of every language structure. Finally, it is true what you say, human

life depends on communication so it is important to value language and culture

because this last one would be the path to the target language.

P.S. Remember to add a recipient whenever you write a comment because it is not

clear who are you talking to when you do so.

 Hello Vivian! It was a nice presentation you made, you show a great attitude which

gets the listener connected with your face expressions, but then, when it comes to

pronunciation, I think it is difficult to understand you so I recommend to practice

reading aloud so you can get the required fluency. In the other side, the scenes from
 the PowToon where very accurate to the topic and I really enjoyed them.

Nevertheless, I could not understand any word from the spoken text. Maybe it was

the sound quality or your pronunciation but I was not able to connect with your

speech. Then, at the end when you showed some written text I could dig in a little

bit. Finally, about your conclusion, I think it is true when you say we humans are

always interacting one another. Since we are born we feel the necessity to

communicate, that is the reason we used to cry out whenever we wanted something

as little babies. Since that very moment the functions and forms of the language

make us part of one culture.

 Hello Martha! I was trying to watch your PowToon presentation but unfortunately,

it did not work. Are you sure this is the right link? On the other hand, I was

wondering about step 3. Have you been working on the video? I just want to tell

you that you still have time to complete step 2, step 3 and step 4 so let me know if I

can help you out with something.

Step 4: Transcript and link of the video interview with the written reflection of each

student

Hellen Arias

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Kc8LuVv6cDg

According to teacher Stiven Reyes, he thinks that culture is as a far broader and more

encompassing concept, which includes basically all aspects of society, ranging from its

accumulated knowledge to the values it holds, as well as the habits and capabilities of its

members. The existence of culture for human society is possible due to the

development and use of a common language among the people, for example the cultural

representation of an individual can be observed through the use of language in

particular context. Therefore, the assignment study recommends integration of cultural

awareness into a language teaching program for an overall achievement of competence in

intercultural communication.
The oral tradition is the whole of all testimony types verbally transmitted by a people on

their past. In Colombia, there are folkloric songs, the tale and the fable, and the myth that

are transfer to children through language.

Vivian Tapiero

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=E2ylKpsgi8o

(no final reflection on the interview)

Martha Ortiz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMgUgvSnNKE&feature=youtu.be

Reflection on the interview by Martha Ortiz

The teacher Javier Vanegas, determines that in Culture and Language there are

many definitions that closely relate them when teaching English, the main influence of

culture in the process of teaching the foreign language being the teacher who is in charge of

creating An identification of the culture with the language to his students, and speaking of

the cultural expressions, he comments that these are part of the identity of the culture and

gave as an example a cultural expression of Colombia to “Tomar el pelo” and tells us that

in Colombia there is between 15 and 16 languages with their own culture and that the

universities and academies of English as those in charge of teaching a language must teach
their culture and traditions in different ways. In addition, teacher Javier Vanegas reaffirms

that he always takes into account the culture to use the different strategies in teaching the

English language, such as working on speaking, listening and pronunciation through exams,

music, songs, among others

Elvis Tabares

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=IUd32mij-5A

Reflection on the interview by Elvis Tabares

In conclusion, I consider it is important to find the right balance between language

and culture, as language teachers, we have to bear in mind the activities we use, the level of

motivation and engagement of students as well as teachers, and our own preparedness for

the promotion of these skills.

The theories explained above open our teaching field in every aspect of the learning

process. Since the moment we are born, we start to fight throughout the forms and

functions of language. Here is where our willing to communicate start to grow inside and

we begin to develop different competencies that are part of every society. On one hand,

Sociocultural theory also suggests that human learning is largely a social process. (Cherry
2019, p. 1). This theory talks about the impact that society makes to individual

development.

On the other hand, we have Social Identity, we humans are group members that are

always fighting against the outsiders of the group. According to Tajfel (1979), “The central

hypothesis of social identity theory is that group members of an in-group will seek to find

negative aspects of an out-group, thus enhancing their self-image”. I really do not

understand why do we always put people into social groups and as social human beings, we

tend to exaggerate in these aspects.

Finally, we have Intercultural Communicative Competence which gives us the

opportunity to understand hoe gestures vary from culture to culture. I strongly suggest that

ICC needs to be included in the language curriculum if educators want to help students to

develop an interest for the language and culture studied.

References

Chan, W. M., Bhatt, S. K., Nagami, M., & Walker, I. (2015). Culture and Foreign

Language Education: Insights from Research and Implications for the Practice. Boston: De
Gruyter Mouton. (pp. 1-19). Retrieved from http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/login?

url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1045353&lang=es&site=eds-live&scope=site

Cherry, K. (2019). Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development. Retrieved from

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-sociocultural-theory-2795088

Lantolf, J., Thorne, S. L., & Poehner, M. (2015). Sociocultural Theory and Second

Language Development. In B. van Patten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in Second

Language Acquisition (pp. 207-226). New York: Routledge. Retrieved form:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313795407_Lantolf_J_Thorne_S_L_Poehner_M_

2015_Sociocultural_Theory_and_Second_Language_Development_In_B_van_Patten_J_W

illiams_Eds_Theories_in_Second_Language_Acquisition_pp_207-

226_New_York_Routledge

Lopez, S. (n.d). Intercultural communicative competence: creating awareness and

promoting skills in the language classroom. Retrieved from

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED565040.pdf
 McLeod, S. A. (2019, October 24). Social identity theory. Simply Psychology.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html