Cours 2

‫الجمهوريــــــــة الجزائريــــــة الديمقراطيـــــة الشعبيـــــة‬
République Algérienne Démocratique et Populaire

Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur
Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur ‫وزارة التعليــم العالــي والبحــث العلمــي‬
et de la Recherche Scientifique
et de la Recherche cientifique
‫ بجاية‬de Bejaia
Université ‫جامعــة بجايــة‬
Université de Bejaia
Faculté des Lettres et des
Faculté des Lettres et des Langues
Langues
‫كليـــــة اآلداب واللغـــــات‬
Aboudaou
Aboudaou ‫أبـــوداو‬
Département de Langue et Littérature
Le Doyen
Anglaise ‫قســم اللغــة واألدب االنجليزى‬
Level: Master
Specialty: DLE + Linguistics
Module: Langue and Culture
Teacher: IMERZOUKENE
The Importance of Culture

Culture refers to a social basis that shapes any social context and situation.
1-The importance of culture in the society:
Culture is so important to society because culture is constructed by society. People are shaped by
their culture and through their culture. Society could not function without cultural norms that assist in
governing behaviour and values.
Our cultural values influence how we approach living that is: our cultural values serve as the founding
principles of our life. They shape our thinking, behaviour and personality. *
➢ The roles of culture in society:
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: :
1.1.Culture isTél
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treasury of
034/22/15/42 knowledge: culture provides knowledge, which is essential
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for the physical and intellectual existence of a man. Man was born with a great capacity
to learn, to understand things in his environment. Culture preserves knowledge and helps
its transmission from generation to generation through language. That is, culture helps
the preservation, accumulation, diffusion and transmission of knowledge. Eg. Oral tales,
values, ways of marriage...
1.2.Culture defines situations: culture defines, conditions and determines what we eat and
drink and wear; when we laugh, weep and sleep; what work we do; what God we
worship; what knowledge we rely on; what poetry we recite.... It even explains the why
of these situations. Eg. In the Kabyle society, we wear a special dress; we eat couscous as
the main meal....
1.3.Culture defines attitudes, values and goods: attitudes refer to the tendency to feel and
work out in certain ways; values refer to the measure of goodness or desirability; goods
refer to the attainments which our values define as worthy. That is, culture determines the
Faculté des Lettres et des Langues. Campus Aboudaou – Bejaia

Téléphone : 034 22 15 42 / Fax : 034 22 15 47
faculte-ll@univ-bejaia.dz
http://www.univ-bejaia.dz/Fac_Lettres_Langues/
Langues
Aboudaou
Le Doyen
structure of our thinking, which influences our perceptions. It determines our attitudes,
behaviours about how good/bad or easy/difficult we perceive things in our environment.
It is the culture which conditions our attitudes towards various issues such as morality,
religion, marriage, science, family planning, positions... Eg. In the kabyle society, the
grandfather decides everything for the whole family; beliefs about health and medical
care are a part of all cultures....
1.4.Culture decides on our career: culture sets limitations our choice to select different
careers. However, there are some people who oppose and try to modify these aspects of
culture. Eg. In early kabyle society, becoming a nurse or a hairdresser was not allowed
for women.
1.5.Culture provides behaviour patterns: culture directs and confines the behaviour of an
individual. It rewards noble works and punishes ignoble ones. In early kabyle society,
women are not allowed to buy meat.
1.6.Culture
Tél. : shapes personality: culture prepares man for group life and provides him the
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of living.
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That is, to be accepted as part of a group. We tend to follow what the
group decides for us. We are influenced by the norms and values carried out by the
culture. Eg.
1.7.Culture provides traditional interpretations to certain situations: men tend to
determine their behaviour according to certain situations and give interpretations that
perpetuate through time. Eg. In many cultures, when a black cat crosses one’s way, it
would be better to postpone the journey (a black cat is seen as a sign of bad luck). An awl
is seen differently from one culture to another (as a symbol of wisdom, of idiocy..., in the
kabyle society an awl is seen as a symbol of death)...
1.8.Culture keeps social relationships intact: culture ties people together. By regulating the
behaviour of people and satisfying the primary drives/needs like hunger, sex..., it has
been able to maintain group life. That is, culture lessons the chances that a man will
behave in a wrong way. Eg. Village committee.

Téléphone : 034 22 15 42 / Fax : 034 22 15 47
Langues
Aboudaou
Le Doyen
1.9.Culture broadens the outlooks (ways of understanding and thinking) of the
individual: culture provides a set of rules that help the individual to think not only about
himself but also about others as he is a member of a larger group. That is, he thinks about
family, state, nation.... Eg. Cooking croissant (Croissant rouge) which works to help and
feed people in need.
1.10. Culture creates new needs: as culture changes, modifies and develops through
time, needs also change and develop. Eg. Today, people need to use the new technologies
in their work, studies, in their daily life. That is, everywhere and for everything but
before they didn’t need them.
2-The importance of culture in the classroom: education:

School carries home and social expectations of students. Therefore, school is an important
cultural means. Culture is a set of values, traditions, social and political relationships shared by a group
and transmitted by: peopleTélfrom
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including cultural facts.
Examples:
➢ Module of “history” carries social, historical and political elements of the society.
➢ In the module of “economics”, the economic conditions of the society are introduced.
➢ In the module of “civic education”, cultural norms, values and ethics are involved.
➢ In other modules, such as “maths”, “physics”..., cultural facts and behaviours such as morals and
ethics are also introduced.
3-The importance of culture in a language classroom:
Language is the primary means by which any culture transmits its beliefs, values and norms.
This means that people acquire/learn culture through language. The uses of language reflect the cultural
values of the society in which the language is spoken.
We cannot deal with any language without introducing the cultural facts vehicled by this
language.

Téléphone : 034 22 15 42 / Fax : 034 22 15 47
Langues
Aboudaou
Le Doyen
Eg. In the French classroom in secondary education, we learn, for example, how to invite, to
request, to apologise, to behave in such situations. These are cultural facts related to the French culture
and not to our own culture. We read texts in the French language written by French writes who rely on
their culture while writing. That is, these texts convey cultural facts related to the French culture. Hence,
consciously or unconsciously, readers of these texts understand some cultural facts.
4-The importance of culture in an EFL classroom:
In early language teaching, culture was limited to the big “C” culture such as literature,
civilisation and arts. However, with the rise of the communicative trend-which claims communication as
the ultimate aim of foreign language learning-teaching of culture was developed and included the
teaching of little “c” culture (the way of life, behaviour, beliefs...).
Today, culture is integrated in every language aspect. Foreign language learners tend to transfer
their own cultural values and norms into the foreign language they are learning and this leads to
interference thus to a wrong use of the foreign language.
Teaching
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: cultural
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034/22/15/42 will be of great help to the learners’ linguistic comprehension
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and expression. helps to understand foreign language correctly and to express oneself in
the foreign language appropriately.
To master the foreign language, one needs to be aware and know to use the cultural aspects
vehicled by this language.
Learning a language without its culture is learning meaningless symbols since language takes
meaning in a specific context.
The integration of the target culture in the classroom refers to an intercultural teaching and
learning. That is, when teaching and learning a foreign language, we also teach and learn the culture it
vehicles and we refer to students’ own culture.
The fusion of the two cultures-native and target-helps learners discover the similarities and the
differences, helps to understand and accept the other culture without rejecting their own culture. This
type of integration is called “intercultural teaching”.

Téléphone : 034 22 15 42 / Fax : 034 22 15 47

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‫الجمهوريــــــــة الجزائريــــــة الديمقراطيـــــة الشعبيـــــة‬

République Algérienne Démocratique et Populaire

The Importance of Culture

Faculté des Lettres et des Langues. Campus Aboudaou – Bejaia

Faculté des Lettres et des Langues. Campus Aboudaou – Bejaia

2-The importance of culture in the classroom: education:

Faculté des Lettres et des Langues. Campus Aboudaou – Bejaia

Faculté des Lettres et des Langues. Campus Aboudaou – Bejaia

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