Chapter 5

Language and culture

I. History of the relationship of language and
culture in applied linguistics.

A. Until the 1970s: separate areas of inquiry

B. 1970s – 90s: little c culture of everyday

life enters the communicative picture

C. Practice (Pragmatics)
I. History of the relationship of language and
culture in applied linguistics.
A. Until the 1970s: separate areas of inquiry

- Language and culture have not been seen by

everyone as inseparable as they might be seen today
by an applied linguist.

 Back then, the prestige of linguistics and the new

technology of the language laboratory encouraged an
emphasis on language as skill, not as cultural
understanding.
I. History of the relationship of language and
culture in applied linguistics.
A. Until the 1970s: separate areas of inquiry

- At that time (before 1970s), the study of language

was distinct from the study of both literature (big C
Culture) and anthropology nhân chủng học (little c
culture)

 The mutual dependency phụ thuộc lẫn nhau of

linguistic form and cultural worldviews was not taken
seriously among psycholinguists.
nhận thức
I. History of the relationship of language and
culture in applied linguistics.
A. Until the 1970s: separate areas of inquiry
- Culture was to make its way into applied linguistics
through the study of language discourse.

-Kramsch (1998) pointed out that culture in applied

linguistics : “membership in a discourse community
that shares a common social space and history and
common imaginings”

 Culture made it necessary to study linguistic and

stylistic variation (sự thay đổi phong cách), socially
and historically situated discourse communities (cộng
đồng ngôn luận có vị trí XH + LS), etc.
 I. History of the relationship of language and
culture in applied linguistics.
B. 1970s-1990s: little c culture of everyday
life enters the communicative picture

- The social turn in applied

linguistics brought a vigorous
interest (sâu sắc) in the
cultural component of language
study
 This is based on a variety of
research domains related to the
little c culture of language use
I. History of the relationship of language and
culture in applied linguistics.
B. 1970s-1990s: little c culture of everyday
life enters the communicative picture

- Culture was found in the meaning that speakers and

listeners, writers and readers gave them through the
discourse of verbal exchanges, newspaper articles or
political speeches

 One had to understand both universal and culture-

specific constraints (hạn chế) on language use in
discourse to fully UNDERSTAND CULTURE.
I. History of the relationship of language and
culture in applied linguistics.
B. 1970s-1990s: little c culture of everyday
life enters the communicative picture

- Another related field that studies culture in action

pragmatics, especially cross-cultural pragmatics,

 Cross-cultural pragmatics studies the realization

of speech acts like requests and apologies in
different cultural contexts, as well as the cultural
variations or politeness strategies.
I. History of the relationship of language and
culture in applied linguistics.
C. Practice (Pragmatics)

- Pragmatics refers to how words are used in a

practical sense. Words can mean different things, and
often the same word can mean something different
depending on the context in which it is used.

Examples of Pragmatics:
1.Will you crack open the door? I am getting hot.

 Pragmatically, we know that the speaker means to

open the door just a little to let in some air.
I. History of the relationship of language and
culture in applied linguistics.
C. Practice (Pragmatics)

Examples of Pragmatics:
2. I heart you!
Pragmatically, "heart" in this sentence means "love"-
hearts are commonly used as a symbol for love, and to
"heart" someone has come to mean that you love
someone

3. “How are you?”

 Pragmatically, this could be understood as a
rhetorical question, not a literal question about how you
are doing at that exact moment.
I. History of the relationship of language and
culture in applied linguistics.
C. Practice (Pragmatics)

Examples of Pragmatics:
4. If you eat all of that food, it will make you bigger!

 If it is said to a young child, pragmatically, it would

mean to grow bigger. If it is said to a grown person
who is already obese, it would mean something entirely
different.
 Chapter 5
Language and culture
II. Main current issues

A.Main current issues in linguistic research

B.Main current issues in applied linguistic

practice
II. Main current issues

A. Main current issues in linguistic research

- In the last two decades, applied linguistics has

been concerned about its identity as an
interdisciplinary field of research lĩnh vực nghiên cứu
liên ngành at the intersection (điểm giao thoa) of
theory and practice

èMost of the current issues come from the applied

and interdisciplinary (liên ngành) nature of the field
II. Main current issues

A. Main current issues in linguistic research

These are the main problems for the study of

language and culture:

-Description vs prescription
-Description vs prediction
-Linguistics vs educational concerns
-Structuralist vs post-structuralist approaches to
research
-Who gets to frame real-world problems: the
practitioner or the researcher?
II. Main current issues

A. Main current issues in linguistic research

Description vs prescription:

There is an expectation that the findings of

researcher will lead to immediate prescriptions
(nguyên tắc) for the practice.

E.g:

1) Businessmen would require prescriptions from

applied linguistics to learn how to behave when
negotiating deals with partners from other cultures.
II. Main current issues

A. Main current issues in linguistic research

E.g:

2) The US State Department recruited

anthropologists to join the battlefield in Iraq and
Afghanistan è identify the culture of the enemy and
to befriend (or capture) the local nationals
II. Main current issues

A. Main current issues in linguistic research

Who gets to frame real-world problems: the

practitioner or the researcher? (Ai là người giải
quyết các vấn đề trong thế giới thực)

A case in point is the current rift (sự rạn nứt)

between second language acquisition research and
research on developmental bilingualism in applied
linguistics

On the one hand, it is believed that many foreign

language learners can be found in schools, at a time
when they are not yet fully socialized in their first
language
II. Main current issues

A. Main current issues in linguistic research

-Foreign language learners sometimes already know

another foreign languages and have grown up in
various cultures.

E.g: These individuals could be international exchange

students or students who study abroad for their
higher education.
II. Main current issues

A. Main current issues in linguistic research

However, the opposite reality could occur in English-

dominant countries where learning a foreign language
is seen as a elite (ưu tú) activity for the privileged
(ng có đặc quyền)

è Being “bilingual” is considered a more urgent

matter of social integration rather choosing to
acquire an additional language to enrich one’s
education.
II. Main current issues

A. Main current issues in linguistic research

Moreover, foreign languages are framed (bị đóng

khung) in terms of foreign policy, while bilingual
education and heritage languages (ngôn ngữ di sản)
are framed in terms of civil rights

è Two different political cultures indeed