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The Relationship of Language and Culture:

How cultural boundaries affect the language learning

Hira (211670195)
Eng-217: Study Skills (section C)
Mam Sarah Meer
April 16,2023
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Language is one of the basic concepts for understanding any culture. Basically,

language is not only a means of communication, but it is a basic aspect of cultural identity

and creates a sense of community. The language of any culture is the intrinsic expression

of that culture.it act as a means of communicating different beliefs about religions and

about different customs. 1Both Language and culture are closely connected with each other,

and it is very important for the learners, users and those people who are involved in

language usage like most of the people use languages. But the way we learn language is

highly influenced by cultural boundaries and cultural boundaries are the specific lines that

separate one culture from another culture whether these are in the form of race, ethnicity,

religion or any other characteristics this essay will explore that how cultural boundaries

affect the language learning.

One of the most obvious ways through which cultural boundaries affect language

learning is the use of language by itself. As it is known there are different cultural groups in this

world and every culture has its own values and beliefs about their language even if they share

same languages among themselves but in that case, there will be a huge difference due to

vocabulary, understanding of grammar, pronunciation, and the also different meanings of only

one word in different languages. 2firstly, the process through which humans communicate is

complex and we also use different communication techniques. These techniques are culturally

specific because when we communicate with different people of different cultures it may be

difficult to understand. Secondly. When we live in a particular society, we learn a lot of things

1
Elmes, David. "The relationship between language and culture." 99-100.

2
Ibid,150-250
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including how to use gestures, glances and sight that have a huge impact on your tone

and voice. All these things indicate what we say and what we want to do.

Furthermore, culture is also related with the behavioral patterns of that society and

language shows a true picture of that speech community like 3According to the Rossi Landin,

"while speaking the totality of message we exchange with each other constitute a whole speech

community and a speech community is the whole society through which we understand the point

of view of speaking so the question is how behavioral patterns affect the language learning. for

example: A children that is raised in strict household with rigid rules but if the same student

learn language through the teacher who is very jolly and also taught them a lot of play activities

so this will be very difficult for that student whose behavior is very quiet.

Another way in which cultural boundaries affect language learning is the cultural context

that is used in every language. Like cultural context means the family traditions, customs and

beliefs of one family. Every family. These have different traditions.4 For example, in many Latin

countries there is a very common tradition of hugging each other when they meet with each other

while in Asian countries there is a tradition of shaking hands with opposite gender so cultural

context play very important role when it comes to affect the process of language learning in a

classroon.so in a classroom when two cultures are mixed together so in that case, they explore

new things.

The use of idioms and cultural references can also affect language learning in returns of

cultural boundaries. 5When learning a new language grammar and vocabulary are not only the
3
Imai, Mutsumi,” The relation between language, culture, and thought”,350-450.
4
Ibid,” Journal of social analyses”,120-140
5
Shanahan, Daniel," The Modern Language Journal”, 164-174.
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important things to understand the language but we also need to understand the idioms and

references. For example, those idioms and references that are common in one culture make not

any kind of sense to another student who belong to the another culture, likewise the idioms or the

slangs that are used in Spanish may have different meaning in English so these are the cultural

differences if teacher or instructor does not know about the cultural differences so could he

explain to his students and if teacher also uses the same idioms so it may be very difficult for the

students to understand the specific language.

Cultural boundaries can also affect the self-confidence and motivation of language

learners because if a Spanish boy sit in the class of English student and Spanish student does not

know English at all so it's very difficult for him to stay there in class because he feels anxious

because he does not belong to that group and in return, he feels very less confident and less

motivated to learn a new language. 6Additionally, if the learners are not very confident about

navigating the cultural differences, in that case, they feel hesitant and worried about speaking

aloud in society on different occasions. This can act like a barrier for the students in learning a

new language and in understanding new things about different cultures.

In addition, cultural boundaries can also affect the resources that are available for

language learners.it is obvious that all the resources that are available to the language learners

will according to the people who belongs to that specific society and cultural groups. And the

learners that are not related to that specific group must do struggle to find those resources. Like

the language courses and opportunities of learning language may be limited to that student that

are belong to that specific language.in this way these are some cultural boundaries that affect the

6
Ibid.,174-178
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language learning and through these things many people face difficulty because culture and

language has a direct relationship with each other.

The basic problem is our learning environment because all these cultural boundaries that

affect the language are related to the learning environment. 7The learning environment plays a

very important role in changing the mindset of the student. Learning environments may be good

or bad, it depends on the school and in what kind of way they are presenting the dominant

culture. For example, the residential schools in Canada the basic purpose of that schools is to

diminish or destroy the Aboriginal cultures and replaces them with the western culture. Perhaps

culture is an indefinite and unclear in higher education institutions, but it has a powerful

influence not only on the institutions but also on different academic departments.

The solution to this problem is to create a new learning environment in which all the

students are equal, they belong to any culture. It is very difficult for a single individual to change

the dominant culture, but new technologies allow us to change the whole learning environment.

There are some important points and by reflecting on these points we can create a mutual

learning environment. First is the mutual respect that is very important and should be given to

every student without restriction of culture. Then having full opportunity to give their opinions

and views, recognition and respect of every student, then collaboration and mutual support is the

last thing. All these are the solutions if we want to enhance or change our learning environment.

In Japan, current methods that are used for language education appear as a passive stance

in the incorporation of cultural knowledge into the classroom, they are using FYI approach in the

inclusion of cultural notes and tidbit methods in language lessons.

7
Hall, Joan Kelly, “language and culture”,67-90
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8
Thana Soulas also notes that Kramsch’s observations should not go unnoticed:

“Culture is not only the fifth skill that tell you that how to speak, how to read and how to
learn a language but it is always in the background of language learning from day one and it also
face many challenges”
Another solution to the learning environment is that there should be an introductory concept of

cultural and linguistic competence that should be introduced in class, so they also have a very

clarified concept in their minds. And the relationship between students and their instructor

should be very strong because teachers are the ones who can clarify everything to their students.

In conclusion, language and culture are deeply interlinked with each other and have a

great influence on one another. Language also reflects the history, traditions and values of

community and culture, on the other hand culture shapes the way people use language. So, if we

want effective communication so we need to understand the relationship of language and culture.

Likewise cultural boundaries have a significant impact on language learning. Communication

styles, behavioral patterns, cultural context, cultural references and stereotypes all these factors

can affect language learning.so the solution of these problems is that teachers and students must

be aware of these cultural differences and also, they need to create a positive learning

environment either with the use of technology.by doing so students will experience positive and

productive learning experience.

References

Elmes, David. "The relationship between language and culture." (2013).

8
Kramsch, Claire,” Redefining the Boundaries of Language Study”,23-44
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Hilliard, Amanda D. "A critical examination of representation and culture in four English

language textbooks." Language Education in Asia 5, no. 2 (2014): 238-252.

Hilliard, Amanda D. "A critical examination of representation and culture in four English

language textbooks." Language Education in Asia 5, no. 2 (2014): 238-252.

Hall, Joan Kelly. Teaching and researching: Language and culture. Routledge, 2013.

Hantrais, Linda. "Crossing cultural boundaries." In A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy,

Second Edition, pp. 227-242. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013.

Harrison, Simon. "Cultural boundaries." Anthropology today 15, no. 5 (1999): 10-13.

Imai, Mutsumi, Junko Kanero, and Takahiko Masuda. "The relation between language, culture,

and thought." Current Opinion in Psychology 8 (2016): 70-77.

Shanahan, Daniel. "Articulating the relationship between language, literature, and culture:

Toward a new agenda for foreign language teaching and research." The Modern

Language Journal 81, no. 2 (1997): 164-174.

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