Cultural Content in English

Language Teaching
 Examining Cultural Content

• What is culture?
• Types of cultural content in
textbooks

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• Write down and share with the people in your
group what you think about when you hear
the word “ culture”?
• Compare your definition of culture to the one
proposed by a Robert Kohls ( 1996 in
Wintergerst & McVeigh, 2011)

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Culture = an integrated system of learned
behavior patterns that are characteristic of the
members of any given society. Culture refers to
the total way of life of particular groups of
people. It includes everything that a group of
people thinks, says, does and makes- its
systems of attitudes and feelings. Culture is
learned and transmitted from generation to
generation.

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 Products
literature
folklore
Art
Music
artefacts

Ideas Behaviours
Beliefs customs
Values habits
institutions Dress
foods
leisure
• Elements of culture ( Tomalin & Stempleski, 1993) 5
•
Cultural content of teaching materials in an
English course may contain four main sources
1. The home culture of the students
2. The culture of the English-speaking peoples
3. The culture of other communities in the world
4. Global/international culture
( Ur, 2012)

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• In your group, examine the content of a unit
from one of the textbooks currently used at
Vietnamese senior high schools.
• Identify the elements of culture ( behaviours,
products, and ideas/ perspectives) reflected
in the unit
• Identify the source of culture ( home, NES,
global, etc.) reflected in the unit

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• Which source of culture seems missing and
should be added?

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•What do you think are the goals of teaching
culture?
•Refer to Seelye’s list of goals

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 Goals of teaching culture
1.Developing interest in another culture and
empathy toward its people;
2. Realising that the way people speak &
behave is affected by social variables relevant
to who they are & the role they play in a
society;
3.Understanding that people think, act, and
react in response to culturally conditioned
images, and that effective communication
requires discovery of what those images are; 10
4. Recognising that behaviour is shaped by both
situational variables & the conventions of the
culture;
5. Realising that people use the options
provided by their society for taking care of their
basic needs;
6. Developing the ability to explore the culture,
locating information & evidence from a variety
of sources & evaluating generalisations .
(Seelye, 1993, p. 351)
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 Cultural awareness activities
• Try out the games related to the new year
• Reflect:
+ What is the purpose of each game?
+ Which of the goals in Seelye’s list do they
relate to?
+ What types of cultural knowledge does it
raise awareness about?
+ What types of language skills/knowledge
do they develop? 12
• Listen to the new year songs while referring to
the lyrics and reflect with reference to the
guided questions above.

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 Framework for teaching: Integrating cultures
and comparisons
Refer to Shrum & Glisan ( 2000, pp. 106-109) in
the Reading for ideas on integrating elements of
culture into teaching
Note the three elements Practices, Products &
Perspectives

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Since language is used to express cultural
perspectives and to participate in social
practices, language study offers students
insights into a culture that are available in no
other way. Although some culture knowledge
can be obtained from other kinds of courses,
only language study empowers learners to
engage in direct interaction with members of
other cultures” ( Shrum & Glisan, 2000, p. 106)

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• In what ways can culture be taught in class?

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• 1 Use literature
• 2. Use the arts
• 3. Surround students with stimuli from target
culture
• 4. Assign students to present research on
target culture
• 5. Include problem-solving skills to help
discover culture
• 6. Engage students in role plays, dramas,
simulations 17
7. Get students involved in through experiential
learning & contact assignments
8. Introduce holidays, festivals, and religious
traditions.

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• In groups, examine sample activities &
materials for cultural awareness ( Omaggio
Hadley, 2001) and consider materials,
techniques, student proficiency, language and
cultural learning objectives

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Refer to General Considerations for teaching
culture ( Omaggio, 2001).
What else do you want to add to the list?

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 Designing cultural activity
• In your group, design an activity that can
integrate cultural awareness into the current
localised textbook material.

• Present the lesson plan to the whole class. Be

sure to explain your choice/use of the activity,
material, cultural learning aims/goals, etc.

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 The End

Thank you for your

participation

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