Incorporating Culture in Foreign Language Teaching

Introduction

The field of educational research specially recently abounds noticeably with the topic of culture teaching side by side with foreign and second language teaching. Exploring and writing about such a topic, educationalists almost always assert the inextricability of both language and culture. This means that mastering the grammar and vocabulary of the target language without knowing or knowing about the target culture will not properly qualify students to usually successfully communicate in the target language. This short article is supposed to show what culture means and its relationship with language. Then, it illustrates with examples some cross-cultural compatibilities and incompatibilities and suggests thereunder the way culture can be incorporated in the process of teaching and the curricula focusing on the beginnings of such cultural incorporation.

Culture and its Relationship with Language

Culture is defined by the National Center for Cultural Competence as an "integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thoughts, communications, languages, practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting and roles, relationships and expected behaviors of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group; and the ability to transmit the above to succeeding generations" (Goode et al, 2000, cited in Peterson and Coltrane, 2003).

Language Teaching (journal)

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John Coltrane's Home in Philadelphia, 1952 - 1958

Thereof, language is nearly always a means of conveying culture; it is the mirror through which culture can appear. Also, it is through culture how linguistic messages are encoded, i.e., the use of language is directed and controled by culture. To exemplify, the way and the language one uses in saluting others are determined by one's own culture. Therefore, both language and culture are inextricably interrelated. To finally add before starting some cross-cultural compatibilities and incompatibilities, Buttjes (1990, cited in AbiSamra, 2001) shows the reasons of why language and culture are from the start inseparably connected as follows:

1. language acquisition does not...