Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Definition of culture:
According to Brooks (op.cit:21 -22) culture is all about human beings and different
from other close subjects like:
Culture is not geography: in the sense that it is no more than a concrete stage, where
the human culture is played.
Culture is not history: it is known that everything has a history, but culture is much
older than history, since started recording events with invention of writing.
Culture is not folklore: the latter means the informal oral transmission of customs and
legends, which has been studied systematically. It can only provide one piece from the
puzzle of culture.
Culture is different from sociology: '' Sociology informs us with precision that in a given
community there are three and a half children per family, but culture still waits for an
interview with one of those half children '' (Brooks,op.cit:20). Damen (1987:82) believes
that a society has a culture and a social organization. Therefore, social refers to the
interactions of groups of people, with the group serving as a major focus of analysis,
while culture refers to a set of behavioural, cognitive and emotional patterns. However,
both terms are inseparable and complementary under the title of sociocultural.
Culture is not to be confined within literature: '' literature can supply us with but a part
though clearly a most valuable part of what needs to be taught under the heading of
culture.'' (Brooks, op.cit: 21)
Culture is also not to be confused with civilization: for Brook civilization means what has
been achieved in respect of technology, science, politicsetc, within a group of people.
He consider it as an inclusive term, however; culture covers all aspects, in addition to
achievements, of that group.
2. What Culture Is/ a Historical Account:
Culture is not an easy concept to define, for it reflects what one thinks of oneself and
how one is seen by others. ''the term culture may be regarded by an anthropologist as a
major unifying force, by a communication professional as a major variable, or by a
psychologist as an individual mental set.'' (Damen, op.cit: 20). The concept of culture
originates in agriculture where it denotes the tillage or the cultivation of the soil and
plants. Accordingly, a 'cultured' or 'cultivated' person has a good educated and refined
mind; the ''cultivation of minds'' is ''the deliberate husbandry of natural capacities to
produce perfect rulers'' (OSullivan et al., op.cit: 69).
Anthropologists were the first to try to define culture in the 19th century, given that
this concept is the core of their discipline. Three hundred definitions were analysed by
Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1 954; cited in Seelye, ibid.), on the basis of which culture was
regarded in a very broad perspective being linked to all aspects of human life, and was
viewed as what people share in the same social environment, and what sets them apart
from people from another social environment.
In short, the anthropologists of the time emphasized the diversity of human cultural
patterns, but restricted culture to what is observable and shared, without attempting to
understand their underlying rules and the circumstances of their occurrence. This is
known as the behaviourist approach to culture.
Culture is also commonly defined in a functionalist perspective . Unlike the
behaviourists, the functionalists were interested in understanding the underlying
reasons and rules which explain and govern observed behaviours and events. People
belonging to the same culture are believed to share common rules of behaving. Knowing
these rules would lead to develop an ability to predict others' actions resulting in a
better understanding of and a successful participation in the culture in question.
Both assumed that identifying cultural behaviours and their functions could objectively
and accurately be done, though, practically speaking, this proved not to be the case.
Robinson (1985) explains that designating cultural behaviours is not an easy task for
both native and none native observer, let alone their interpretation. For instance, a
cultural anthropologist may observe a smile and infer the reason for smiling is
happiness. Another may infer that the interpretion of the smile, in the same context, is
embarrassment.
The cognitive approach to culture (known also as the ideational approach) views it as a
system of ideas and mental constructs rather than material observable things. For
Robinson (op.cit:10), "culture is like a computer program. The program differs from
culture to culture. The program refers to cognitive maps". Similarly, Hofstede(1991 ; in
De Jong, 1 996: 26) refers to culture as the "software of the mind ", and De Jong as "the
set of mental rules that govern our everyday behaviour".
In general, culture has two orientations:
1. Culture with capital C mean formal culture or achievement culture consisting of
literature, fine arts, music, architecture, etc.
2. culture with small c means way of life culture or behaviour culture containing
patterns of daily living, attitudes and values.
3. Cultural Elements
3.1 Beliefs: A belief is a conviction in the truth of something that one learned by living in
a culture. It is the basis of ones actions and values. Samovar, Porter and Jain (1 981 ; in
Damen, op.cit) identify three types of beliefs: experiential, informational and
3.8 Stereotypes and Prejudices: A stereotype is a belief or an opinion held by one group
that the majority of a different group can be classified by the actions, appearance or
attitudes of a few members of that group. A stereotype is a one form of prejudice.
Prejudice towards a culture is essentially caused by ignorance of or preconceived ideas
about this culture.
4. The place of culture in FL classroom:
Is culture that crucial in language teaching / learning?
Notwithstanding the inseparability of language and culture, the FC is not always
'welcome' in the FL class. Some teaching professionals put forward heated arguments
against incorporating it in language courses and textbooks. Others believe it to be a
'taken-for granted' component in FL teaching, for several other arguments.
4.1 Against Culture Teaching:
Altan (1995) thinks that the target language situations and their ingrained values,
beliefs, and norms are irrelevant to the learners native environment and
background.
Teaching the literary and cultural aspects of a FL does not meet the needs and
aspirations of FLs who basically need it for science, technology, business and
international communication.
Foreign culture based textbooks are, for Altan, culturally based in the sense that
they implicitly or explicitly belittle the learners native one. The fact that makes
learning the former a threat to the latter by reshaping students patterns of
thinking.
English is the best example of a language serving as a means of ideological,
economic, technical and military imperialisman evil influence leading to
Westernization.
English enjoys the status of an international language used for specific purposes,
in various cultural environments. It is no longer viewed as a vehicle of the
Englishspeaking peoples culture and way of life. Put otherwise, it no longer
belongs uniquely to them, but to anybody who knows it.
Some educators refer to teaching English as a purely functional or
instrumental tool: nothing more than a linguistic means to certain ends, such
as fuller employment and a stronger economy, as in tourism, international
banking.
The adoption of the learners NC as cultural content in FL classrooms does not
only enhance their self-confidence and motivation to learn, but it also supports
the findings of the schemata theory research, that familiar content positively
affects the learners comprehension and assimilation of the TL, and vice versa.
Altan (op.cit) notes that a foreign cultural input would engender further
difficulties for FL learners to cope with, in addition to the already existing
linguistic complexities.
Mere fluency in the production of FL utterances without any awareness of their sociocultural implications, or reading texts without a realization of the underlying values and
assumptions is not language learning.
4.2.2 Interdependence of Culture and Communication:
Kitao (op.cit: 7) thinks that culture instruction makes of language learning a meaningful
and a purposeful enterprise, facilitating comprehension and assimilation.
Culture contextualizes language learning and language use, brings authenticity to the language
class and reduces its artificiality.