The Research and Analysis of Teaching Language Automatically Entailing Teaching Culture

宋湛文

【摘要】進行跨文化交際是學習第二語言的重要功能與目的之一。語言的學習與文化學習之間存在著聯系。作者分別從不同角度探索了語言教學與文化教學之間的關系，對于語言教學中是否自動教授文化進行了探究，分別從否定、中立、肯定三個方面給予了回答，并最終得出文化學習自動存在于語言學習中的結論，強調了二語習得在跨文化交際中的作用。

【關鍵詞】跨文化交際 語言教學 二語習得 文化學習

1. Introduction

Communication， especially intercultural communication， is one of the main functions and aims that learners acquire knowledge of a second language. Thus， it is crucial to study the relationship between language and culture as well as relationship between teaching culture and teaching language.

The relationship between culture and language is complicated. According to the recent researches， one of the common results is that language plays such an important role in culture that culture and language are inseparable （Jiang， 2000）. Language can be closely associated with culture. At the same time， there is another statement that “language is/can be culturally neutral”. On the contrary， there is a statement that their relationship can be seen to be separated （but not for long） （Risager， 2005）. Since the relationship between culture and language is so thorny， for L2 teaching and learning， it comes to a question which is “does teaching language automatically entail teaching culture？” From my point of view， the answer is “yes”. This essay aims to explore possible answers to this question and provide my supporting ideas to the answer “yes”. That is teaching language automatically entail teaching culture.

In general， the body of the essay will be divided into three parts：first of all， there will be an brief introduction to culture and language and their relationship；the second part will illustrate a variety of statements to the question：“Does teaching language automatically entail teaching culture？” from the recent researches；in the third part， after thinking critically， my positive answer to this question will be stated based on what I have explored. Finally， there will be a conclusion of the essay.

2. Overview of Culture and Language

In general， it is quite difficult to define cultural and language and their relationship. Based on a variety of definitions of culture， Spencer-Oatey and Franklin （2009：15） summarizes a few characteristics of culture：1） culture has different kinds of regularities；2） culture is related to social groups （but the totally same cultural features do not exist in two individual groups）；3） human beings behaviour is influenced by culture；4） culture is structured by peoples communication and interaction. In a narrow sense， the components of culture contain history， literature， ways of life， religion， political issues， manners and customs， work and leisure and so forth. Language is a tool communication. Language used as an instrument of intercultural interaction （communication） is one of the most important functions of teaching and learning a second/foreign language such as English as a Lingua Franca （ELF）.endprint

It mentioned before that language and culture has a thorny relationship. Commonly， it is accepted that culture and language cannot be separated and language plays an important role in culture （Jiang， 2000）. Brown （1994：165） said “the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture.” On the other hand， Risager （2005） considers culture and language can be separated as well. But he mentions that time cannot be long. Thus， their relationship is quite complicated and language is associated with culture closely.

3. Exploring answers to the Question about Teaching Culture and Teaching Language

After presenting relationship between culture and language， the relationship between teaching culture and teaching language will be searched. Since it is clearly that language and culture are closely related， there are some questions about culture in the second language acquisition：What kind of role does culture play in L2 classroom？What is the relationship between teaching language and teaching culture？Does teaching language automatically entail teaching culture？I will explore a variety of answers to the questions in the following part.

3.1 Negative and Neutral Answers to the Question

Does teaching language automatically entail teaching culture？There must be some different answers. And “no” may be one of them. That answer means teaching culture cannot be involved in language teaching automatically.

Previously， Brown （2000：247） presented that for L2 learning， if learner masters grammatical competences such as the knowledge of listening， pronunciation， vocabulary in that second language， he/she has got linguistic competence and learned the language successfully. In others words， teaching a second language only referred to teaching grammatical competence while foreign cultural knowledge teaching and learning was not contained in it. However， in my opinion， as a crucial part of language competence in Bachmans （1990） model， pragmatic competence （intercultural competence） will not be separated in second language teaching and learning. In addition， the answer may be neutral as well. Omaggio （1993：357-358） indicates that “teaching language first， and introducing culture later” （lecture slides of TESOL and Culture）.

3.2 Positive Answers to the Question

Based on the recent researches， there are a range of positive statements to this question. Some scholars indicated explicitly or implicitly that culture could be taught automatically during teaching language. Therefore， in the following part， some positive results will be stated after exploring.endprint

The first statement is that pragmatic （intercultural） competence is one of the indispensible components in language competence. Bachmans （1990） model illustrates that generally， language competence contains two components：1） organizational competence （including grammatical and textual competence）， 2） pragmatic competence （including illocutionary and sociolinguistic competence）. In addition， Byram （2000） has the similar conclusion as well. He said that “Intercultural competence together with learners linguistic， sociolinguistic and discourse competence form intercultural communicative competence （ICC）. Learners with an ICC can link the knowledge of the other culture to their language competence through their ability to use language appropriately”. Besides， the components of language are semantics， syntactics， pragmatics and phonetics. By the way， pragmatics can be defined as culture that applies to language acquisition. Therefore， teaching culture is consisted in teaching language， which cannot be separated in Second Language Acquisition （SLA） classroom.

The next one is that foreign cultural knowledge acquisition is a goal of teaching and learning a second/foreign language. Robert Labo （1964） points out that the goal of learning a foreign language is that learn is able to use and understand the implications of the target language and culture and to understand the speaking and writing style of target through their methods and what they have achieved. Teaching culture in language class can promote the effectiveness of teaching the target language. Thus， in order to achieve the goal， teachers will teach the knowledge of target culture naturally while teaching a second language.

Additionally， another one is that a language teacher is also a culture teacher who could be called a languaculture teacher （Risager， 2005）. Risager （2005） points out a concept which is named languaculture that “covers language and culture” and “may offer us the opportunity to theorize deconnections and reconnections between language and culture”. Besides， he said “Language is always cultural in some aspect” and “Being a language teacher is therefore always also being a languaculture teacher.”（2005）. Teaching culture is entailed automatically in the second language classroom. So a language teacher teaches culture automatically in the language teaching class.

Furthermore， the next is that language teaching does not only refer to teach the functional uses of language， but also teach social/communicative/cultural uses of language. Kramsch （1995） indicates “some language teachers are becoming dissatisfied with purely functional uses of language. Some are pleading to supplement the traditional acquisition of ‘communication skills with some intellectually legitimate， humanistically-oriented， cultural ‘content.” As well， he said that language teachers in the whole world are pressed to teach more cultural contents in their language classes（Kramsch， 1996）. Learners acquire knowledge of a second language to communicate with others in different social context， which leads to the cultural components contained in language teaching naturally. Teaching culture and teaching language cannot be separated.endprint

Afterwards， the final exploring result is that foreign culture differs from native culture， which can indicate culture teaching involved in language teaching indirectly. Wang （2011） stated that “The teacher must help learners to realize that thoughts and views of different nationalities and different types of societies about nature and human society are quite different.” In other words， in order to fill in the culture gap， teaching target culture will be infused spontaneously in second language teaching classroom. So language teachers teach target culture to awaken L2 learners awareness of culture difference.

These are some representatives of exploring answers. Certainly， there must be more statements that can be searched. It is clearly that most researchers answers to this question are positive， which is teaching language always entail teaching culture.

4. My Positive Answer to the Question

There are a range of answers what I have explored stated above. Based on these explored answers and due to my critical thinking of each， it comes to my answer that is “YES”. In my opinion， teaching culture is automatically involved in language teaching in the classroom. And I will present my reasons as following.

First of all， due to the closely relationship of language and culture， teaching culture is a part of teaching language. Language and culture are inseparable which has mentioned before （Jiang， 2000）. In addition， in Bachmans model （1990）， pragmatic （intercultural） competence is one of the two components in language competence. Thus， teaching culture is a component of language teaching and learning， and sociolinguistic/pragmatic competence can be taught through teaching culture. Language plays a crucial role in culture while teaching culture plays an important role in teaching language. For example， literature is an item that is contained in both language and culture. When teachers teach learners language knowledge of literature， learners can acquire cultural knowledge as well. Hence， teaching language involves teaching culture.

Secondly， teaching culture can satisfy the purpose of language teaching in social context. Teaching target culture means teaching social/interactional uses of language. It has mentioned that language is a communicative tool. Hence， teaching culture will improve learners pragmatic competence and practice learners communicative uses of language. In other words， in order to achieve the goal of communication of teaching language， language teachers will contain target culture teaching in class. Language teaching plays an important role in intercultural communication.endprint

Finally， teaching culture in language teaching classroom can help learners prevent language misunderstanding caused by culture differences. As we all know， misunderstanding and wrong transcription will occur when two people from different cultural backgrounds communicate with each other. Thus， it is quite important to teach target culture to L2 learners for filling in the culture gap and reducing misunderstanding. For this purpose， language teachers teach culture naturally in language class. For instance， when Chinese learners learn English as a second language， they may be taught an idiom that is “a lucky dog” which means a lucky person. Since the word “dog” only means “dog” in Chinese culture background. If they are not taught the cultural meaning of the “dog” in this idiom， misunderstanding will happen. Therefore， teaching language always entails teaching culture to avoid communicative misunderstanding.

These are some reasons that illustrate my answer “yes” to the question. According to the answers I explored， I suppose that teaching culture can be contained automatically in language teaching classroom. A foreign language acquisition involves knowledge of foreign culture spontaneously， which assists learners to understand a different culture.

5. Conclusion

To sum up， based on exploring the recent researches and considering each critically， culture and language are inseparable and teaching language automatically teaching culture. Above all， the relationship between culture and language is quite thorny and troublesome. But commonly， it is accepted that they cannot be separated. Due to the relationship between culture and language， it comes to a question：Does teaching language automatically entail teaching culture？After exploring recent researches， there are a few answers that say “no” that they can be separated and point out a neutral opinion and most of them answers “yes”. Furthermore， based on these answers and my own conclusion， the answer is absolutely “yes”. In my opinion， the reasons should be as following：1） teaching culture is a component of teaching language；2） teaching culture in language class will satisfy interactive uses of language；and 3） teaching culture help L2 learners avoid communicative misunderstanding. Consequently， teaching language always automatically entail teaching culture.

References：

[1]Bachman，L.（1990）.Fundamental considerations in language testing.Oxford：Oxford University Press.pp.84-87.endprint

[2]Brown，H.D.（1994）.Principles of Language Learning and Teaching（3rd edn）.Englewood Cliffs，NJ：Prentice Hall Regents.

[3]Brown，H.D.（2000）.Principles of language learning and teaching（4th ed.）.NY：Pearson Education.

[4]Byram，M.（2000）.Assessing intercultural competence in language teaching.Sprogforum.

[5]Jiang，W.（2000）.The Relationship between Culture and Language.ELT Journal.Vol.54（4），pp.328-334.

[6]Kramsch，C.（1995）.The cultural component of language.Language，Culture and Curriculum.Vol.8（2），pp.83-92.

[7]Kramsch，C.，Cain，A.and Murphy‐Lejeune，E.（1996）.Why should language teachers teach culture.Language，Culture and Curriculum.Vol.9（1），pp.99-107.

[8]Risager，K.（2005）.Languaculture as a key concept in language and culture teaching.The Consequences of Mobility.pp.185-196.

[9]Spencer-Oatey，H.and Franklin，P.（2009）Intercultural Interaction：A Multidisciplinary Approach to Intercultural Communication.Palgrave Macmillan.p.15.

[10]Wang，J.（2011）Culture Differences and English Teaching.English Language Teaching.Vol.4（2），pp.223-230.endprint