Intercultural Language Learning - Essay Example

Intercultural Language Learning Introduction To know a language does not mean learning only its vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. For an effective learning process, it is also important to include cultural education about the target language group so that students can absorb the underlying meaning of the foreign language. With the fast development of technology, authentic tools like videos and songs are increasing used in a foreign language classroom to contribute towards significant progress of students. Audio and visual tools have become a necessity to help students communicate in a cross-cultural environment. The general objective of language teaching is to enable students to communicate in a different language. It is culture that shapes the structure of a language and how it is used. Cultural differences most often go unnoticed by learners unless a major problem occurs. In order to learn the cultural aspects of the target language group, they need to be guided in order to understand cultural differences. Herein lies the role of language teachers who have to use specific teaching method to grab the attention of students. Culture is not a separate facet of language but it is an integral part of language learning. Culture is reflected in the way a language is spoken, written, read or heard. One major flaw that can be seen in language teaching is that often students are attempted to become like the native speaker. Such a method is both unrealistic and unachievable. This is because it goes against the social and cultural requirement of learning second language. When an individual is learning second language, he is not abandoning his personal thoughts and feelings. Instead, the goal is to express one’s ideas and thoughts in another language so as to adapt oneself in an intercultural context. Therefore, the aim of language teachers should be to take bilingual approach rather than the native speaker approach which means “developing a speaker who is comfortable and capable in an intercultural context” (Liddicoat, 2003). Language as a mode of communication to express one’s thoughts to another person is limited. Language is not only a way of communicating thoughts, but also a cultural reflection of specific social groups. Language other than conveying thoughts of the speaker also reflects the social persona of that speaker. Such intricacies of language is, most of the times, overlooked in language teaching which merely emphasizes on expression of meaningful messages through language. However, it is the voice and construction of the language that constitute the culture of the target group. The need is to have an “interactionally grounded view of communication, where communication involves participants’ contingent, emergent and joint accomplishment of meaning” (Liddocoat & Scarino, 2013, p.13). Language learning helps an individual to understand the connection between native language and the target language. Language teaching is constrained by the manner in which a language and its usage are defined. The requirement is to adopt a wider view of language that goes beyond its pre-established defined structure. Language theories that focus on the structure emphasize only on specific rules and language is reproduced according to the rule and meaning has become secondary (Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013, p.14). In the intercultural context, language needs to be viewed in a more “open, dynamic, energetic, constantly evolving and personal” manner that involves the intricacies of communication. The diverse features in a language give it a creative form and reflection of the self. Therefore, while communicating in a language, it should not be necessary that the speaker follows specific rules since language should give the speaker enough freedom to express thoughts and should not constraint self expression. Within the social context, an individual uses the language as a social tool to express himself. The use of language is a “process of adaptation, negotiation, and accommodation” (Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013, p.14). Thus, knowledge of language should not only be confined within certain rules or system; rather the language knowledge should enable learners to use the language to participate in social life. Language learning is more than knowing its grammar and vocabulary, but also how it creates and represents meaning. The students should be induced to go beyond the known aspects of language and learn to use its unpredictable aspects (Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013, p.15). Contrary to the belief that language is the external manifestation of the culture of a social group, there is the “linguistic relativity” concept which indicates that “language in its lexicon and structure has an influence on its speakers’ thinking, their worldview and behaviour” (Soler & Jorda, 2007, p.11). However, difference in languages also needs to consider external differences like social and cultural backgrounds. Language cannot be solely accepted as a bridge between mental capacities and linguistic differences. In order to establish intercultural language theory, the need is to know that there are diverse languages as they reflect different beliefs, views and values (Soler & Jorda, 2007, p.11). Reading is an integral part of daily life and is accepted as a normal cognition of people. Reading has been defined by Alderson (2000, p.4) as “an enjoyable, intense, private activity, from which much pleasure can be derived, and in which one can become totally absorbed”. Authentic materials are used for language teaching to encourage students to learn to read words and how to use them in a real setting. There are various positive impacts of using authentic materials in classroom like students will feel motivated to enhance their reading. The major purpose for using authentic materials is to allow students to explore the language beyond the fixed parameters of the classroom and learn how to use the language in the real world. It is the responsibility of the language teacher to educate the students on basic skills so that they are able to understand the real use of the language. Authentic texts are generally written for guiding the students on real life usage of language and hence are not written for pedagogic purposes. There can be various kinds of authentic materials that can be used in the classroom like the Internet, video, songs, newspapers and magazines. With the help of authentic materials, students get to “interact with the real language and content rather than the form” (Berardo, 2006, p.62). Authentic materials are selected based on their “suitability of content, exploitability and readability” (Berardo, 2006, p.62). Suitability means the materials should be relevant to the course and should be able to motivate students towards learning the language. By exploitability it means that the materials should be such that they can be used to enhance the competence level of students. Finally, authentic materials need to be readable which means its structure, vocabulary, grammar and difficulty level should be compatible with the type of students. Moreover, authentic materials should also have variety in their content as well as they should be attractive so as to garner interest of the students. In short, authentic texts need to motivate students to study by themselves and develop new ideas about the language usage (Berardo, 2006, pp.62-63). The use of songs in a classroom can be very useful in teaching language students the cultural aspects of the target language group. With increased cultural knowledge, the learning process of language can be speeded up. In a foreign language classroom, songs can play a significant role in teaching the students form, pronunciation and also culture of the language. There are however some negative elements attached to using songs as teaching material in the classroom. First, not all students can find it convenient to learn by listening to music since each student has different adaptability. Second, the school should have an efficient sound system the lack of which can disrupt music sessions. Third, each student may have different preferences over the type of music which makes it difficult for teachers to select a common type of music for the entire classroom. Fourth, since songs are not formal texts for teaching, therefore very often they can have grammatical errors or complex sentences which can misguide the students. Fifth, some songs may also have parts that are inappropriate in a classroom setting. Sixth, in most songs, words and sentences are repeated which makes them boring. Therefore, care should be taken before selecting songs for language teaching purposes and selection should be based on several criteria like number of students, their age and interests, teacher’s age and understanding of music, and equipments available in the classroom (Keskin, 2011, pp.379-380). In foreign language classes, the presentation of songs can teach students various aspects of language like sentence formation, vocabulary, parts of speech, and so on. By using popular songs and encouraging students to sing in pairs can induce enjoyment and motivation in young students (Paquette & Rieg, 2008, pp.228-229). Songs have the ability to reflect the culture of the target language group, and therefore it is the cultural aspect of songs that is significant in a language classroom setting. Moreover, soothing music can create a relaxing environment in the classroom and helps in reducing stress of students. This induces students to be more focused in the classroom that enable them to learn a new language (Mamun, 2014, p.7). The use of video in a foreign language classroom helps students to learn the language in the form of message in an audio-visual setting. Although there is continuous increase in the confidence level of language teachers in using video to increase the learning ability of students, there is significant lack of research on this subject which has resulted in dubious confidence on the long-term impacts of video. However, current research has shown that students can find videos as an interesting process of learning. It has also been proved that students have a preference towards entertainment or action oriented films over documentary films. It has also been observed that students take more interest in lively scenes than those scenes which contain long conversations. Therefore, it has been suggested that students learn from videos due to their “visual clues instead of the auditory components” (Canning-Wilson, 2000). The use of video as teaching material can establish a relaxing virtual setting for a organized learning of language along with its cultural aspects. Videos create a sociocultural environment in which students feel motivated to learn the language (Jauregi, 2008, p.201). Cultural content Authentic materials like video and songs are used in a language classroom for the principle purpose of generating motivation in students. However, there are also many students in foreign language classes who tend to oppose the use of authentic materials as source of cultural knowledge of the target language. Such resistance is born from the fear of getting blended into an alien culture. Moreover, if culture is represented by popular structures of foreign language in a static form rather than representing foreign culture as dynamic, then such cultural content can fail to make any positive impact on language learning. According to Kilickaya (2004), “cultural content is a key to effective teaching and learning a language provided that problems arising from introducing culture into EFL classroom are dealt with effectively and teaching strategies and learning materials are chosen appropriately”. Cultural learning can develop from observing the native of the target language, and only authentic materials can be source of that. Only by becoming cognizant of the culture of foreign language, students can be made aware of the cultural differences of the foreign language and own culture. A culturally competent learner not only has knowledge about own culture but also can develop connections with cultural manifestations of target language (Frank, 2013, p.6). In order to help students to differentiate between own culture and that of target language, video clips and songs can be used in an appropriate setting. By seeing and hearing the behavioral patterns students can talk about the cross-cultural differences and similarities (Frank, 2013, p.10). The use of songs will not only teach students to learn correct pronunciation of words, but will also learn to use words in appropriate manner (Millington, 2011, p.140) Conclusion It is not easy to set up a cultural learning environment in a classroom. However, simple technical knowledge of language like vocabulary and pronunciation is not enough to make students use foreign language in a foreign environment. A student cannot be considered expert in a language unless he is made aware of the cultural elements of the target language. The authentic materials used for this purpose should be able to represent both the target culture and also culture of the learner’s society. References Alderson, J.C. (2000) Assessing Reading, Cambridge Univ. Press Berardo, S.A. (2006) The use of authentic materials in the teaching of reading. The Reading Matrix, 6(2), 60-69 Canning-Wilson, C. (2000) Practical Aspects of Using Video in the Foreign Language Classroom. The Internet TESL Journal, 6(1) Frank, J. (2013) Raising Cultural Awareness in the English Language Classroom, English Teaching Forum, No.4, retrieved on November 3, 2014 from: http://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/51_4_2_frank.pdf Jauregi, K. (2008) Virtual interaction through video-web communication: A step towards enriching and internationalizing language learning programs. ReCALL, 20(2), 183-207 Keskin, F. (2011) Using songs as audio materials in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 10(4), 378-83 Kilickaya, F. (2004) Authentic Materials and Cultural Content in EFL Classrooms. The Internet TESL Journal, 10(7) Liddicoat, A. (2003) What is intercultural language learning? Asiaeducation, retrieved on November 3, 2014 from: http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/teachers/professional_learning/ languages/learning_project/what_is_intercultural_language_learning.html Liddicoat, A. & Scarino, A. (2013) Intercultural language teaching and learning, John Wiley & Sons Mamun, A. (2014) Effectiveness of Audio-visual Aids in Language Teaching in Tertiary Level. (M.A.), BRAC Univ., Dhaka Millington, N. (2011) Using songs effectively to teach English to young learners. Language Education in Asia, 2(1), 134-141 Paquette, K.R. & Rieg, S.A. (2008) Using Music to Support the Literacy Development of Young English Language Learners. Early childhood education journal, 36(3), 227-32 Soler, E.A. & Jorda, M.P. (2007) Intercultural Language Use and Language Learning, Springer Read More