Culture in teaching English as an international language in CLT curriculum

Culture in teaching English as an International Language in CLT Curriculum Student's Name Institutional Affiliation Culture in Teaching English as an International Language in CLT Curriculum Language is a means of expressing our emotions, desires, feelings, needs and thoughts. These are expressed in symbols, words or gestures, all of which can be considered language. Language has been defined as a basic form of communication that addresses the physical, verbal and the biological forms of communication. To learn a foreign language means more than just mastering its grammar, vocabulary, and phonology. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and the use of culture in English language teaching have been widely debated. Some have criticized the incorporation of culture in the teaching of English as an international language while others have passionately defended it, arguing that it is valuable in facilitating learning and understand of language. Most scholars believe that learning a foreign language results to the acquisition of the norm and culture of the target language by the learner. This paper will discuss the role that culture plays in the teaching of a foreign language. Around the globe, English is ranked as the most commonly used language. It first spread during the colonial period and continued thereafter due to the superiority of USA in both economics and politics. It is used in fields such as tourism, education, science, aviation and commerce and even in daily conversation around over the world. Most people now learn English to achieve certain goals. However, some scholars still question whether culture is also taught along with the English language. This has been a feature of debates about English language teaching for almost two decades by scholars of applied linguistics and sociolinguistics. This debate has resolved into two viewpoints. The first view is that the "target language culture" should be incorporated into English teaching to bring the learners into the culture of their teachers (Byram & Flemming, 1998). The second viewpoint is that target language culture should not be incorporated into the English classrooms (Kachru & Nelson 1996). This viewpoint rejects the use of the target language culture into foreign language teaching classrooms. Some people are of the idea that the culture of the target language should be part of the teaching process of the target language. However, others argue that English should be taught using a culture free approach (Kramsch & Sullivan; Alptekin, 2005). Culture is believed to be having a dual character, both as a culture carrier and a mode of communication. Therefore, language without any culture associated with it, it is not a language as it is divorced from people in a particular culture. The two are intertwined and if they get separated they lose significance of what they carry (Jiang, 2000). Learning a language is learning a culture and, consequently, language teaching is cultural teaching. Therefore, language teachers should acknowledge the presence of culture in teaching foreign languages by enhancing the cultural awareness of the learners. Tomalin (2008) asserts that the role that the English language and globalization play necessitate culture to be taught as a fifth skill alongside speaking, reading, listening, and writing. He further continues to argue that this fifth language gives the learners the mindset and techniques that will enable them to adapt their use of English to use it in learning and understanding the values, beliefs, and ways of doing things of different cultures. It also allows them to understand how they can use a language to be flexible, accept differences and tolerant on doing things that are different from their culture. Language changes the way people view other culture, a factor which influences their level of interaction with people who speak other languages. Tomalin argues that teaching the English language should incorporate the cultural values and skills as by the language (Tomalin, 2008). Brooks (1964) argues that when teachers incorporate culture when teaching a foreign language to learners, they are shifting them from the language itself towards the people who are using it: there general way of life. He further states that: "It is nowadays a common place in a language pedagogy that language and culture are intertwined, that it is not possible to teach a language without culture, and that culture is the necessary context for language use," (as quoted in Zhang, 2006). Views against incorporating Culture into English Teaching Those who are rejecting the idea of incorporating the culture into teaching English think that it is based on certain situations like finding a flat city, playing football or watching a basketball game and their values, beliefs, and norms are of no use those training to use the language. They also belief that teaching the cultural aspect of a Foreign Language does not have any use to the learners especially where it is used for the purposes of science, technology, business, and international communications. Based on the above arguments, incorporating culture into the classrooms does not meet the needs and aspirations of the learners. According to Altan (1995), it brings incompatibility and conflicts between the two cultures making the latter a threat not only to the learners but to the whole nation (Mehdi, & Shahla, 2014). This raises the risks of overwhelming and warping the native culture when the new culture is introduced. He further argues that "it will be detrimental since it would entail reshaping their patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving to fit the patterns of the new culture," (as quoted by Mehdi, & Shahla, 2014). Social Culture Theory Second language acquisition and teaching is based on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory that puts more emphasis on meaningful interactions between the teacher and learners that motivates human development and learning. Through this process of learning, Vygotsky identifies mediation and meaning to the essential elements that affect the learner's learning of English as their second language. Mediation is the social activities that will transform the behaviour of the students through the use of tools or instruments. The use of instruments and tools, the memory of the learners will be able to remember what they have been taught. Those students who are taught without the help of aiding instruments are not able to remember than those whose teachers use tools and instruments. The instruments help in the remembering process. This process involves three main categories: mediation through the use of symbols such as silent rehearsing of the words that needs to be remembered; using tools and instruments such as pictures; and using another person to help in the process. The second aspect, meaning is generalizations of things. How well the students understand what is being referred to. Do they get the meanings or not. The teacher should guide the students to understand the meanings of the words that they learn each day. This will ensure effective interactions with their peers or other people. Teaching Culture There are several techniques that the teachers can use to teach culture in their classrooms. Everything that they talk and do, tells the learners about how the teachers see the world and what they think about people. They should think how they communicate to their students, is it explicitly or implicitly. Explicit communication involves the themes they plan for their students, the instruments and artefacts from the foreign culture that they bring into the classroom, books they provide, games they choose to play with the learners and how accurately present the information to the students. Implicit communication involves the background items that teachers portray but do not define their programs and are important in everyday activities. They include the music that the teachers decide to play, the name they choose for their classrooms, how they name groups and how they interact with the students. The learners may also pay attention to the information that their teachers value, how they resolve conflicts and how they arrange the classrooms. Each aspect of the teachers provides the students with an opportunity to learn the culture that their teachers are from. A full understanding of the role played by culture in English language classrooms includes understanding the influence of knowledge of cultural background on education and how that influence can be maximized to benefit learners. To clearly appreciate the role that culture plays in language education, it is important to know the function that it performs in listening, reading, speaking, and translating. Vocabulary The most basic and important aspect of language as a carrier of culture is vocabulary. The same words have different meanings across diff...