arisesStudy on Culture Input in EFL Classroom

Study on Culture Input in EFL Classroom

AbstractAs it is commonly agreed that language shoule be taught in the contextof culture,what kind of culture to be chosen,how to provide relevant culture input inEFL classroom deserve teachers’ attention. This essay tries to put forward someuseful implications for teaching language along with culture in EFL classroom basedon the review of the language-culture relationship and the nature of English as aninternational language.

Key words culture input;EF L clas sroom;English language teaching

1 Introduction

Crystal (1997)points out that English gains a specialposition as either an officiallanguage or a school subject to study as a global language in over seventy countries.With the spread of English, there arises a question of teaching culture with languagein English class. In this respect, English Language Teaching (ELT)materialsemphasize on teaching English in a cultural context (Byram and Fleming, 1998;Byram and Risager, 1999;Lange and Paige, 2003 as cited in Nault, 2006). Thesetextbooks usually approach native English-speaking cultures with the notion thatlearning English involves gaining knowledge of native English-speaking cultures.Given the fact that more and more people speak and write English in the worldregardless of national borders,a learning of native English-speaking culture has begunto be questioned.We can surmise that students may study British culture to gain bettergrade inthe British-based Cambridge exam.

This paper deals with the teaching of English with culture, as an Internationallanguage, and this topic is mainly explored by considering three aspects: therelationship between culture and language, the spread of English,and the teaching ofculture alongside English in an EFL classroom.

2 Relationship between Culture and Language

2.1 De finition o f C ulture

To understand the relationship between culture and language, it is first necessaryto define what culture is.Ho fstede(1984)as cited in Nault (2006) regards culture asthe total mental concepts which make it possible to tell social groups apart from eachother.Culture is defined more broadly by Marsella (1994) as cited in Samovar andPorter(2004:32)as fo llows: ‘Culture is shared learned behavior which is transmittedfrom one generation to another for purpose of promoting individual and socialsurvival, adaptation, and growth and development.Culture has both external (e.g.,artifacts, roles, institutions) and internal representations(e.g., values,attitudes,beliefs,cognitive/ affective/ sensory styles, consciousness patterns, and