DEVELOPING CULTURE AWARENESS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Sociolinguistics presented Paper

DEVELOPING CULTURE AWARENESS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

(My Experience as An English Teacher in SMAN 4 Makassar)

Submitted to Prof. Dr. Amin Rasyid, M.A in Part-fulfillment of the Requirement of Sociolinguistics Course

NURHAYATI

08501074

ENGLISH EDUCATION CONCENTRATION

GRADUATE PROGRAM

STATE UNIVERSITY OF MAKASSAR

2009

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

            The global development towards the 21^st century which is characterized by the advancement in science and technology with all their impacts on every aspect of life has made us aware of the importance of language as a tool for global communication. The advancement in information technology has caused almost all existing phenomena on the globe to become transparent and interrelated so that interactions among nations have become stronger. The closeness of interaction among nations has prompted the function of a foreign language to become very significant. As a result, the teaching and learning of a foreign language has been placed in a very important position.

English as an international language has been taught in almost all countries in the world. In Indonesia, English is a foreign language which is a compulsory subject to be taught in all schools from lower secondary to upper secondary schools. Even in some elementary schools, English is offered as an elective subject. However, we have seen that the proficiency in English of secondary school graduates still creates disappointment among teachers themselves as well as parents. The unsatisfying quality of English in Indonesia of course is related to various different variables.

In line with the teaching and learning of a foreign language, in the last two or three decades different nations in the world especially in the Asia Pacific region have paid their attention to the teaching of Indonesian as a foreign language since in political, social, and economic domains Indonesia has played a very important role and this reality is in fact has placed Indonesian as a foreign language as a significant subject although due to recent development in the country especially from the security point of view the teaching of Indonesian has a little bit been therefore curtailed. Geographical and economic considerations have brought about a significant role of Indonesian in the educational institutions. However the teaching of Indonesian as a foreign language still faces so many hurdles, problems and challenges especially in terms of the material and the teaching methods. Different efforts have been made to respond to the problems arising to the surface such as different types of training and workshops, and some forms of academic offerings. However, efforts related to how students learn are still rare.

We all know that understanding a language involves not only knowledge of grammar, phonology and lexis but also a certain features and characteristics of the culture. To communicate internationally inevitably involves communicating interculturally as well, which probably leads us to encounter factors of cultural differences. Such kind of differences exist in every language such as the place of silence, tone of voice, appropriate topic of conversation, and expressions as speech act functions (e.g. apologies, suggestions, complains, refusals, etc.).

            Bearing the points above it can be stated that a language is a part of culture and a culture is a part of a language. The two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture (Brown 1994:164). Furthermore, Smith (1985:2) adds that the presentation of an argument in a way that sounds fluent and elegant in one culture may be regarded as clumsy and circular by members of another culture. However, as the use of language in general is related to social and cultural values, language is considered to be a social and cultural phenomenon. Since every culture has its own cultural norms for conversation and these norms differ from one culture to another, some of the norms can be completely different and conflict with other cultures’ norms. Consequently, communication problems may arise among speakers who do not know or share the norms of other culture. To solve the communication problems in the target language in the EFL classrooms the learners need to learn the target culture within the syllabus, and the teachers should be sensitive to the learner’s fragility so as not to cause them to lose their motivation.

CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A.    What Is Culture?

In considering how cultures influence the teaching and learning process in foreign language classrooms, it is useful to consider what culture is in the first place, and where it comes from.

Culture is the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning. Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning “to cultivate”) generally refers to pattern of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance. Cultures can be “understood as systems of symbols and meanings that even their creators contest, that lack fixed boundaries, that are constantly in flux, and that interact and compete with one another “ different definitions of “culture” reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. Culture may mean different things to different people. In the anthropological sense culture is defined as the way people live (Chastain 1988:302). Trinovitch (1980:550) defines culture as “...an all-inclusive system which incorporates the biological and technical behavior of human beings with their verbal and non-verbal systems of expressive behavior starting from birth, and this “all-inclusive system” is acquired as the native culture. This process, which can be referred to as “socialization”, prepares the individual for the linguistically and non-linguistically accepted patterns of the society in which he lives.

According to Brown(1994:170) culture is deeply ingrained part of the very fiber of our being, but language –the means for communication among members of a culture- is the most visible and available expression of that culture. And so a person’s world view, self-identity, and systems of thinking, acting, feeling, and communicating can be disrupted by a change from one culture to another. Similarly, Tang (1999) propounds the view that culture is language and language is culture. He suggests that to speak a language well, one has to be able to think in that language, and thought is extremely powerful. Language is the soul of the country and people who speak it. Language and culture are inextricably linked, and as such we might think about moving away from questions about the inclusion or exclusion of culture in foreign language curriculum, to issues of deliberate immersion versus non-deliberate exposure to it.

            In a word, culture is a way of life (Brown, 1994163). It is the context within which we exist, think, feel and relate others. It is the “glue” that binds a group of people together. It can be defined as a blueprint that guides the behavior of people in community and is incubated in family life. It governs our behavior in groups, makes us sensitive to matters of status, and helps us to know what others expect of us and what will happen if we do not live up to their expectations. Thus, culture helps us to know how far we can go as individuals and what our responsibility is to the group.

B.     Why Is Culture?

            Sometimes, some teachers are hardly aware of the necessity of cultural orientation. Communication is seen as the application of grammatical rules in oral and written practice. In some case, learning about the target culture is taken as a threat to the native values, and the importance of linguistically relevant information is neglected. Since having a close contact with the target culture and its speakers is a rare opportunity for all language learners in our country, learners cannot appreciate the importance of learning the cultural aspects of communication unless they visit a foreign country and experience the difficulties. Non-verbal aspects of target culture are sometimes picked up from TV serials, which are far from being helpful for communicative purposes or which may sometimes impart faulty conceptions. It should not be forgotten that if the learning of the cultural aspects were necessary for the learner’s survival abroad, the problem could be minimized; but when the person faces problems in the comprehension, interpretation, translation and production of written and oral texts, either as a learner or as a professional, the problem gets even more serious.

            That is to say, an analytic look at the native culture is as important as the learning of the target culture. On the other hand, problems that arise from the lack of cross-cultural awareness are not limited to the verbal side of communication. The paralinguistic aspects and appropriate manners of behavior are equally important factors in the communicatively competent learner’s performance. The fact that culture-bound hand-signals, postures, mimics, and another ways of behavior can also cause miscommunication is neglected.

C.  What Is Cultural Awareness and How Do We Build It?

            Cultural Awareness is the foundation of communication and it involves the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions (Stephanie Quappe and Giovanna Cantatore, 2007). Cultural awareness becomes central when we have to interact with people from other cultures. People see, interpret and evaluate things in a different ways. What is considered an appropriate behavior in one culture is frequently inappropriate in another one. Misunderstandings arise when I use my meanings to make sense of your reality.

            As Buginese and Makassarese, it is almost automatic to perceive Javanese as people who always work hard and ready to do everything to get money and talk about business instead of enjoying food and drink at home, cafe or at the restaurant. What does it mean? Buginese and Makassarese are lazy and Javanese hyperactive? No, it means that the meaning that people give to certain activities, like having lunch or spending time in a cafe could be different according to certain cultures. In Buginese and Makassarese, where relationships are highly valued, lunch or hang out together or the simple pauses for coffee have a social connotation: people get together to talk and relax, and to get to know each other better. For Javanese, where time is money, lunches can be part of closing a deal where people discuss the outcomes and sign a contract over coffee.

Misinterpretations occur primarily when we lack awareness of our own behavioral rules and project them on others. In absence of better knowledge we tend to assume, instead of finding out what a behavior means to the person involved, e.g. a straight look into your face is regarded as disrespectful in Japan.

            Becoming aware of our cultural dynamics is a difficult task because culture is not conscious to us. Since we are born we have learned to see and do things at an unconscious level. Our experiences, our values and our cultural background lead us to see and do things in a certain way. Sometimes we have to step outside of our cultural boundaries in order to realize the impact that our culture has on our behavior. It is very helpful to gather feedback from foreign colleagues on our behavior to get more clarity on our cultural traits.

            Projected similarities could lead to misinterpretation as well. When we assume that people are similar to us, we might incur the risk that they are not. If we project similarities where there are not, we might act inappropriately. It is safer to assume differences until similarity is proven.

Degrees of Cultural Awareness

            There are several levels of cultural awareness that reflect how people grow to perceive cultural differences. They are:

a.   My way is the only way. At the first level, people are aware of their way of doing things, and their way is the only way. At this stage, they ignore the impact of cultural differences. (Parochial stage)

b.  I know their way, but my way is better. At the second level, people are aware of other ways of doing things, but still consider their way as the best one. In this stage, cultural differences are perceived as source of problems and people tend to ignore them or reduce their significance. (Ethnocentric stage)

c.   My Way and Their Way. At this level people are aware of their own way of doing things and others’ ways of doing things, and they chose the best way according to the situation. At this stage people realize that cultural differences can lead both to problems and benefits and are willing to use cultural diversity to create new solutions and alternatives. (Synergistic stage)

d.  Our Way. This fourth and final stage brings people from different cultural background together for the creation of a culture of shared meanings. People dialogue repeatedly with others, create new meanings, new rules to meet the needs of a particular situation. (Participatory Third culture stage)

            Increasing cultural awareness means to see both the positive and negative aspects of cultural differences. Cultural diversity could be a source of problems, in particular when the organization needs people to think or act in a similar way. Diversity increases the level of complexity and confusion and makes agreement difficult to reach. On the other hand, cultural diversity becomes an advantage when the organization expands its solutions and its sense of identity, and begins to take different approaches to problem solving. Diversity in this case creates valuable new skills and behaviors.

            In becoming culturally aware, people realize that:

Ø  We are not all the same

Ø  Similarities and differences are both important

Ø  There are multiple ways to reach the same goal and to live life

Ø  The best way depends on the cultural contingency. Each situation is different and may require a different solution.

How Do We Manage Cultural Diversity?

            We are generally aware that the first step in managing diversity is recognize it and learning not to fear it. Since everyone is the product of their own culture, we need to increase both self-awareness and cross-cultural awareness. There is no book of instructions to deal with cultural diversity, no recipe to follow. But certain attitudes help to bridge cultures.

1.     Admit that you don’t know. Knowing that we don’t know everything, that a situation does not make sense, that our assumptions may be wrong is part of the process of becoming culturally aware. Assume differences, not similarities.

2.     Suspend judgments. Collect as much information as possible so you can describe the situation accurately before evaluating it.

3.     Empathy. In order to understand another person, we need to try standing in his/her shoes. Through empathy we learn of how other people would like to be treated by us.

4.     Systematically check your assumptions. Ask your colleagues for feedback and constantly check your assumptions to make sure that you clearly understand the situation.

5.     Become comfortable with ambiguity. The more complicated and uncertain life is, the more we tend to seek control. Assume that other people are as resourceful as we are and that their way will add to what we know. “If we always do, what we’ve always done, we will always get what we always got.”

6.     Celebrate diversity. As a company find ways of sharing the cultures of your diverse workforce, i.e., in 2002 Deutsche Bank carried out multiple initiatives around the theme of “tolerance: diversity, identity, recognition” which they called “Initiative Plus 2002.” They encouraged employee projects and organized an annual colloquium of global expert.

D. Teaching Culture through Language

            In EFL classrooms, as we teach the language, we would automatically teach culture. The forms of address, greetings, formulas, and other utterances found in the dialogues or models our students hear and the allusions to aspects of culture found in the reading represent cultural knowledge. Gestures, body movements, and distances maintained by speakers should foster cultural insights. Students’ intellectual curiosity is aroused and satisfied when they learn that there exists another mode of expression to talk about feelings, wants, needs and when they read the literature of the foreign country. For depth of cultural understanding it is necessary to see how such patterns function in relation to each other and to appreciate their place within the cultural system. If language learners are to communicate at a personal level with individuals from other cultural backgrounds, they will need not only to understand the cultural influences at work in the behavior of others, but also to recognize the profound influence patterns of their own culture exert over their thoughts, their activities, and their forms of linguistic expression.

            The teaching of the target culture has to serve the development of cross-cultural communication. The achievement of this goal is possible with the preparation of an organized inventory that would include both linguistic and extra linguistic aspects of the target culture. This way the language could build bridges from one cognitive system to another (Seelye, 1968). The culture of people refers to all aspects of shared life in a community. A language is learned and used with a context, drawing from the culture distinctive meanings and functions which must be assimilated by language learners if they are to control the language as native speakers control it. If language is described as a mode of human behaviour and culture as “patterned behaviour”, it is evident that language is a vital constituent of culture. As mentioned earlier, each culture has a unique pattern and the behaviour of an individual, linguistic or otherwise, manifested through that is also unique. Foreign language will mean, therefore, changing the learner’s behaviour and injecting a new way of life and new values of life into his already settled behaviour pattern (Lado: 1963: 110). So, there is a close relationship between the language and culture. This relationship of language and culture is widely recognized, communicative behaviour and cultural systems are interrelated, as there is relation between the form and content of a language and the beliefs, values, and needs present in the culture of its speakers.

            It is also known that the students, who are in need of developing cultural awareness and cultural sensitiveness, are normally those who are least disposed toward these goals. Teacher’s task is to make students aware of cultural differences, not pass value judgments on these differences. Students learning a foreign language have to assimilate many new categorizations and codifications if they are to understand and speak the language as its native speakers do. This does not mean that the native language of the students could not have established such distinctions for them. All languages which have been closely studied seem to possess the potentiality for expressing all kinds of ideas and making all kinds of distinctions (Rivers, 1982). Learners should be exposed to these distinctions as much as possible in the foreign language teaching classrooms. Therefore, the reasons for familiarizing learners with the cultural components should be to;

Ø  develop the communicative skills,

Ø  understand the linguistic and behavioral patterns both of the target and the native culture at a more conscious level,

Ø  develop intercultural and international understanding,

Ø  adopt a wider perspective in the perception of the reality,

Ø  make teaching sessions more enjoyable to develop an awareness of the potential mistakes that might come up in comprehension, interpretation, and translation and communication.

The fundamental function of language is to communicate. A successful English teaching is to help language learners cultivate a good communicative ability. But nowadays we also can see that after many years of English study, students still find it difficult to communicate with native English speakers. The reason is that they lack the knowledge of western culture. Therefore, English teachers are facing one problem: furnishing students with the knowledge of culture background and improving their intercultural communicative competence in English teaching.

E. Some Key Considerations in Developing Cultural Awareness in EFL Classrooms

            As is mentioned, both learners and teachers of a second language need to understand cultural differences, to recognize openly that everyone in the world is not “just like me”, that people are not all the same beneath the skin. There are real differences between groups and cultures (Brown, 1994:167). Therefore, language teachers cannot avoid conveying impressions of another culture whether they realize it or not (Rivers, 1981: 315). Language cannot be separated completely from the culture in which it is deeply embedded. Any listening to the utterances of native speakers, any reading of original texts, any examination of pictures of native speakers engaged in natural activities will introduce cultural elements into the classroom.

            While developing cultural awareness in the EFL classroom it should be kept in mind that the native language is learned along with the ways and attitudes of the social group, and these ways and attitudes find expression through the social group. Learning to understand a foreign culture should help students of another language to use words and expressions more skillfully and authentically; to understand levels of language and situationally appropriate; to act naturally with persons of the other culture, while recognizing and accepting their different reactions, and to help speakers of other tongues feel at home in the students’ own culture.

            While most learners indeed find positive benefits in cross-cultural living on learning experiences, nevertheless a number of people experience certain psychological blocks and other inhibiting effects of the second culture. Teachers can help students to turn such an experience into one of increased cultural and self-awareness. It is possible that learners can feel alienation in the process of learning a foreign language, alienation from people in their home culture, the target culture, and from themselves. In teaching foreign language we need to be sensitive to the fragility of students by using techniques that promote cultural understanding.

            The use of role-play in EFL classrooms can help students to overcome cultural “fatigue” and it promotes the process of cross-cultural dialogues while at the same time it provides opportunities for oral communication. Numerous other techniques–readings, films, simulation, games, culture assimilators, culture capsules and culturgrams can be used for language teacher to assist them in the process of acculturation in the classroom (Chastain:1988).

            In addition to these techniques, teachers can play a therapeutic role in helping learners to move through stages of acculturation. If learners are aided in this process by sensitive and perceptive teachers, they can perhaps more smoothly pass through the second stage and into the third stage of culture learning and thereby increase their chances for succeeding in both second language learning and second culture learning. While teaching culture through the language teaching Seelye (cf.Rivers, 1982), suggests that students should be able to demonstrate that they have acquired certain understandings, abilities, and attitudes:

Ø  That they understand that people act the way they do because they are using options the society allows for satisfying basic physical and psychological needs.

Ø  That they understand that social variables as age, sex, social class, and place of residence affect the way people speak and behave

Ø  That they can demonstrate how people conventionally act in the most common mundane and crisis situations in the target culture.

Ø  That they are aware that culturally conditioned images are associated with even the most common target words and phrases;

Ø  That they are able to evaluate the relative strength of a generality concerning the target culture in terms of the amount of evidence substantiating the statement;

Ø  That they have developed the skills needed to locate and organize material about the target culture from the library, mass media, and personal observation;

Ø  That they possess intellectual curiosity about the target culture and emphaty toward its people.

            Another point that needs to be addressed is that if we wish the learners to master another language, we need to help the learners become communicatively competent in that language as much as possible. Namely, successful speaking is not just to master of using grammatically correct words and forms but also knowing when to use them and under what circumstances. Communicative competence should incorporate grammatical competence, discourse competence, and sociolinguistic competence.

            In other words, if the goal of the language course is to enable students to reach a level of communicative competence, then all three components are necessary. The sociolinguistic component of communication refers to rules of speaking which depend on social, pragmatic, and cultural elements.

Thus, which linguistic realization we choose for making an apology or a request in any language might depend on the social status of the speaker or hearer, and on age, sex, or any other social factor. Besides, certain pragmatic situational conditions might call for the performance of a certain speech act in one culture but not in another.

            The other issue that should be focused is that before learning about culture, students must be receptive to the concept of learning about cultures other than their own. To achieve culture goals, often teacher has to play a role in breaking down cultural barriers prior to initiating teaching-learning activities. One way to begin teaching culture on a positive note is to emphasize similarities between people. Such a beginning should be followed by a discussion of differences between members of students’ family, between families, between schools and between cultures. Moreover, the topics to be used to teach the target language should be presented in the contexts accompanying the native ones.

            That is to say, while teaching a culture specific topic first language equivalent can also be given in order to enhance learning. The use of culture-based activities abundantly in the classroom help learners be familiar with the target culture. The activities in the materials should involve the cultural values of the target language designed for every level.

F.  The approaches of cultural awareness cultivation

Teaching English is also teaching English culture. The importance of teaching culture has been discussed a lot and widely recognized. Now how to cultivate cultural awareness at school is also a problem which all English teachers confront. After consider some keys in developing culture awareness in EFL classroom, now we can design some activities that may helpful for the teacher in the teaching learning process. A cultural series usually begins at the elementary stage with discussions of the daily life of the peer group in the other language community –their families, their living conditions, their school, their relations with their friends, their leisure-time activities, the festivals they celebrate, the ceremonies they go through, dating and marriage customs.

            At intermediate and advanced levels attention may be drawn to geographical factors and their influence on daily living, major historical periods, how the society is organized, production, transport, buying and selling, aspects of city and country life, the history of art, music, dance and film and so on.

Some topics that can be presented within the course syllabus are suggested below:

Ø  Climate

Ø  Clothing

Ø  Crime

Ø  Eating

Ø  Education

Ø  Family life

Ø  Geography

Ø  History

Ø  Holidays

Ø  Humor

Ø  Language

Ø  Leisure activities

Ø  Meeting people

Ø  Money

Ø  Pets

Ø  Population

Ø  Religion

Ø  Social occasions

Ø  Sports

Ø  Transportation

Ø  Vacation

Ø  Nonverbal Communication

In doing these activities, the aim is to increase students’ awareness and to develop their curiosity towards the target culture and their own, helping them to make comparisons among cultures. The comparisons are not meant to underestimate any of the cultures being analyzed, but to enrich students’ experience and to make them aware that although some culture elements are being globalized, there is still diversity among cultures. This diversity should then be understood, and never underestimated.

Language skill is the basis of communicating ability. The acquisition of any language is closely related to communication. Thus infiltrating cultural awareness to English teaching meets the needs of national standards in English and has its practical value and communicational function. There are some activities that can be developed by an English teacher in developing culture awareness.

1.      Making use of textbook and infiltrating cultural contents.

Textbooks are the first materials to know about English culture. Language is one important compound of culture. In the textbook, culture is infiltrated in every unit. Learning English includes learning relative customs, cultural habits, and living style. In Book1 Unit 6 Table Manners At A Dinner Party of senior high school, this text explains how to behave in table manners. It include: place settings, table manners before dinner, while dinner, how to talk before tables, how to drink several sections. This text completely introduces culture in table manners. This text not only trains students’ reading ability, but also fosters students’ cross-cultural awareness. Teachers may give some tips and some relative background about table manners. For example: 1). Place settings, 2). Other tips if invited to a dinner: gifts, clothing, napkin, posture, grace, noises, leaving, follow-up, restaurants, some dos and don’ts. This background may make students study other knowledge related to the test, thus broadening their horizons.

2.      Paying attention to the social meaning of words

As the basic element of language, vocabulary is the backbone of the whole language system. It certainly reflects the differences of culture most obviously and extensively. From the produce, stretch, and changes of lexicon, we can get some relative cultural developing messages. At the same time, in the process of cultural development, the cultural awareness which is integrated by people living condition, customs and habits, historical backgrounds, physiological characteristics affects the lexical meanings. For example, in the text, ‘English around the world’, from the beginning, it tells the differences of the words between British English and American English. Then it presents a dialogue to furthermore show how to use different ways to express the same meaning between British English and American English. Meanwhile, the teaching reference summarizes some words having the same meaning, but has different forms. Example: The use of I’m sorry and Pardon me.

For English beginners, teachers can also create situational activities in class. Teaching activities close to life makes teaching stretch in lives. Classroom teaching close to life shortens the distance between classes and teaching. Students’ abilities to apply language can be improved. In the real and lively situation, students can be interested in English. They can experience the culture teaching. It can also easily foster culture awareness of students. For example, in the dialogue, in Teachers’ Days, students give the presents to teachers. Teachers ask the students to perform. At first, students can perform the same words in the dialogue, and then they can add other things, such as giving thanks to the others or giving compliments.

3.      Introducing reading materials to students

Reading materials is easy to find in modern teaching conditions. Teachers should collect some pure materials to students. These materials should be of colorful knowledge, interest and authenticity. Teachers use these materials to organize classroom activities, giving students an ideal condition to learn English. In relaxed and happy conditions, they will learn culture. One of the very interesting materials is using folktales.

 4.      Paying attention to the English idioms and allusions

Many English allusions relating characters and events came from British literary treasure trove, especially Shakespeare's works. With knowledge increasing, many students will be familiar with the English idioms and allusions. Students infiltrate cultural awareness consciously and unconsciously.

5.      Paying attention to coupling phenomenon and differences between Indonesia and English

A major challenge of infiltrating cultural awareness to English teaching is that through exposure to the foreign civilization, students inescapably draw some comparisons between the home and target culture. At any rate, the aim of teaching culture is to increase cultural awareness of students and to develop their curiosity towards the target culture and their own.

6.      Use modern technological media

With modern technology developing, many new technological media are widely used in the teaching. Teachers use multimedia, English films, television, slides, and videos to make students get direct feelings. Students gradually enhance the understanding of English culture. Take films for an example. Applied films in the foreign language teaching is so interesting because Film, with its ability to pack  a two-hour period with plot, emotion, drama, events, images, and ideas, draws attention uniquely to ethical boundaries, conceptual frameworks, national memory and identity and, significantly, to the use of language and idioms. It offers profound access to the cultural forces and attitudes that shape the civilization.

7.      Using other methods

To study and master English, only using limited classroom teaching is not enough. Teachers may also ask students to collect some relative materials about foreign culture. Such as pictorials, magazines, and pictures. Students have to make full use of extracurricular time to enlarge their language and cultural knowledge. So teachers correctly guide students to pay attention to the relative accumulation. Teachers try their best to create conditions to make students get relative messages continue to strengthen the understanding and mastering of English language and cultural knowledge.  Teachers should improve their communicative competence so that teachers may stress teaching of cultural factors. Cultural factors exist in the simplest communicative activities. Cultural teaching also exists in the basic daily teaching.

The following are some approaches I have ever adopted in my teaching in Senior High School (SMAN 4 Makassar) and English Course (Briton).

Ø  Role play

This is the most interesting activity that I always do in my class both in school and in the course. In Senior High school English teaching material there are many dialogues in each unit and many talking topics involved like introduction, expression of invitation, giving instruction etc. I often require students act out a dialogue by role play. By this means, the full uses of these topics can be made to cultivate students’ cultural awareness.

For example, in order to present students with the general practice of eating out in a restaurant in western, I provide students with English introduction about how to find a table reserved, how to order and so on, then let the students act out. In Senior English book, the topic is introduction and the use of body language. It tells us different body language in different countries. For example, when greeting to others, an Indonesian will give you a hand-shaking, while Americans would like to hug each other. To let the students understand the cultural differences better, after finishing reading the text, I ask some students to act out the body language in different situations.

The role-play not only shows how well the students understand them, but also gives them a vivid impression; it not only helps the students understand cultural differences, experience foreign culture, but also provides opportunities for oral communication.

Ø  Comparisons and contrast

When we carry on the language teaching, cultural should be put into it. Teachers may summarize some vocabularies and idioms which have cultural connotation; and use direct explanation method and comparative method to show students the differences between Indonesian and English.

For example, when students want to say “dog”, in Indonesia, it is usually used in a derogatory sense such as you are so impolite but in English, it has commendatory sense. e.g. “lucky dog” means “lucky person”, “a Jolly dog” means “a happy man”. It is the same when I greet my students in the class. When I teach at school, it’s OK to greet my students with Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh instead of saying good morning because almost all of them are Moslem but if I teach in the course, where Moslem is minority of course I never greet them like that. I just say:  Good morning/afternoon class!

Ø  Audio-visual Approach.

The audio-visual approach means to guide students to experience the cultural content of English-speaking countries by the use of various audio-visual aids, such as pictures, tapes, videos, computers, newspapers, magazines and so on. I have one or if possible I make two movie class in one semester and I found this activity is very fun.

Ø  Using Folktales

Most of the reading material in the first grade of senior high school are folktales. Folktales are rich oral histories grounded in cultural tradition and life experiences. Folktales from one country may have the same story with ones from another country. Using folktales in language classrooms is enjoyable and meaningful, beside; the language used is so simple. They represent human experience, values, and history; thus it can provide both entertainment and opportunities for further discussion. These advantages show that the use of folktales can encourage learners to participate actively in the learning process, develop their critical thinking, and act as a bridge for arousing cultural awareness among the language learners. This is one of the activities I have ever used in my class.

Teaching Points     : Adjectives and adverbs (Language skill)

Summarizing (Reading skill)

Group discussion (Speaking skill)

EF Material           : Bawang Merah Bawang Putih

Teaching method  : Deductive method

Activities:

1. T asks Ss to read the story of Bawang Merah Bawang Putih.
2. T explains how to summarize.
3. Ss write the summary of Bawang Merah Bawang Putih.
4. T explains the theory of adjectives and adverbs.
5. Ss identify the adjectives and adverbs used in the story.
6. Ss make some sentences by using the adjectives and adverbs they have learnt.
7. T asks Ss to discuss the following questions in groups of three:
1. What would you do if you were Bawang Putih? Justify your answer.
2. What are the values you can learn from the story?
3. Are there similar stories in other countries? Can you identify the similarities and differences between  Bawang Merah Bawang Putih and that story?

The use of folktales in language classrooms can be an effective medium to teach language skills, study skills and cultural values. Therefore, it is highly suggested that language teachers exploit folktales as a valuable resource of authentic material to teach language and culture at once.

Ø  Cultural awareness cultivation outside class

Senior high school students show interests in many things outside class. For example, reading, listening to the music, seeing films and so on. Therefore we should make full use of them so as to arouse students’ study interest, and help increase students cultural awareness.

On the whole, the relationship between language and culture determines the importance of culture teaching. It is required to foster students’ cultural awareness and improve their cultural understanding competence. Filtering cultural teaching into English teaching can bring about new spirit to the English teaching, and it can also promote the quality education.

 

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

           

Language is an integral part of culture and plays an important role in it. Language cannot be separated from culture. On one hand, without language, culture would be impossible. Culture depends on language. On the other hand, language is culturally determined. In the broadest sense, language is the symbolic representation of a people, and it comprises their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. English teaching is language teaching. Of course, it cannot be separated from culture education. If language is separated from its cultural background language can’t exist. Learning a foreign language well does not simply mean mastering its pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. In fact, the learning of a language is inseparable from the learning of its culture.

In developing cultural awareness in the classroom it is important that we help our students distinguish between the cultural norms, beliefs, or habits of the majority within the speech community and the individual or group deviations from some of these norms. Students should be enabled to discuss their native culture with their foreign-speaking friends at the same time that they are provided with a real experiential content.

            They can make use of their knowledge of the foreign language. There should also be presented, discussed, or merely alluded to in two parallel streams. It should also be kept in mind that language teaching, as mentioned above, is a long process in which performance is not absolute and therefore we cannot expect all learners ever to acquire perfect native like behavior. What we are after is the development of an awareness of sociocultural and sociolinguistic differences that might exist between the students’ first language and the target language. Such awareness often helps explain to both teachers and students why sometimes there is unintended pragmatic failure and breakdown in communication. If we are aware of it, it might be easier to find the appropriate remedy.

            In this respect Smith (1985:6) advocates that studying English does not change one’s identity. Student’s ethnic, religious, and political backgrounds should remain the same. Students will certainly want to use English well and be acknowledged as doing so, but this does not require them to attempt a change in their identity. There is no need to become more American or British in order to use English well. One’s morals or dedication to family traditions need not change at all. As an English teacher, we should try to broaden our students' view so that they can accept and be tolerant towards the different culture in different countries. And they should develop a right attitude towards the cultures. Both total acceptance and total rejection are not correct. The more we know of other cultures, the greater the possibility is of a successful communication!

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