Abstract:

Although foreign language learners may not realise the importance of cultural awareness, culture has a considerable impact on language and affects all aspects of its use. In its 2007 report, Modern Language Association calls for both a transformation of language curricula and a more constitutive approach to second/foreign language teaching, where the process is “in relation to cultural and literary traditions, cognitive structures, and historical knowledge” (Modern Language Association 2007:2) and where apart from mastering functional language abilities, students “are taught critical language awareness, interpretation and translation, historical and political consciousness, social sensibility, and aesthetic perception. They acquire a basic knowledge of the history, geography, culture, and literature of the society or societies whose language they are learning; the ability to understand and interpret its radio, television, and print media; and the capacity to do research in the language using parameters specific to the target culture.” (Modern Language Association 2007:4) Such a model requires the development of critical cultural awareness, which will enable learners to operate not only between two languages but also among two cultures, their own and the target language culture. For more than two decades approaches, methods of second/foreign language teaching and language curricula have focused mainly on developing grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence allowing for immersion in a second/foreign language without developing in learners the necessary skills for cross-cultural communication. Therefore, the present article argues for a more intercultural approach to language learning/teaching, which alongside linguistic competence, builds cultural awareness and prepares learners to communicate in a multicultural and multilingual world. It is believed that a culture-based approach provides the following advantages: 1) it helps to integrate the four language skills, 2) since language use depends on cultural factors, culture raises linguistic awareness in foreign language learners, 3) because culture teaching goes so far as teaching culture-specific idioms, collocations which are often metaphorically-based, it helps to achieve communicative competence, and 4) it fosters cross-cultural communication. The arguments are developed with reference to higher education, however they may be applicable to other contexts.

References:
“Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World” (Modern Language Association, 2007).

Keywords:

Learning/teaching a second/foreign language, culture in language teaching, cultural awareness, language curriculum, translingual/transcultural competence.