Importance Of Teaching Culture

Edward B. Tylor in his book, Primitive Culture, published in 1871. Tylor said that culture is"that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society."

Language is a means of expression. We express our feelings, emotions, thoughts, needs,desires etc. in words, symbols and gesture which is considered as language. Language can be defined as verbal, physical, biologically innate, and a basic form of communication. Culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion,cuisine, social habits, music and arts. Thus culture finds its expression in language; so, learning a new language without

Due to its spread, startingwith the colonization period and continuing with the economic and political power of the U.S.A.,it has been used for different purposes around the world such as education, commerce, tourism,and science. People all around the world continue to learn English to reach their different aims.A critical question arises in terms of English language teaching at this point, that is, whether to teach ‘culture’ along with English or not. The question of teaching ‘culture’ along with English has been discussed by some scholars from the fields of applied linguistics and sociolinguistics for nearly two decades.There are four views regarding the issue. English to acculturate language learners into the cultures of English speaking

Other two views also reject the idea of teaching ‘target language culture’ along with English. The word culture has many different meanings. For some it refers to an appreciation of good literature, music, art, and food. For a biologist, it is likely to be a colony of bacteria or other microorganisms growing in a nutrient medium in a laboratory Petri dish.Culture is a powerful human tool for survival, but it is a fragile phenomenon. It is constantly changing and easily lost because it exists only in our minds. Our written languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made things are merely the products of culture. They are not culture in themselves. For this reason, archaeologists can not dig up culture directly in their excavations. The broken pots and other artifacts of ancient people that they uncover are only material remains that reflect cultural patterns--they are things that were made and used through cultural knowledge and skills. In other words, Culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion,cuisine, social habits, music and arts. Cultures are what make countries unique. Each country has different cultural activities and cultural rituals. Culture is more than just material goods, that is things the culture uses and produces.