The general objective of the teaching of English at schools is to enable the learners to communicate in acceptable English, both orally and in writing. In order to help the students achieve the objective, English learners should be equipped with knowledge of English culture in addition to the language components, i.e., grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. In reality, however, in Indonesia the cultural aspects of English are not seriously undertaken. A preliminary observation on textbooks shows that textbook writers do not pay serious attention on the cultural aspects of the language. This condition is worsened by the fact that some English teachers tend to teach their students using the material presented in the textbooks as it is. This happens firstly because teachers might assume that what is presented in the textbooks is both linguistically and culturally appropriate. Secondly, they might think that culture is a different subject that should be covered by other teachers. This point of view is contradictory to the fact that language and culture are closely intertwined so that the teaching of a language cannot be separated from that of its culture. This paper discusses the close relationship between language and culture and how teachers of English can introduce English culture while at the same time teach the language.
Key words: teaching English, culture, integrated.
The objective of the teaching of English in general is to enable the learners to
The article 's theme of is Language and the different forms of English’s that we are supposed to learn is well argued because not every culture speak proper English due to having to learn the English language on their own instead of getting taught the English the right way. The Author
understand that my upbringing is different from my students because many of them are raised with different cultural beliefs. I must also hold my students from a different background to the same esteem and expectation as I would have for students from my background. In order to be culturally competent it is important to recognize your history and how it may shapes your beliefs about other cultures. Sometimes you may have have biases that you are oblivious to.
If teachers take some time to understand the cultural identity of the students and develop a good relationship, this could make students feel accepted, worthy and possible show more interest in learning. Students are willing to learn English but being able to freely express themselves and their creativity is of concern. Ortiz recommended that schools “find meaningful ways to incorporate the richness of students’ cultural background in the curriculum” (17). During my high school year, there was a period where students were really under performing in English.
Teachers need to learn how to structure their own language in order to connect with students in the classroom. The understanding of linguistic patterns can help teachers understand that there is no greater value from one culture to another. “Without such an understanding, teachers sometimes assume that there is something wrong with students whose ways of using language are not what they expect.” (Fillmore & Snow, pg. 5.) By teachers not being accepting of their students’ way of speaking, it could impair their confidence in learning how to properly speak English.
The Review of the Article In the article "Matching Teaching Styles with Learning Styles in East Asian Contexts" an author described the learning styles of the East Asian learners and compared them to the learning styles of the non-Asian learners. The article is based on the learning styles employed when learning English as a foreign language. Since English, in the East Asia, is mostly taught by the foreign teachers, the author intention was to show the problems which occur when the two cultures meet in the classroom; the learners’ and the teacher’s one. I will briefly describe the East Asian learners’ preferences, problems which may occur in the classroom when the teacher’s teaching styles do not correspond the learners’ learning styles and
The United States is a place of freedom. We are a mixing pot that unifies as one. Many religions, cultures, and languages make their home in the Unites States. Many foreigners see the U.S. as an opportunity to seek better lives and education, but when it comes to foreigners and native-born non-English speakers that do not yet know English, it becomes a little more difficult to go about an average day let alone make a better future. Children in school often become English Language Learners, or ELL, to assimilate to the American standards.
Introduction I have chosen the communicative context English for Specific Purposes(ESP) for my Communicative Contexts Paper. ESP is geared toward students interested in specific instruction such as needed job skills or an academic goal such as attending a 4-year university in the United States or English-speaking country. The materials used are generally authentic in that they are replicating real life situations that ELLs can learn from. A distinct component of ESP is a needs assessment done before and during instruction. This allows the instructor to engage the needs of the students in their goals academically or professionally.
Impact of Culture Culture is an important factor that affects one’s perception, it greatly influences one’s behavior and shapes their personality which can have a significant impact on one’s education and the curriculum. Stating the importance of culture must be assessed when teaching English Language Learners, ELLs. The challenges for many English Language Learners are not overcoming a language barrier but also achieving academically. Orosco and O’Connor state that “ELLs bring a wealth of cultural and linguistic knowledge into the classroom, but perhaps our schooling is a complex process that often separates students’ personal learning experiences from the classroom resulting in a challenge of acquiring the skills for reading instruction”.
She shown respect to all of the students in class. Moreover, the educator was using the didactic teaching to sum up the important points of the argumentative essay outline and taught the correct English pronunciations to the learners. This teaching method provided a clear structure to the class and a teaching concepts was shaped. This is effectively an natural methods for teaching English as second language as well. Furthermore, the
The communicative approach and the CAPS document approach to grammar teaching. The ever growing need for good communication skills in English has created a huge demand for English teaching around the world, as millions of people today want to improve their command of English or ensure that their children achieve a good command of English... The worldwide demand for English has created an enormous demand for quality language teaching and language teaching materials and resources (Richards, 2006:05).Ironic, as it may seem, the English language runs like blood through the veins of nations worldwide. To have good communication skills in English is a burning desire for most people.
Academic English is important to college and university in academic writing course (Jet Writers Essay Writing Contest 2015). It is required students to reading, speaking and listening, while employing evaluating and sharpen their research and writing skills for college and university environment. At the college and university level is the ever-increasing need for students to focus on language and more specifically, the specialized language found both in substance areas and the Academic Language used in teaching that content. Academic Language as the name implies is importance the kind of writing that we are required to do in college and university. It differs from other kinds of writing such as annotated bibliographies, literature reviews,
Critical Essay 2 Norma Liendo Teaching English as a Second Language Teaching today has become a very interesting job for soon-to-be or current teachers due to the high culture diversity in their classrooms. Teacher not only have to be well prepared to present quality education but also to be able to accommodate for all the students needs regardless of origin, color or race. The important point is not teaching different children but due to their different backgrounds they learn differently; thus, the teachers now need to become aware of the students’ cultures in their classroom as soon as possible. These different learning styles should make the teacher knowledgeable that he/she might have to embark on a journey to explore the students’ cultures and embrace them because at the end of the day
I believe as teachers of English language we first get our understanding of the English teaching methods and techniques that would later affect our decisions about teaching our own students long before than official academic training begins. In fact, I, as a non-native speaker of English language, have spent at least twelve years learning it, which also means twelve years observing my teachers’ methods and strategies. Therefore, I would first like to describe my experience as a learner of English, then proceed with describing my personal teaching experience and conclude with a reflection on how these influences shaped my beliefs about language and language learning. Traditionally, teacher in Russia is regarded as an authority figure, and learners tend to rely on them to a large extent, therefore approaches that Russian professors adopt are mostly
The Language Culture and Society programme provides us with strong theoretical and interdisciplinary foundation for the study of a range of educational practices across the human lifespan and in a range of theoretical and methodological perspective is brought to bear on studies that explore the nature of literate practices, democracy and civic engagement and participation in social life. The programme focuses on relationships between education school and the dynamics and changing structures of language, culture, and society. It examines connection between broader, social, cultural, linguistic, historical, aesthetic and political factors in education and the local context in which these issues take place. It has long been recognized that language is an essential and important part of a given culture and that the impact of culture upon a given language is something intrinsic and indispensible. Language is a social phenomenon.
Every language has it’s own four basic skills which learners should master if they want to use language properly. It is the same when we learn our native language, first, we learn to listen, then to speak, then to read and at the end to write. We call it the four language skills. When students learn the language they have to improve it with good grammar and rich vocabulary. It is assumed this is not the final purpose.