aspectos socioculturales para la enseÑanza, el aprendizaje y la evaluaciÓn del inglÉs como lengua...

8/13/2019 ASPECTOS SOCIOCULTURALES PARA LA ENSEANZA, EL APRENDIZAJE Y LA EVALUACIN DEL INGLS COMO LENGUA

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summarizes several reasons why language and culture are from the start inseparably

connected, i.e.: (1) language acquisition does not follow a universal sequence, but

differs across cultures; (2) the process of becoming a competent member of society is

realized through exchanges of language in particular social situations; (3) every society

orchestrates the ways in which children participate in particular situations, and this, in

turn, affects the form, the function, and the content of children's utterances; (4)caregivers' primary concern is not with grammatical input, but with the transmission of

sociocultural knowledge; and (5) the native learner, in addition to language, acquires

also the paralinguistic patterns and the kinesics of his or her culture.

The second reason for the inevitability of incorporating cultural matters into an

EFL program is the premise that since language and culture are inseparable, language

teaching is culture teaching. Valdes (as cited in Baker, 2003) states: every language

lesson is about something and that something is cultural. After observing some

relevant studies, Buttjes (1990) explains how language teaching is culture teaching: (1)

language codes cannot be taught in isolation because processes of sociocultural

transmission are bound to be at work on many levels, e.g. the contents of languageexercises, the cultural discourse of textbooks, and the teacher's attitudes towards the

target culture; and (2) in their role of "secondary care givers" language teachers need to

go beyond monitoring linguistic production in the classroom and become aware of the

complex and numerous processes of intercultural mediation that any foreign language

learner undergoes.

The third reason for the inevitability of incorporating cultural matters into an

EFL program is the fact that the major goal of a foreign language program is the

mastery of communicative competence. To achieve this, a learner should be able to

conceive of the native speakers of target language as real person. For many people, this

is difficult to do for although grammar books gives so called genuine examples fromreal life, without background knowledge those real situations may be considered fictive

by the learners. In other words, one needs a sound grasp of the background knowledge

of the target culture in order to communicate successfully with the speakers of another

language. His understanding of the culture would help him relate the abstract sounds

and forms of a language to real people and places (Chastain, 1971).

Finally, cultural learning is very effective to increase learnersmotivation which

greatly affects every learning process. Culture classes do have a great role in achieving

high motivation because most learners like culturally based activities such as singing,

dancing, role playing, or doing research on other countries and peoples. This is

reinforced by Hammerly (1982) that teaching about the target culture when teaching thetarget language piques the interest of students and acts as a motivator.

It is necessary to understand culture a way of life, the context in which we exist,

think, feel and interact to others (Brown, 1994), so it goes beyond to those ideas,

customs, skills, arts and tools that characterized a given group of people in a given

period of time. Culture is more than the sum of its parts. An aspect that needs to be

pointed out clearly as I said before, is that no society exists without culture, establishing

a context of both affective and cognitive behavior, a template for personal and social

existence that differ from one person and region to another, a blueprint for personal and

social existence.


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Even today, people have the opportunity of world traveling; there is a tendency

for us to believe that our own reality is the correct perception. Perception involves a

subjective filtering of information even before it is stored in our background

knowledge: misunderstandings are just around and they depend on our points of view,

and it is related to language indeed. In the case of learning a language as a foreign one -

-like in the case of English- the learning of culture from the target language becomesimportant and necessary, because a language is part of culture and a culture is part

language, they both are intrinsically interwoven (Brown, 1994). According to the

author, we may infer that communicative process involves in a second language

learning interaction between one culture and another one. She says it is very important

to consider to learning a foreign language like English in our case as the learning of

another culture: the overcoming of the personal and transactional barriers presented by

two cultures in contact, and the relationship of culture learning to foreign language

learning.

Having in mind culture fulfills certain biological and psychological

(contradictory facts and propositions) needs in human beings, when we think aboutculture on the modern teaching of English times it is necessary to think about: how the

communicative approaches have contribute to keep people from different nations in

closely contact, showing that the contact between different countries and cultures has

become more frequently. This situation shows a necessity to discuss about culture

aspects in very careful way, because we can have problems with acculturations, social

shocks and stereotypes.

Stereotyping is something related to social, political, linguistic, and cultural

aspects, due to our cultural point of view about how the world is presented in scenery

that objectively and subjectively has an interaction through our own cultural pattern. It

may go on differing perceptions that can be seen as either false or strange and is thus

oversimplified. A suggestion to us is to consider as very important for people to

recognize and understand differing world views, so it contributes people to adopt a

positive and open minded attitude toward cross-cultural differences.

Attitude, like all aspects of developed of cognition and affect in human beings,

develop early childhood and are the result of parents and peers attitudes, of contact

with people who are different in any number of ways, and interacting affective factors

in the human experience (Brown, 1994). It depends on teachers to promote positive

attitudes towards the foreign language, so teachers have a strong important goal to

fulfill in class. They have to help students to develop good attitudes according tocultural aspects that involve respect, acculturate abilities and knowledge about the other

different people. They also have to consider the foreign language class a place to

discussed social and political aspects not only pragmatic knowledge about the language

as grammar, but something more deep and reasonable that includes learning grammar

rules and social, cultural, and political discussions.

Brown (1994) also focuses on the importance of considering acculturation in

EFL teaching, as a possibility to deal with other different culture: recognizing rules,

respecting social agreements and develop communicative approaches. Understanding

that it is a complexity process of becoming adapted to a new culture and also

reorientations of thinking and feelings, not to mention communication, it is necessary.To learn a foreign language it is not necessary to learn communicative competence: it is


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necessary to learn cultural issues that are presented in the development of

communicative competence.

What type of culture should be taught in the FL classroom? Relating the

essential ideas provided by the aforesaid definitions and the reasons for the inevitability

of incorporating cultural matters into the FL classroom, it is apparent that the majorforms of culture we need to deal with in a foreign language program should be the one

that views culture as a blue print or integrated patterns of abstraction derived from

observable behavior of a group of people. In other words, the major cultural contents to

include in a language classroom should be what Tomalin and Stempleski (1993) call

with the little c of culture, i.e. culturally influenced beliefs and perceptions,

especially as expressed through language, but also through cultural behaviors that affect

acceptability in the host community

Therefore, realistic elements of culture we should include are notions like when

and what people eat; how they make a living; the attitudes they express towards friends

and members of their families; which expressions they use to show approval ordisapproval, educational attitudes, time and space patterns, work values, etc. In this

sense, culture is a body of readymade solutions to the problems encountered by the

group. It is a cushion between man and his environment. Although the concrete forms

of culture like painting, music, tools, and facts of history or geography are interesting to

discuss, since they do not provide an intimate view of what life is really like in the

target culture, they are not of high important to deal with in relation to the teaching of a

foreign language.

Now that the what, why, and the development of incorporating culture in the

foreign language classroom have been established, a focus on the how is needed. Better

international understanding is a noble aim, but how can the transition be made from

theoretical matters to the active, crowded, and sometimes noisy foreign language

classroom? One problem in all classroom work is the involvement of studentsinterest,

attention, and active participation. Learning activities which focus on active rather than

passive learning are the best. Traditional methods of teaching culture in the foreign

language classroom have been focused on formal culture and passive learning. Students

do need both a geographical and historical perspective in order to understand

contemporary behavior patterns but this can be done with hands on activities. In order

to communicate effectively in the target language, foreign language students should be

facilitated to feel, touch, smell, and see the foreign people and not just hear their

language. To achieve that goal, cultural activities and objectives should be carefully

organized and incorporated into lesson plans to enrich and inform the teaching content.

The use of following materials and techniques for presenting culture in the classroom is

widely recommended.

Using authentic sources from the native speech community, like films, news

broadcasts, and television shows; Web sites; and photographs, magazines, newspapers,

restaurant menus, travel brochures, and other printed materials, helps to engage students

in authentic cultural experiences. Teachers can adapt their use of authentic materials to

suit the age and language proficiency level of the students. For example, even beginning


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language students can watch and listen to video clips taken from a T.V. show in the

target language and focus on such cultural conventions as greetings. The teacher might

supply students with a detailed translation or give them a chart, diagram, or outline to

complete while they listen to a dialogue or watch a video.

After the class has viewed the relevant segments, the teacher can engage thestudents in discussion of the cultural norms represented in the segments and what these

norms might say about the values of the culture. Discussion topics might include

nonverbal behaviors (e.g., the physical distance between speakers, gestures, eye contact,

societal roles, and how people in different social roles relate to each other). Students

might describe the behaviors they observe and discuss which of them are similar to their

native culture and which are not and determine strategies for effective communication

in the target language.

On the other hand, discussion of common proverbs in the target language could

focus on how the proverbs are different from or similar to proverbs in the students

native language and how differences might underscore historical and cultural

background. Using proverbs as a way to explore culture also provides a way to analyze

the stereotypes about and misperceptions of the culture, as well as a way for students to

explore the values that are often represented in the proverbs of their native culture.

Another way of learning culture is through role plays. In role plays, students can

act out a miscommunication that is based on cultural differences. For example, after

learning about ways of addressing different groups of people in the target culture, such

as people of the same age and older people, students could role play a situation in which

an inappropriate greeting is used. Other students observe the role play and try to identify

the reason for the miscommunication. They then role play the same situation using aculturally appropriate form of address.

To promote culture, students can be presented with objects (e.g., figurines, tools,

jewelry, and art) or images that originate from the target culture. The students are thenresponsible for finding information about the item in question, either by conducting

research or by being given clues to investigate. They can either write a brief summary or

make an oral presentation to the class about the cultural relevance of the item. Such

activities can also serve as a foundation from which teachers can go on to discuss larger

cultural, historical, and linguistic factors that tie in with the objects. Such

contextualization is, in fact, important to the success of using culture capsules.

Exchange students, immigrant students, or students who speak the target language athome can be invited to the classroom as expert sources. These students can share

authentic insights into the home and cultural life of native speakers of the language.

Ethnography studies are an important issue to take into account. An effective

way for students to learn about the target language and culture is to send them into their

own community to find information. Students can carry out ethnographic interviews

with native speakers in the community, which they can record in notebooks or on

audiotapes or videotapes. Discussion activities could include oral family histories,

interviews with community professionals, and studies of social groups. It is important to

note that activities involving the target language community require a great deal of time

on the part of the teacher to help set them up and to offer ongoing supervision.


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Finally, literary works can be an effective means to develop the understanding of

other cultures because they provide the readers with insights of other cultures without

having to visit the real place. , film and television segments also are useful: they offer

students an opportunity to witness behaviors that are not obvious in texts. Film is often

one of the more current and comprehensive ways to encapsulate the look, feel, and

rhythm of a culture. Film also connects students with language and cultural issuessimultaneously, such as depicting conversational timing or turn taking in conversation.

Herron et al.s (1999) study showed that students achieved significant gains in overall

cultural knowledge after watching videos from the target culture in the classroom.

In the Venezuelan context, some ideas taken from pedagogical pioneers are very

useful in trying to teach foreign culture without overlapping owns. In this sense, Simon

Rodriguez (1832) was the creator of interpretations of reality and development

approaches which drive the creation of Venezuelan, Latin America and Caribbean

identity. His thoughts played and still pay an important role in a pedagogic, didactic and

curriculum conception that humanizes and socializes human consciousness. Through

this, reflexive, argumentative, critical and decisive human beings who understand anddevelop their skills and abilities are formed to make it possible to have a constructive

and a participative performance within the collective they belong, as in the case of

promoting originality in the innovative reality of the American one.

His ideas thus far developed a philosophy in which revolution meant to put an

end to the characteristic colonial mindset of Venezuelan, Latin American and Caribbean

education present in the pedagogical practices of that time and still dominating current

educational practices in the continent. He did this by some revolutionary ideas based on

Popular Education to mankind, the sense of Establishment and the sense of Republican,

a proposal for an endogenous development, and was one of the pioneers of a real

Critical Education in Latin America. Rodriguez ideas are nowadays in vogue, due to

the development of the Bolivarian Revolution and the role carried out by his leader

Hugo Chavez in the last 14 years, which are valuable when teaching foreign culture, and

they can be summarized in: education (including culture) is a means of moving from

our colonial past, education is a political activity that allows connecting individuals with

their social an collective environment, and education is a critical activity.

Among other Venezuelans pioneers that can serve as a reference when teaching

foreign culture, Luis Beltran Prieto Figueroa, pointed out that to humanize is a synonym

of democratize, and democratize is to elevate men to the higher level of personal

dignity, just reached through the influence of the school. He said the school guidanceshould be to raise the standard of living of the entire population, not a part of it, but of

all mankind. Education should serve the interests of the majority and in this regard it

would be democratic, free and compulsory combining equal opportunities and selection

on the basis of individual abilities. Prieto Figueroa was also a promoter of the Teacher

State, so it is a duty and right of the State to guaranteed education in any society: it is

the responsibility of a solidary humanist State to commitment in carries forward the

indispensable task of educating citizens ready to test the values of justice and freedom.

In the international context, Paulo Freires work has a particular significance for

our purposes here. His emphasis on dialogue has struck a very strong chord with those

concerned with popular and informal education. Given that informal education is adialogical (or conversational) rather than a curricula form this is hardly surprising.


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However, Paulo Freire was able to take the discussion on several steps with his

insistence that dialogue involves respect. It should not involve one person acting on

another, but rather people working with each other. Too much education, Paulo Freire

argues, involves banking the educator making deposits in the educated.

Paulo Freire was concerned with praxis action that is informed (and linked tocertain values). Dialogue wasnt just about deepening understanding but was part of

making a difference in the world. Dialogue in itself is a co-operative activity involving

respect (in which cultural aspects are indeed). The process is important and can be seen

as enhancing community and building social capital and to leading us to act in ways that

make for justice and human flourishing. Informal and popular educators have had a

long-standing orientation to action so the emphasis on change in the world was

welcome. But there was a sting in the tail. Paulo Freire argued for informed action and

as such provided a useful counter-balance to those who want to diminish theory.

Freires attention to naming the world has been of great significance to those

educators who have traditionally worked with those who do not have a voice, and whoare oppressed. The idea of buildingpedagogy of the oppressed or a pedagogy of hope

and how this may be carried forward has formed a significant impetus to work. His

insistence on situating educational activity in the lived experience of participants has

opened up a series of possibilities for the way informal educators can approach practice.

His concern to look for words that have the possibility of generating new ways of

naming and acting in the world when working with people around literacies is a good

example of this.

In spite of the experiences and postulates already mentioned, the new era assigns

new challenges and duties on the modern English teacher who is trying to involve

culture in language teaching. The tradition of English teaching has been drastically

changed with the remarkable entry of technology. Technology provides so many

options as making teaching interesting and also making teaching more productive in

terms of improvements. Technology is one of the most significant drivers of both social

and linguistic change, as the number of English learners is increasing different teaching

methods have been implemented to test the effectiveness of the teaching process. Use of

authentic materials in the form of films, radio, TV has been there for a long time. It is

true that these technologies have proved successful in replacing the traditional teaching.

Graddol (1997) states that technology lays at the heart of the globalization

process affecting education work and culture. At present, the role and status of English

is that it is the language of social context, political, sociocultural, business, education,

industries, media, library, communication across borders, and key subject in curriculum

and language of imparting education. It is also a crucial determinant for university

entrance and processing well paid jobs in the commercial sector. Since there are more

and more English learners in our country, different teaching methods have been

implemented to test the effectiveness of the teaching process. One method involves

multimedia in English Language Teaching (ELT) in order to create English contexts.

This helps students to get involved and learn according to their interests. It has been

tested effectively and is widely accepted for teaching English in modern world.

Technology is utilized for the upliftment of modern styles; it satisfies both visual and

auditory senses of the students.


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With the rapid development of science and technology in our Bolivarian Higher

Education System, the emerging and developing of multimedia technology and its

application to teaching, featuring audio, visual, animation effects comes into full play in

English class teaching and sets a favorable platform for reform and exploration on

English teaching model in the new era. Its proved that multimedia technology plays a

positive role in promoting activities and initiatives of student and teaching effect inEnglish class. Technological innovations have gone hand in hand with the growth of

English and are changing the way in which we communicate. It is fair to assert that the

growth of the internet at the university (as in the case of our Interactive Dialogical

Learning students- ADI in Spanish) has facilitated the growth of the English language

and that this has occurred at a time when computers are no longer the exclusive domains

of the dedicated few, but rather available to many.

There are many techniques applicable in various degrees to language learning

situation. Some are useful for testing and distance education, and some for teaching

business English, spoken English, reading, listening or interpreting. The teaching

principle should be to appreciate new technologies in the areas and functions where theyprovide something decisively new useful and never let machines takeover the role of the

teacher or limit functions where more traditional ways are superior. There are various

reasons why all language learners and teachers must know how to make use of the new

technology. Here we also need to emphasize that the new technologies develop and

disseminate so quickly that we cannot avoid their attraction and influence in any form.

It is true that one of the ultimate goals of multimedia language teaching is to

promote students motivation and learning interest, which can be a practicalway to get

them involved in the language learning. Context creation of ELT should be based on the

openness and accessibility of the teaching materials and information. During the process

of optimizing the multimedia English teaching, students are not too dependent on theirmother tongue, but will be motivated and guided to communicate with each other.

Concerning the development of technology, we believe that in future, the use of

multimedia English teaching will be further developed. The process of English learning

will be more students centered but less time consuming. Therefore, it promises that the

teaching quality will be improved and students applied English skill scan is effectively

cultivated, meaning that students communicative competence will be further

developed.

In conclusion, Ibelieve that this process can fully improve students ideation and

practical language skills, which is helpful and useful to ensure and fulfill an effective

result of teaching and learning. Barring a few problem areas multimedia technology canbe used effectively in classrooms of ELT with proper computer knowledge on the part

of teachers, overcoming the finance problems in setting up the infrastructure and not

allowing the teachers to become technophobes.

aspectos socioculturales para la enseÑanza, el aprendizaje y la evaluaciÓn del inglÉs como lengua...

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