Licenciada

British Council
Teaching English
Cultural aspects in ELT
Submitted by RHN79 on 17 February, 2011 - 23:04
           Abstract
Culture has an important place in English language teaching and learning studies. Of course, there are different kinds of aspects but it is thought that culture and language are used and considered as a unit. For critical thinking, information is not enough and useful.There should be cultural awareness.
The aim of this study is to give information about cultural aspects in English language teaching. Culture, cultural awareness and language teaching are some of the keywords of this study.
 
1.      Introduction
Everybody knows that to understand a language completely it is essential to know not only knowledge of the grammar, phonology and lexis but also acertain features and characteristics of the culture. To communicate internationally requires communicating interculturally as well, which probably leads us to encounter factors of cultural differences and features. These differences and features exist in every language.
We can say that a language is a part of culture and a culture is a part of language. These should be thought or considered in thesame sense. According to Brown (1994) the two are intricately interwoven so that one can not separate the two without losing the significance of their language or culture. The need for cultural literacy in ELT arises mainly from the fact that most language learners, not exposed to cultural elements of the society in question, seem to encounter significant hardship in communicating meaning tonative speakers
Generally, language is connected to social and cultural values and so language is thought to be a social and cultural phenomenon. Naturally, each culture has its own cultural values and aspects and these values change from one culture to another. Sometimes, their values might be completely different. So it leads to communication problems among speakers and learners who are not awareof the values and features of other culture.
To solve these communication problems;
• Learners should learn the target culture,
• Teachers should be sensitive to the learner’s fragility so as not to cause them to lose their motivation.
If we turn to the relationship between culture and language, we can mention about some remarkable comments; for example, (McDewitt, 2004) there is nosuch a thing as human nature independent of culture.
 
2. The Relationship between Culture and Language
There is a strong relationship between culture and language. Language is the soul of country and people who speak it. Language and culture are inextricably linked.
            Actually, there is a threat to the native values when we are learning about the target language. For learners, it ishard to appreciate the importance of learning the cultural aspects of communication if they do not visit or have a close contact with a foreign country and experience the difficulties. I think Turkey is one of the most suitable countries for English language teaching because our country takes place in the centre of many cultures. Learners in ELT departments in Turkey have chance to get culturalvalues easily. Turkey is both near to foreign countries and attractive country for tourists all over the world.
It is important for ELT students to get cultural values in a harmony but while doing this, they should be careful about their own values. That is to say, they should think cultural values globally and act according to their own language, culture and their values.
            However, thereis a problem about culture and language. It is miscommunication. It is because of the lack of cross-cultural awareness. Also, signals, postures, mimics and another ways of behavior can cause miscommunication.
            In ELT classrooms, learners learn automatically culture while they are learning the language. Gestures, body movements, and distances maintained by speakers or learners should...