Intercultural Challenges of Teaching in Multilingual/Multicultural Classrooms

2022 ◽  
pp. 481-499
Author(s):  
Éva Csillik
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Melting Pot ◽  
Global Citizens ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Multilingual Students ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Multilingual Classroom

Language and culture are inseparable entities forming an interdependent relationship within the multilingual classroom, which is both a melting pot of languages as well as a myriad of cultural backgrounds. In learning a common language, known as “lingua franca,” in the multilingual classroom, culture plays a critical role since the lingua franca makes communication possible between language teachers and multilingual students. Cultural connections and effective communication enables these students to engage in social and interactive activities and allows them to become active participants of the multilingual classroom. This chapter addresses some of the major intercultural challenges that both teachers and students of multilingual classrooms currently face within the “cultural jungle” of New York City. These multilingual students are simultaneously learning English as the lingua franca and participating in an intercultural educational experience in order to become linguistically and interculturally competent global citizens.

Intercultural Challenges of Teaching in Multilingual/Multicultural Classrooms

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Éva Csillik
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Melting Pot ◽  
Global Citizens ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Multilingual Students ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Multilingual Classroom

Language and culture are inseparable entities forming an interdependent relationship within the multilingual classroom, which is both a melting pot of languages as well as a myriad of cultural backgrounds. In learning a common language, known as “lingua franca,” in the multilingual classroom, culture plays a critical role since the lingua franca makes communication possible between language teachers and multilingual students. Cultural connections and effective communication enables these students to engage in social and interactive activities and allows them to become active participants of the multilingual classroom. This chapter addresses some of the major intercultural challenges that both teachers and students of multilingual classrooms currently face within the “cultural jungle” of New York City. These multilingual students are simultaneously learning English as the lingua franca and participating in an intercultural educational experience in order to become linguistically and interculturally competent global citizens.

The importance of language and culture to the growing Sino-Caribbean commercial relationship

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helene Zamor ◽  
Alicia D. Nicholls ◽  
Albert Christopher Lee
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
English Language ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Linguistic Understanding ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The 19Th Century

Language and culture play a critical role in international commercial relations. Since the 19th century, the English language has undeniably held the prominent position as the global lingua franca to facilitate communication between nations. However, China’s contemporary re-emergence as an economic superpower has expanded its global influence. Consequently, awareness of Chinese culture and language is becoming important not only globally, but also in the Caribbean, where China’s economic footprint has expanded considerably in recent years. This article conceptually explores the important role of language and culture within the growing Sino-Caribbean commercial relationship. Specifically, it discusses the potential impact of language on the trade and tourism sectors, which are two key industries that drive the economies of English-speaking Caribbean small island developing states. It does this by charting the development of the English and Chinese languages as dominant languages. It then briefly looks at the current level of Chinese engagement with the region in trade and, more contemporarily, the potential of greater Chinese tourism in the Caribbean. It discusses the value of deeper cultural and linguistic understanding in nurturing and expanding these relationships. Finally, the article concludes by providing meaningful recommendations on ways to mitigate cultural and linguistic barriers in order to promote deeper Sino-Caribbean trade and tourism.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Language and culture are two important factors in commercial relationships, especially trade and tourism.</li><br /><li>This article adds to the growing literature on budding Sino-Caribbean relations by exploring the importance of linguistic and cultural understanding to nurturing this relationship.</li><br /><li>It argues that Caribbean countries cannot take for granted that English will always be the lingua franca for Chinese-Caribbean relations given China’s expanding global footprint.</li><br /><li>The article makes recommendations on ways to mitigate linguistic and cultural barriers in order to deepen Sino-Caribbean commercial ties.</li></ul>

Integrating Culture in Language Classrooms

2017 ◽  
pp. 579-602
Author(s):  
Aslı Akyüz ◽  
Ayfer Tanış ◽  
Eftima Khalil ◽  
Özdenur Ardıç ◽  
Enisa Mede
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Preparatory Programs ◽  
Target Culture

Language and culture go hand in hand. Naturally, they are intertwined and inseparable from one another. Therefore, language teachers who are teaching the language itself also need to recognize the importance of integrating culture in their teaching practices and raise the awareness of the learners about the culture that the target language belongs to. In light of these observations, the present chapter aims to find out whether technology is an effective tool to integrate culture in language classrooms as well as identify the perceptions of teachers and students about learning and teaching the target language through culture. The participants were 153 students and 26 teachers enrolled in a language preparatory program at a public university in Turkey. While the quantitative data were collected through the Target Culture Knowledge Test, the qualitative data were collected by means of in-depth interviews in semi-structured design. The results of the study revealed that technology (i.e., videos) is an effective tool to provide students with background information about the target culture. The findings also reported positive perceptions towards learning and teaching the target language through culture. Based on the findings, this study can contribute to the program developers and teacher educators for the development of quality in teaching and learning in language preparatory programs.

scholarly journals Teachers and Students’ Attitudes towards the Integration of the Target Culture in the English as a Foreign Language Class: A Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 253-266
Author(s):  
Simon Pierre DABOU ◽  
Abdelhak HAMMOUDI ◽  
Romaissa CHIBANI
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Language Class ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Target Culture

Language and culture are like two sides of the same coin, the music on a radio or the soul in a body. The two are so interrelated that separating them is almost impossible. Therefore, teaching a foreign language implies integrating the target culture. In this context, this study aimed to investigate teachers and students’ attitudes towards the integration of the English culture in the EFL curriculum at the University of Sétif 2.  A Semi-structured interview with six English language teachers and a questionnaire to 53 third-year English students were the tools used to collect the necessary data. The analysis of the data showed that all the teachers were for the integration of the target culture in the EFL classes. The study also revealed that students who had positive attitudes towards the target culture represented only 28% of the sample. Therefore, the researchers suggested that the concept of target culture be properly defined within the EFL class and appropriately approached to sustain interest. Moreover, teachers are encouraged to integrate certain aspects of the target culture, such as language, norms, and values, to avoid misunderstanding, and respect each other’s cultural rights.

Ungkapan Bermakna Budaya Masyarakat Nelayan (Suatu Kajian Antropolinguistik)

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irma Maria Lontoh ◽  
Jenny Hilda Pakasi ◽  
Martha Salea-Warouw
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Area ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
North Sulawesi ◽  
Community Language

The fishermen community is a community found in North Sulawesi, especially in the coastal area of Sario-Malalayang, Manado. With different cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, this group has its own uniqueness, especially in language. This research succeeded is finding expressions in the fishermen community in the coastal area of Sario-Malalayang. These expressions consist of forms of words, phrases, and clauses in accordance with the lingual forms of theory from Widdowson (1997: 3). The results of the study found a number of lingual forms in affixed words, which had a similar prefix as in the words ba-daseng, ba-kintu, ba-tono, ba-saoh, ba-pake. In addition, the majority of phrases contained in the results of the study are predominantly dominated by noun phrases, such as in the lips phrases of napo, puru loe, coolies, ikang itching, mulu sosoroka, gargantang tubir.This research also succeeded in exploring and discovering cultural meanings. The meanings in the form of words, such as ‘badaseng’, ‘sunga’, then the form of a phrase, like ‘puru loe’, ‘mulu sosoroka’, then sentence expressions in the form of expressions like ‘udang deng katang so kurang sama’, ‘kase wora mar jang talapas’, ‘karja cuma sampe di kuli aer’, etc. The expressions encountered generally contain various cultural meanings, namely advice, satire, ridicule, seduction, warning, insults, and despair. Based on the conclusion, the researcher suggests to the next researcher, to be more comprehensive related to the use of Manado Malay language expression in different background and contexts in order to get a whole description about expressions system of Manado Malay language, especially in the fishermen community in North Sulawesi.Keywords: fishermen community, language and culture

scholarly journals Teaching Critical Vocabulary to Filipino Heritage Language Learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 260
Author(s):  
Jayson Parba
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
World Language ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The Status ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
L1 And L2

Engaging in critical dialogues in language classrooms that draw on critical pedagogical perspectives can be challenging for learners because of gaps in communicative resources in their L1 and L2. Since critically oriented classrooms involve discussing social issues, students are expected to deploy “literate talk” to engage in critiquing society and a wide range of texts. Although recent studies have explored teachers’ and students’ engagement with critical materials and critical dialogues, research that explores language development in critical language teaching remains a concern for language teachers. In this paper, I share my experience of fostering language development, specifically the overt teaching of critical vocabulary to students of (Tagalog-based) Filipino language at a university in Hawai’i. Through a discussion of racist stereotypes targeting Filipinos and the impacts of these discourses on students’ lived experiences, the notion of “critical vocabulary” emerges as an important tool for students to articulate the presence of and to dismantle oppressive structures of power, including everyday discourses supporting the status quo. This paper defines critical vocabulary and advances its theoretical and practical contribution to critical language teaching. It also includes students’ perspectives of their language development and ends with pedagogical implications for heritage/world language teachers around the world.

scholarly journals Culture and complexity through English as a lingua franca: rethinking competences and pedagogy in ELT

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Baker
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Meaningful Category

AbstractEnglish as a lingua franca (ELF) research highlights the complexity and fluidity of culture in intercultural communication through English. ELF users draw on, construct, and move between global, national, and local orientations towards cultural characterisations. Thus, the relationship between language and culture is best approached as situated and emergent. However, this has challenged previous representations of culture, particularly those centred predominantly on nation states, which are prevalent in English language teaching (ELT) practices and the associated conceptions of communicative and intercultural communicative competence. Two key questions which are then brought to the fore are: how are we to best understand such multifarious characterisations of culture in intercultural communication through ELF and what implications, if any, does this have for ELT and the teaching of culture in language teaching? In relation to the first question, this paper will discuss how complexity theory offers a framework for understanding culture as a constantly changing but nonetheless meaningful category in ELF research, whilst avoiding essentialism and reductionism. This underpins the response to the second question, whereby any formulations of intercultural competence offered as an aim in language pedagogy must also eschew these simplistic and essentialist cultural characterisations. Furthermore, the manner of simplification prevalent in approaches to culture in the ELT language classroom will be critically questioned. It will be argued that such simplification easily leads into essentialist representations of language and culture in ELT and an over representation of “Anglophone cultures.” The paper will conclude with a number of suggestions and examples for how such complex understandings of culture and language through ELF can be meaningfully incorporated into pedagogic practice.

Language and Art in Senegal: The Crossbreeding of Identities in Music

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-69
Author(s):  
Ibrahima Sarr
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The Other ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
The West ◽  
Melting Pot ◽  
Classical Form ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Contact Situation

Senegal is a melting pot of several civilizations mainly originated from the West (Europe) and the East (the Arab world). Assuming that language and culture are intrinsically related, the settlement of those people and their status as dominant minority sparked and strengthened the use of their languages in formal domains. In the long ran, as they became domesticated, thus now considered African languages because they have contributed to mold the cultural identity of younger generation, they involve in all linguistic interaction. Arab, in its classical form, remains a symbol of Islam which earns it a certain degree of sacredness. Nevertheless the contact situation with the other languages forced it to crossbreed in special ways like borrowings and interferences. As for the other foreign languages, namely French, English, Spanish, and German at a least extent, they are made to carry the weight of local cultures.

scholarly journals Pronunciation Errors of Letter “G” in English Language Made by Saudi Undergraduate Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huda Alqunayeer
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Loan Words ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
Academic Year

The primary goal of the present study is to identify the problematic areas in the pronunciation of the letter “g” in English written words made by Saudi female learners of English as a foreign language, and the reasons for the weakness associated with mispronunciation of English written words which contain this letter. The population of the study was the female students (90 students) and their English language teachers (12 teachers) at the Qassim University during the academic year (2014-2015). There were two types of instruments used in this study. The first was a pronunciation test for the student participants in order to investigate the problematic areas of pronouncing “g” in different environments in different words; and the second a questionnaire for the teacher participants to provide comprehensive data about the causes of these errors of pronouncing “g” committed by EFL female students at Qassim University. Ninety female students were included for the pronunciation test and 12 teachers were asked to answer the questionnaire. Simple percentage was used for analyzing the data of recording words (pronunciation test). Results of the students’ recording words revealed that the participants mispronounced “g” before nasals (68%). According to the results of the teachers’ responses to the questionnaire suggested many factors that can cause difficulties for students in terms of pronouncing “g” in English written words. According to them, these difficulties are concerned with reading difficulties, nonstandard spellings, letters that follow “g” (many of them may become combinations), loan words, orthography (no correspondence between the English alphabets and their sounds). The researcher offers recommendations that might help teachers and students to overcome and reduce these mispronunciations of this letter in English written words.

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