Cultural_Awareness

‘Tomlinson, B. & Masuhara, H. 2004. “Developing Cultural Awareness”. Modern English Teacher Vol. 13. number 1. p.5-11’
Activities for Cultural Awareness
Brian Tomlinson and Hitomi Masuhara
In this article we argue that it is useful to include cultural awareness activities in a language course, as doing so can not only increase the educational value of the course but can facilitate language acquisition too.
Definition of Cultural
What do you think of the following definitions of cultural?
a)Referring to the propagation of living things
b)Referring to intellectual, aesthetic refinement
c)Referring to the totality of customs, artistic achievements and general civilisation of a country
or people
d)Referring to the totality of a way of life shared by a group of people linked by common and
distinctive characteristics, activities, beliefs, or circumstances (e.g. Australian culture, Arab culture, Liverpool culture)
e)Referring to the beliefs and behaviour of a community of people who share inclinations,
attitudes, interests and goals (e.g. pop culture, football culture, wine culture)
All the above are valid definitions of ‘cultural’ but it is definitions d) and e) that we are referring to when we talk about the value of activities for cultural awareness.
Definition of Awareness
We would like to make a distinction between cultural knowledge and cultural awareness.
Cultural knowledge consists of information about the characteristics of our own and other people’s cultures.
This information is typically :
•external, in that it is given to us by someone else
•static, in that it we do not modify it from experience
•articulated, in that it is reduced to what words can express
•stereotypical, in that it refers to general norms rather than specific instances
•reduced, in that it has been selected from all the information available and in that it typically omits information about variation and exceptions
The information is normally given to us in the form of:
•facts
•statistics
•generalisations
•examples
Cultural knowledge can be useful in helping us to understand ourselves and other people. However, it can also be misleading because it:
•is dependant on other people’s expertise, objectivity and integrity
•is fixed in time (and therefore often out of date)
•is inevitably simplified
•often conceals as much as it reveals
For example, it is useful for a visiting businessman to be told that the Japanese are hard working and serious but this generalisation by itself can conceal the reality that many Japanese people like to go out and enjoy themselves after work.
Cultural awareness consists of perceptions of our own and other people’s cultures. These perceptions are:
•internal, in that they develop in our minds
•dynamic, in that they are constantly being added to and changed
•variable, in that are modified from experience
•multi-dimensional, in that they are represented through sensory images (e.g. mental pictures), through mental connections, and through affective associations, as well as through the inner voice (Masuhara, 2003; Tomlinson, 2000a)
•interactive in that they connect with and inform each other
These perceptions are gained from experiencing the culture, either directly through visiting a culture or indirectly through films, songs, literature etc. In particular, these perceptions are gained from: •instances of the culture in action
•connections with previous experience
•comparisons with other cultures
•conflicts caused by cultural misunderstanding and resolved through accommodation
•reflections on cultural encounters
•interpretations of the significance of cultural behaviour
•tolerance of ambiguity (i.e. waiting for indications of significance rather than jumping to conclusions)
•suspension of judgement (i.e. not being instantly critical of other people’s apparently deviant behaviour)
Cultural awareness involves a “gradually developing inner sense of the equality of cultures, an increased understanding of your own and other people’s cultures, and a positive interest in how cultures both connect and differ. Such awareness can broaden the mind, increase tolerance and facilitate international communication.” (Tomlinson, 2001, 5)
Increased cultural knowledge can give us increased credibility and expertise. Increased cultural awareness can help us to achieve cultural empathy and sensitivity. It can also facilitate language acquisition, as being positive, empathetic and inquisitive can contribute to one of the optimal conditions for language acquisition: motivated exposure to language in use.
Cultural Awareness Approaches
Principles
The main learning principles of a cultural awareness approach involve the encouragement of:
•learning from experience
•apprehension before comprehension, in that the learner is helped to become intuitively aware of something before trying to achieve conscious understanding of it
•affective and cognitive engagement with an encounter, text or task
•intake responses to an encounter, text or task in the sense of developing and articulating representations of the experience
•interpretations of the significance of the experience
•discovering clues to the interpretation of an experience by reflecting on that experience and on similar previous experiences
•tolerance of ambiguity both in the sense of not worrying about not being able to interpret an experience and of not fixing an immediate and absolute interpretation.
These principles are coherent in the sense that they connect with each other and have been developed to facilitate the deep processing of experience which can lead to informed awareness, sensitivity and empathy, and to the acquisition of language too.
Objectives
The main objectives of a cultural awareness approach are to help the learners to:
•discover assumptions, values and attitudes beneath utterances and behaviours in other cultures •discover assumptions, values and attitudes beneath utterances and behaviours in their own cultures
•assess situations and recognise various possible interpretations without jumping to evaluative conclusions
•notice implicit conflicts and analyse the causes
•identify options for conflict solutions
•try out options, observe the consequences, and take necessary measures
•resist falling back on stereo-typing and ethnocentrisms
•develop cultural sensitivity
•develop empathy with other cultures
•acquire cross-cultural skills
•acquire language from motivated exposure to language in use and from purposeful opportunities to use it
•develop the ability to use language appropriately and effectively in a variety of cultural contexts
Procedures
In order to apply our principles to achieve our objectives we recommend the following procedures: •Start and finish an activity in the minds of the learners (e.g. by getting them to think about an experience in their own culture before providing them with a similar one in another culture;
by getting them to ‘translate’ a new experience in another culture into an equivalent experience in their own culture)
•Provide cultural encounters (e.g. through visits, video, songs, literature, simulations)
•Facilitate connections between the old and the new (e.g. by encouraging the learners to constantly think of comparable personal experiences)
•Stimulate multi-dimensional representation of cultural experiences (e.g. through visualisation and inner voice activities)
•Focus initially on intake responses rather than input responses (e.g. get learners to articulate their own personal response to a story before getting them to study its text)
•Provide focused discovery activities which guide the learners to find out things for themselves •Contribute your personal interpretations but don’t provide them as definitive answers
•Contribute your personal experiences of other cultures
Activities
Here are some activity types which we have found to be useful in putting the above principles and procedures into action in order to achieve our objectives.
Activity Type 1 D.I.E. (Description, Interpretation, Evaluation)
Description
1.The learners are given two sides of a cultural encounter.
2.They describe the encounter.
3.They say what they think each person’s interpretation and evaluation is of the encounter.
4.(They suggest repair strategies.)
Example
1.Learners read an extract from a Japanese teacher’s journal in which she complains about the
behaviour of a Chinese student in her class.
2.Learners read a letter in which the Chinese student complains about his Japanese teacher.
3.Learners write a description of the classroom situation.
4.Learners say what they think is the teacher’s interpretation and evaluation of the Chinese
student’s behaviour.
5.Learners say what they think is the student’s interpretation and evaluation of the Japanese
teacher’s behaviour.
6.Learners suggest what the two people could do to repair the situation.
Strengths
Exposure to language in use.
Potential for both affective and cognitive engagement.
Potential for development of ability to see both sides of a cultural encounter.
Potential for development of empathy.
Self-investment of the learners in making discoveries and coming up with solutions
Activity Type 2 Text Driven
Description
1.The learners are asked to reflect on their own experiences in relation to a particular topic or
theme.
2.They experience a text (e.g. a song, scene from a film, extract from a novel) related to the
experiences they reflected on in 1.
3.They articulate their personal representation of the text.
4.They focus on a particular cultural feature of the text in order to make discoveries about the
assumptions and beliefs beneath the behaviours described.
5.They create a text of their own which either continues or transforms the text they have
experienced or ‘translates’ it to their own culture.
Example
1.Learners are asked to visualise their own first day at school.
2.Learners visualise whilst listening to a poem about a child’s first day at school.
3.Learners draw a picture of the child’s first day.
4.Learners are given the poem and asked to highlight those parts which would be different in
their own culture.
5.Learners re-write the poem so that it is set in the school they first went to.
Strengths
Exposure to language in use.
Opportunities for purposeful use of language.
Potential for both affective and cognitive engagement.
Opportunities for personal reflection.
Opportunities for cultural comparison.
Activity Type 3 Simulation
Description
1.The learners are given a description of the context of a cultural encounter.
2.They are given roles to play in the encounter.
3.They prepare for their roles individually.
4.They act out the encounter.
5.They reflect on the encounter and interpret the actions of the participants.
Example
1.Learners are given a description of a situation in which representatives of a Korean company
are visiting a company in Australia to negotiate a contract.
2.Each learner is given a role to play in the negotiation and is given information about how to
perform the role.
3.The learners prepare for their roles in the negotiation individually.
4.The learners act out the negotiation.
5.The learners reflect on the negotiation and interpret the actions of each of the participants. Strengths
Opportunities for purposeful use of language.
Potential for both affective and cognitive engagement.
Opportunities for reflection and analysis.
Opportunities for cultural comparison and understanding.
Activity Type 4 Scenario
Description
1.Groups of learners are given a role to play in an encounter between two people.
2.They prepare for their role in their groups.
3. A representative is chosen by each group to act out the encounter.
4.The representative from one group acts out the encounter with the representative from another
group.
5.At any time the group can call a ‘time out’ and recall their representative for advice or
substitution.
6.The two ‘competing’ groups reflect on the encounter together and discuss any
misunderstandings they encountered and what they could have done to avoid or repair them.
7.The learners experience a text in which a similar encounter is acted out in a different culture.
8.They identify the similarities and the differences between the equivalent encounters in the
different cultures.
(For more information about scenarios see Di Pietro (1987)
Example
1.Some groups are given the role of a teenage boy who has decided to take his new girlfriend
to a football match. He notices that she looks unwell and decides that he must find a way of not leaving the game without upsetting her. The other groups are given the role of the girl.
She has decided that she must find a way of getting her boyfriend to take her home without upsetting him.
2.Learners prepare for their role in their groups.
3. A representative is chosen by each group to act out the dialogue between the boy and the girl.
4.The representative from one group acts out the dialogue with the representative from another
group.
5.Each group calls a ‘time out’ and recalls their representative for advice or substitution.
6.The two ‘competing’ groups reflect on the dialogue together and discuss any
misunderstandings they encountered and what they could have done to avoid or repair them.
7.The learners listen to an extract from a novel text in which a similar dialogue is acted out in
England.
8.Learners identify the similarities and the differences between the equivalent dialogues in their
culture and in the English teenage culture.
Strengths
Exposure to language in use.
Opportunities for purposeful use of language.
Potential for both affective and cognitive engagement.
Opportunities for reflection and analysis.
Opportunities for cultural comparison and understanding.
Self-investment of the learners in making discoveries and coming up with solutions.
Activity Type 5 Task Driven
Description
1.The learners are given a task which requires them to consider cultural factors in order to
achieve a situational purpose.
2.Groups of learners discuss how to carry out the task.
3.The groups record their performance of the task.
4.The learners listen to an ‘authentic performance’ of the task.
5.They compare the two task performances.
(For more information about tasks see Willis (1996)
Example
1.Learners are told that they are a Selection Panel who are meeting to shortlist applicants for the
post of Professor of English. Their task is to reduce the six applicants to a shortlist of three.
All six applicants are from different cultures (one from India, one from the USA, one from Australia, one from Singapore, one from Japan and one from England).
2.Groups of learners discuss how to carry out the task.
3.The groups are given the specifications for the post and the six letters of application. They
record their performance of the task.
4.The learners listen to an ‘authentic performance’ of the task.
5.The learners compare the two task performances.
Strengths
At a MATSDA Materials Writing Workshop in June 2004, twelve of us worked on developing materials for cultural awareness based on the principles, objectives and procedures outlined above. Now we are looking for a publisher.
For other approaches to materials for cultural awareness see Pulverness (2003), Hinkel (1999) and Tomlinson (2000b).
Conclusion
We are not advocating focusing on developing cultural awareness in all language teaching activities and we are certainly not in favour of having a separate section of a course labelled Cultural Awareness. What we are recommending is sometimes including in our teaching of languages activities which are designed to help our learners to develop cultural awareness. That way we will make sure that our courses are not only useful in facilitating language acquisition but are valuable in encouraging educational and personal development, too.
References
Di Pietro, 1987. Strategic Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hinkel, E. 1999. Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Masuhara, H. 2003. ‘Materials for developing reading skills.’ In B. Tomlinson (ed.) Developing Materials for Language Teaching. London: Continuum.
Pulverness, A. 2003. ‘Materials for Cultural Awareness’. In B. Tomlinson (ed.) Developing Materials for Language Teaching. Cambridge: London: Continuum.
Tomlinson, B. 2000a. ‘A multi-dimensional approach.’ The Language Teacher. 24/7.
Tomlinson, B. 2000b ‘Materials for cultural awareness: Combining language, literature and culture in the mind.’ The Language Teacher 24/2, 19-21.
Tomlinson, B. 2001. ‘Seeing more between the lines.’ The Guardian Weekly, Learning English June 21-27, 5.
Willis, J. 1996. A Framework for Task-Based Learning. London: Longman.
The Authors
Brian Tomlinson and Hitomi Masuhara both work at Leeds Metropolitan University, where Brian is Dr. Brian Tomlinson is Reader in Language Learning and Teaching at Leeds Metropolitan University, where he is Head of the Post-Graduate, Research and Consultancy Unit in the School of Languages. Dr. Tomlinson has worked in Japan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Singapore, UK, Vanuatu, and Zambia and has given presentations in over forty countries. He is Founder and President of MATSDA (the international Materials Development Association
Dr. Hitomi Masuhara is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages in Leeds Metropolitan University, where she acts as Research Award Coordinator for PhD students and Course Leader for the MA in Materials Development for Language Teaching. She is a founding member and Secretary of the Materials Development Association (MATSDA). She has taught at the secondary and tertiary level in Japan, Singapore, and in England. She has also helped to run Materials Development Workshops, often for the Ministry of Education, in Argentina, Botswana, Bulgaria, China, Mauritius, Mexico, Seychelles, South Africa and in Viet Nam. Her publication includes 7 coursebooks (Japan, China, Singapore, Ethiopia, Sub-Saharan African countries), journal articles (e.g. ELTJ, MET), book chapters (e.g. Materials Development in Language Teaching, CUP; Developing Materials for Language Teaching, Continuum) and books (e.g. Developing Language Course Materials, RELC).
Her main interests are the role of the brain in language acquisition, materials and teacher development. She loves dancing, yoga, and appreciating art.
H.Masuhara@。