Teaching Culture in Language Education: Reflections from Turkey

1. FOCUS ON TEACHING CULTURE IN THE CONTEXT OF LANGUAGE EDUCATION: REFLECTIONS FROM TURKEY By Dr.LtCmdr. Aykut ARSLAN BILC SEMINAR OCTOBER 2007, VIENNA NAVY TRAINING CENTER DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES / YALOVA

2. INTRODUCTION • LANGUAGE SHAPES OUR CULTURE • IT IS MORE THAN JUST A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION • 1940s: SHAPES OUR PERCEPTION OF REALITY: WE SEE THE REAL WORLD ONLY IN THE CATEGORIES OF OUR LANGUAGE • DEBATE ON CULTURE AND LANGUAGE RELATIONS IS STILL A HOT TOPIC IN LANGUAGE TEACHING • HOW, AND TO WHAT EXTENT THE CULTURE SHOULD BE TAUGHT IS STILL UNRESOLVED • NEW TREND; CULTURE AND LANGUAGE ARE INTRINSICALLY BOUND AND HOW EFL/ESL PEDAGOGY CAN BE IMPROVED TO REFLECT THIS NEW UNDERSTANDING CONTINUED TO BE DISCUSSED IN THE 1980S AND 1990S

3. INTRODUCTION • THE LANGUAGE TEACHING HISTORY IS COMPRISED OF FOUR PARADIGMS : • The traditional approach to teaching culture ( Earlier times- literature texts) • The “culture studies” approach (1970s - area studies) • The “culture as practices” approach (1980s- anthropology studies) • Intercultural language teaching (from 1990s onwards- cross-cultural encounters)

4. DEFINITION OF CULTURE • HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS • THREE BASIC FEATURES OF PEOPLE’S EXPERIENCE: • WHAT THEY DO (CULTURAL BEHAVIOR), • WHAT THEY KNOW (CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE), • WHAT THINGS THEY MAKE AND USE (CULTURAL ARTIFACTS) • WHAT IS CULTURE? • “INTEGRATED PATTERN OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR THAT INCLUDES THOUGHTS, COMMUNICATIONS, LANGUAGES, PRACTICES, BELIEFS, VALUES, CUSTOMS, COURTESIES, RITUALS, MANNERS OF INTERACTING AND ROLES, RELATIONSHIPS AND EXPECTED BEHAVIORS OF A RACIAL, ETHNIC, RELIGIOUS OR SOCIAL GROUP; AND THE ABILITY TO TRANSMIT THE ABOVE TO SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS”. • LANGUAGE IS NOT ONLY A TOOL TO DEFINE CULTURE BUT ALSO A REFLECTION OF IT

5. LITERATURE REVIEW TWO OPPOSITE VIEWS : THE FIRST SCHOOL OF THOUGHT THAT FAVORS CULTURE “CULTURE AND LANGUAGE ARE INTERLINKED AND INSEPARABLE” (LINGUACULTURE) TEACHING A LANGUAGE REQUIRES THREE INTERCULTURAL ASPECTS: TEACHING OF A LINGUACULTURE THE COMPARISON BETWEEN LEARNERS’ FIRST LANGUAGE/CULTURE AND TARGET LANGUAGE/CULTURE INTERCULTURAL EXPLORATION MAINTAINED IN VARIOUS FORMS IN RESEARCH DISCIPLINES SUCH AS LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY, TRANSLATION STUDIES, AND STUDIES OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

6. LITERATURE REVIEW THE RATIONALE: • Languages cannot be translated word-for-word… • The tone of a speaker's voice (the intonation pattern) carries meaning… • Each language-culture employs gestures and body movements which convey meaning… • (4)…languages use different grammatical elements for describing all parts of the physical world. • All cultures have taboo topics…

7. LITERATURE REVIEW THE RATIONALE (CONT.): • In personal relationships, the terms for addressing people vary considerably among languages (Dunnet et al. 1986: 148-149 cited in Baker 2003). • (7) Language is culture-bound, and one is not far from a conception of a closed universe of language, culture, history and mentality (Risager 2005, 185).

8. LITERATURE REVIEW OTHER SCHOOL OF THOUGHT THAT IS AGAINST THE IDEA OF TEACHING CULTURE IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION ESPOUSES “CULTURAL IMPERIALISM” “CULTURE AND LANGUAGE ARE SEEN AS SEPARATED PHENOMENA” ASSOCIATED WITH THE STUDY OF ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE LANGUAGES - AND ESPECIALLY ENGLISH - SHOULD BE SEEN AS FLEXIBLE INSTRUMENTS OF COMMUNICATION THAT MAY IN PRINCIPLE BE USED WITH ANY SUBJECT MATTER BY ANYBODY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD “SCHEMATIC KNOWLEDGE”; WHILE LEARNING A LANGUAGE A PERSON CAN APPLY HIS/HER HOME LANGUAGE CULTURE MUCH EASIER.

9. LITERATURE REVIEW THE RATIONALE: • There are problems in deciding what culture to teach, possibly creating cultural stereotypes and ignoring the individual when teaching culture (Baker 2003: 19). • Language is culturally neutral; language is seen as a code, and one is not far from a reconstitution of the classical structuralist conception of the autonomy of language (Risager 2005: 185). • English can be taken as a means of expressing the speakers’ culture, not one for imitating the culture of Great Britain, the U.S. or any other English speaking country (Aliakbari 2002). • (4) ESL may have a hidden curriculum that inculcates Western cultural values as an implicit part of language teaching (Auerbach and Burgess (1985), cited in Stapleton 2000:293)

10. REFLECTIONS FROM TURKEY LANGUAGE TEACHING NEGATIVE VIEW • * ENGLISH BECAME A HOTSPOT TOPIC IN TURKEY • THE UNEASINESS IT LED TO AND THE DEGENERATION IT MAY BRING ABOUT, MERELY CAUSED BY THE HIGH NUMBER OF ENGLISH-MEDIUM SCHOOLS • SUCH AN INTENSIVE PROCESS OF LANGUAGE TEACHING, WHICH IS NATURALLY FULL OF FOREIGN CULTURAL ELEMENTS, WILL HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON TURKISH LANGUAGE, AND CONSEQUENTLY ON CULTURAL CONSCIOUSNESS • “CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM,” MAY HARM CULTURAL CONSCIOUSNESS SERIOUSLY AND MAY RESULT IN A TOTAL DEVASTATION IN THE SOCIETY

11. REFLECTIONS FROM TURKEY LANGUAGE TEACHING POSITIVE VIEW • LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE DOES NOT HAVE NEGATIVE INFLUENCES ON THE MOTHER TONGUE. THEY EVEN CLAIM THAT IT WILL FOSTER THE AWARENESS OF THE FIRST LANGUAGE • THE STUDIES CARRIED OUT IN THE 1940S ON BILINGUALISM AND RELATES THEM TO THE TURKISH CONTEXT CLAIMING THAT A FOREIGN LANGUAGE WILL NOT ONLY IMPROVE THE TURKISH LEARNERS’ COGNITIVE ABILITIES, BUT ALSO ENHANCE THEIR L1 CAPABILITIES • TURKISH WORKERS LIVING IN GERMANY AS AN EXAMPLE AND MAINTAINS THAT A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ENRICHES SOCIAL INTERACTION AMONG PEOPLE LIVING TOGETHER

12. REFLECTIONS FROM TURKEY MORE NEGATIVE VIEW • NATIONAL EDUCATION HAS TO BE CARRIED OUT IN THE MOTHER TONGUE FOR THIS WOULD ALSO FOSTER THE DEVELOPMENT OF TURKISH AS THE LANGUAGE OF SCIENCE AND EDUCATION IN TURKEY • YES TO FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING; NO TO EDUCATION THROUGH A FOREIGN LANGUAGE • THE IMPORTANT QUESTION OF HOW CULTURE SHOULD BE ADDRESSED WHILE TEACHING ENGLISH IN TURKEY REMAINS

13. REFLECTIONS FROM TURKEY CULTURE MATTERS • ENGLISH SHOULD NOT BE TAUGHT WITH REFERENCE TO ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES’ CULTURES • ENGLISH SHOULD BE TAUGHT INDEPENDENTLY OF THIS CULTURAL CONTENT REFERRING ONLY TO THE “INTERNATIONAL ATTITUDES” OF INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH • ENGLISH CAN BE TAUGHT WITHOUT CULTURE TURKISH TEACHERS OF ENGLISH FIND THEMSELVES CAUGHT BETWEEN THESE CONTRADICTORY ARGUMENTS