In fact, linguists have long recognised that the forms and functions of a language mirror the cultural values of the community in which the language is utilised. This is the reason why mere linguistic competency is insufficient for learners to be competent and proficient in a certain language. Indeed, acquiring a language without trying to identify and gain insights into the structure of society and culture which have come to charge the language in various means could only lead to misinterpretation and bring about cross-cultural miscommunication. Therefore, foreign language learners should have the knowledge of culture so that they will be aware of culturally appropriate ways to address people, make requests, agree or disagree and express gratitude, especially since their own customary behaviour and intonation may be perceived in a dissimilar way by members of different cultures.
It is important to comprehend that so as to become an excellent communicator; the language spoken must be equivalent to culturally appropriate behaviour. Through the learning of culture in foreign language classroom, learners will be aided in taking an insider’s sight of the undertones of others’ thoughts and words. In other words, learners could doubt their own assumptions and try to discover the underlying magnitude of certain terms or words in their target language and culture. For instance, in English culture, both animals and humans have feelings, get sick, and are buried in cemeteries. Nonetheless, in Hispanic culture, the difference between humans and animals is vast. As a result, bullfighting is greatly improbable to be considered as a waste of time, as many western spectators are apt to say. In this context, notions such as “cruel,” “slaughter,” or “being defenceless” convey enormously diverse connotations in both cultures (Lado, 1986). Consequently, through exposure to the foreign civilisation, learners certainly will draw some comparisons between their home and target culture. At that moment, intercultural communicative competence could be promoted. Learners will have capacity to appreciate cultures and use their understanding to communicate with members from other cultures effectively.
Throughout the process of learning, it goes without saying that the responsibility is on the foreign language teachers to transmit cultural meaning and bring in learners to a manner of learning ‘which challenges and modifies their perspective on the world as well as their cultural identity as members of a given social and national group’. Unfortunately, foreign language teachers do not necessarily nip prejudice in the bud by teaching about other cultures. Therefore, cultural bias can still outbreak in some of the aspects of the target culture which teachers ‘choose to indict or advocate ’. In point of fact, stereotypes are tremendously tenacious, for example in the aspects of “marriage”, “death” and “homosexuality”. People from diverse cultures possess their own schemata through which they conceptualise and understand the world, and to move into another culture is ‘to deny something within their own being’. In conclusion, the including of culture in a syllabus for foreign language learning is not a good idea in this context as stereotypes thinking could be promoted among some of the teachers as well as learners.
On the other hand, there are two kinds of motivation which endorse learners to acquire new foreign language, which are instrumental motivation and integrative motivation. In general, instrumental motivation involves perception of purely practical value in learning foreign language, for instance increasing occupational or business opportunities, enhancing prestige and power, accessing scientific and technical information, or merely passing a course in school. In the same context, when the learning of a foreign language is conducted by instrumental motivation, learners would consider that including of culture in the foreign language curriculum is a waste of time since the factor which impulse the learners to acquire a foreign language is the willing of having a good job or a good economical situation or etc. They are unfamiliar with the culture but they do not have the intention to learn about the country where the language is spoken and also their impossibility to encounter native speakers to learn and get data from. In fact, the learners purely want to master the language and they will not involve themselves into that community which uses the language. For this reason, in the learners’ point of view, it could be meaningless for them to discover about the culture of the society or nation.
In my viewpoint, although the main goal of foreign language instruction is facilitating foreign language awareness and acquisition, I agree that it is important that cultural teaching should also be included in the curriculum of foreign language learning. In point of fact, the incorporating of culture into the syllabus could heighten learners' cross-cultural awareness as well as understanding and learners could be encouraged to think slightly further. In this case, learners will not lose sight of the fact that not all members of the target community think and behave in the identical way since their judgments are enriched and they have been given far deeper meaning of “intercultural communicative competence”. Indeed, materials treated in foreign language classes could also help to develop knowledge, and learners are encouraged to relate the knowledge they have learnt to knowledge of their own culture. In addition, learners could put the new knowledge into practice in real situations if there is a need.
Bibliography
Byram, M., Morgan, C., et al. 1994. Teaching and Learning Language and Culture. UK: WBC.
Duranti, A. 1997. Linguistic anthropology. Cambridge: University Press.
Gass, S.M. & Selinker,L. (2008), Second Language Acquisition, an Introductory Course. USA: Routledge.
Lado, R. 1986. How to compare two cultures. In Valdes, J. M. (ed.). Culture Bound: Bridging the Cultural Gap in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lingtechlinguictics (2009), Motivation and Learning theories for SLA through Chomsky, Bandura, Vygotsky, Krashen, and Gardner. Available from: http://lingtechguistics.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/motivation-and-learning-theories-for-sla-through-chomsky-bandura-vygotsky-krashen-and-gardner/ [Accessed: January 28, 2011].
Nikitina, L. & Furuoka, F. (2005) Integrative Motivation in a Foreign Language Classroom: A Study on the Nature of Motivation of the Russian Language Learners in Universiti Malaysia Sabah.Jurnal Kinabalu, Jurnal Perniagaan & Sains Sosial, 11 . pp. 23-34. ISSN 1394-4517
Smith, E. (2010), The Importance of culture when Learning to Speak a Second Language. Available from: http://www.dexway.com/blog/the-importance-of-culture-when-learning-a-second-language/ [Accessed: January 27, 2011].
