CULTURAL CONTENT IN SPEAKING FOR EVERYDAY COMMUNICATION CLASS IN ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA.
CULTURAL CONTENT IN SPEAKING FOR EVERYDAY
COMMUNICATION CLASS IN ENGLISH TEACHER
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF STATE ISLAMIC
UNIVERSITY OF SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA
THESIS
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Sarjana
Pendidikan (S.Pd) in Teaching English
By
NUR ATIKA FITRIA
NIM D75211071
ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS TRAINING
SUNAN AMPEL STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
SURABAYA
2016
ABSTRACT
Fitria, N.A. (2015). CulturalContent in Speaking for Everyday Communication Class
in English Teacher Education Department of State Islamic University of Sunan
Ampel Surabaya. A Thesis, English Teacher Education Department, Faculty of
Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, Sunan Ampel State Islamic University,
Surabaya, Advisor: Hilda Izzati Madjid, MA.
Key Words: cultural content, language learning, culture teaching
Language is a way of seeing, understanding, and communicating. Thereby,
learning language should be accompanied by understanding the context or in
the other words the culture of target language. Without proper understanding
about the context or culture, the comprehension of the meaning is inaccurate
and incomplete. Inaccurate and incomplete understanding can lead the speakers
to have misinterpretation and misunderstanding while talking with people who
have different background. Culture teaching can be done by embedding the
cultural information or cultural content. Cultural content is necessary to
integrate in language learning, especially in speaking as one of language skills
which is a verbal communication. Hence this research inquires both; what
cultural content taught in speaking class is and how it is delivered to the
students in speaking for everyday communication class. Cultural content refers
to any information relate to target language’s cultural components which
consist of products, practice and perspectives. Ways of the lecturer deliver the
cultural content means how the lecturer performs culture teaching in class. This
research is grounded on study case model which examining the multiple
problems that bounded upon one main scope, and aimed to gain the
understanding about the issue in-depth and in details. The research data was
collected through observation, interview and documentation. This research’s
results showed that there was cultural content during the learning process in the
class. The cultural content is delivered as the lesson part included the three
categories; culture products, practices, and perspectives, and those all three
categories confirmed appeared within learning material. In the case of the
lecturer’s way deliver the cultural content, it is found that cultural teaching
mostly performed through direct explanation, classroom discussion and reading
the text.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE SHEET ............................................................................................................ i
ADVISOR APPROVAL SHEET .............................................................................. ii
APPROVAL SHEET ................................................................................................iii
MOTTO .................................................................................................................... iv
DEDICATION SHEET.............................................................................................. v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... vi
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................viii
PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN TULISAN ................................................................ ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... x
LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................xiii
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ xiv
LIST OF APPENDICES .......................................................................................... xv
CHAPTER I
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ................................................................................ 1
Research Questions ........................................................................................ 9
Objective of the study .................................................................................... 9
Significance of the Study ............................................................................... 9
Scope and Limitation ................................................................................... 10
Definition of Key Term ................................................................................ 10
CHAPTER II
: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Literature ...................................................................... 12
1. Language ............................................................................................... 12
2. Culture ................................................................................................... 13
3. Cultural Content .................................................................................... 14
a. Allwood Theory............................................................................... 14
1. Factual Cultural Information .................................................... 14
2. Attitudes and Values ................................................................ 15
b. Standards for Foreign Language Learning Theory ......................... 15
4. Interrelation between Language and Culture ........................................ 18
5. How to Teach Culture in Language Class............................................. 19
6. Benefits of Incorporating Cultural Content in Language Classroom.... 25
B. Previous Studies .......................................................................................... 27
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CHAPTER III
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
: RESEARCH METHOD
Approach and Research Design ................................................................... 31
Researcher Presence ..................................................................................... 32
Research Location ........................................................................................ 33
Data and Source of Data............................................................................... 34
Data Collection Techniques ......................................................................... 36
Research Instruments .................................................................................. 39
Data Analysis Technique ............................................................................. 40
Checking Validity of Findings ..................................................................... 43
Research Stages ............................................................................................ 44
CHAPTER IV
: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. Findings ........................................................................................................ 45
1. Cultural Content Taught in Speaking for Everyday
Communication Class ........................................................................... 46
a. Chapter 1: Me & Myself .............................................................. 49
b. Chapter 2: My Schedule .............................................................. 52
c. Chapter 3: Gorgeous .................................................................... 53
d. Chapter 4: Favorite Sport............................................................. 56
e. Chapter 5: Final Exam ................................................................. 59
2. How Cultural Content Taught in Speaking for Everyday
Communication Class ........................................................................... 61
B. Discussion .................................................................................................... 73
1. Cultural Content Taught in Speaking for Everyday
Communication Class ........................................................................... 73
a. Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................ 74
b. Chapter 2: Punctuality ................................................................. 74
c. Chapter 3: Ways of Describing People ........................................ 75
d. Chapter 4: Sports and Sports Terms ............................................ 76
e. Chapter 5: Greeting Response ..................................................... 77
f. Chapter 6: Date and Time ............................................................ 78
g. Chapter 7: Politeness Strategies................................................... 79
h. Chapter 8: Advice Giving ............................................................ 79
i. Chapter 9: Hand Gestures and Other Non-verbal
Communication............................................................................ 80
j. Chapter 10: Hand Gestures and Other Non-verbal
Communication............................................................................ 81
k. Chapter 11: Internet Site .............................................................. 82
l. Chapter 12: Classroom Environment........................................... 83
2. How Cultural Content Taught in Speaking for Everyday
Communication Class ........................................................................... 86
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CHAPTER V
A.
B.
: CONCLUSION
Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 92
Suggestion .................................................................................................... 94
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APENDICES
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LIST OF TABLES
Table
Page
3.1.Techniques for Collecting Data. ........................................................................ 36
3.2.Data Classification and Analysis ....................................................................... 42
4.1.Result of the Students Interview ........................................................................ 47
4.2.Introduction Dialog ............................................................................................ 49
4.3.Culture Corner in Chapter 1 (My & Myself) ..................................................... 50
4.4.Culture Corner in Chapter 2 (My Schedule) ...................................................... 52
4.5.Vocabulary for Describing People Complexion ................................................ 53
4.6.Culture Corner in Chapter 3 (Gorgeous)............................................................ 55
4.7.Culture Corner in Chapter 4 (Favorite Sport) .................................................... 57
4.8.Culture Corrner in Chapter 5 (Final Exam) ....................................................... 59
4.9.Culture Corner in the First Observation ............................................................. 62
4.10.Culture Corner in the Second Observation ...................................................... 64
4.11.The Third Picture and the Description Box ..................................................... 69
4.12.Dialog Transcript about Freckles ..................................................................... 69
4.13.Culture Corner in the Third Observation ......................................................... 70
4.14. Cultural Teaching Approach and Steps Based on the Lesson Plan ................ 71
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
Page
Figure 2.1The Culture Triangle (National Standards in Foreign Language
Education Project, 1999, p.47) from Oxana Dema and Aleidine J. Moeller
in “Teaching Culture in 21st Century Language Classroom”..............................17
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LIST OF APENDICES
Appendix 1 Interview Guideline for Lecturer
Appendix 2 Interview Guideline for Students
Appendix 3 Cultural Material from the Coursebook
Appendix 4 The Lecturer’s Lesson Plan
Appendix 5 Observation Documentation
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
The general language definition is “a matter of a series of words with a sequence
of rules to connect them all together in order to create the purposed meaning from the
speaker.”1 In a deeper understanding of language definition, the language is not
merely viewed as a code whose learning scopes are grammar, sentence construction
and vocabulary only. Language is not a thing to be studied but a way of seeing,
understanding and communicating about the world and each language user uses his or
her language(s) differently to do this.2
A shallow language definition can make the language itself being comprehended
in a narrow understanding and consequently affects in language acquisition, moreover
if the paradigm of learning language is more emphasized on the form of language
than the meaning or the context used in language practice. Otherwise, language has
broader understanding than as a mere form, language is seen as a social practice
which involves the rich complexities of communication, something that people
employ in daily basis to express and convey the meaning with the intention to
establish and continue the interaction with the society surrounding. In a nutshell, the
1
The Australian Government.Department of Education, Employment
Relations.Language, Culture and Learning.(Canberra: GPO. 2005), 2.
2
The Australian Government.Department of Education, Employment
Relations.Language, Culture and… 2.
and
Workplace
and
Workplace
1
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main objective of language use is to keep the social and interpersonal relationship in
human being’s life. Therefore, language cannot be learnt from vocabulary and
grammar only, but people or learners also need to know how that language is used to
create and represent meanings and how to communicate with others and engage into
communication.3 Svalberg stated that in order to achieve that goal, it requires the
development of awareness of the nature of language and its impact on the world.4 It
means that cultural awareness is required in language learning process to attain the
function of language as a social practice.
Integrating culture in language learning has been realized and become a concern
by many experts and authors for decades. It happened because language is always
used to refer something beyond itself depending on its own society, which means the
language meaning refer to distinctive cultural context. In foreign language learning,
language and culture position will reflect on learners’ attitude and process
significantly in learning a new language. Without learning the target language’s
culture, the comprehension of the meaning will be inaccurate and incomplete. Noted,
inaccurate and incomplete comprehension in communication can lead conversation
by the communicators into misunderstanding and misinterpretation which can result
into any tangible or intangible conflict. Hence, language and culture cannot stand
alone without influencing and impacting each other.
3
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 16.
4
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 16.
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The way to introduce the culture in the class is by delivering cultural content
information within the materials. Quoted by Frank, Cohen stated that cultural content
refers to things like the beliefs, values, customs, products, and the communication
styles of a given culture or society.5 As mentioned before that language cannot exist
without any influence of its socio-cultural condition where the language is derived,
and in conversely, without language, cultural content cannot be transmitted to other
people. The reciprocal relationship of those two entities shows that culture and
language is inseparable thing. Thus, if one person starts learning a new language, they
cannot ignore the context of that target language used in the conversation by setting
aside the inter-cultural knowledge.
Due to this issue, language learners are not only demanded to understand the
linguistic matter, but also to learn and understand the context, which means that
students should associate the meaning with time, place and circumstance of the target
language society. Then, learning language is not simply learning communication, but
also learning how the language allows the speaker to adjust the linguistics aspect and
meaning in order to be accepted socially in both the learners’ own and target
language’s society. Thereby, it requires cross-cultural knowledge.
In addition, the relationship between language and culture is more emphasizing in
verbal communication or in the other words related with speaking skill. In that case,
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness in English Language Classroom ”English Teaching
Forum.No. 4, 2013, 3.
5
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the incorporation between speaking skill as a part of language learning and cultural
content is a crucial and significant matter.
Unfortunately, the introduction of diverse cultural content in language classroom
is not considered very important since culture learning is not the exclusive domain of
language educators. Culture content has always been a marginal aspect and put down
into minor area in language learning process. That contrasts with what Tang states,
“the true content of the foreign language course is not the grammar and the
vocabulary of the language, but the cultures expressed through that language.”6 Thus,
it means the proper content that should be learned as well in a language is the cultural
content. However, Salem states that culture remains the weakest component of our
curricula; cultural teaching remains insubstantial and sporadic in most language
classes, especially those related to the Less Commonly Taught Languages.7
State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya faces this problem as well.
Thus far, there is a boundary between cultural knowledge and language learning since
it is considered as two different subjects instead of integrated one. For instance, in
English Teacher Education Department of State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel,
although there are specific classes available for both culture material in cross-cultural
understanding class and language material in several classes specifically for speaking
Oxana Dema,- Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in the 21st Century Language
Classroom”.Faculty Publications:Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teaching Education,.Paper
181, 2012, 77.
7
Nada M. Salem, “Teaching Cultures: Problems and Solutions”. National Capital Language Resource
Center.May-June 2012, 1.
6
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class, those are held in different classes or both materials are seemed as two separated
and unrelated courses. Therefore, the cultural-embedded teaching in speaking classes
is necessary since learners need to attain the cultural information to speak and convey
its meaning in precise and appropriate manner.
In the case of speaking class, the cultural content inserted in teaching learning
process and materials is very lacking. The outset indication of this problem shown by
inadequate cultural substances taught within class. According to one of the speaking
class lecturers, Mr. Sigit8, there is no sufficient time to insert cultural content in
speaking class lesson appropriately. Notwithstanding, he said that actually there is
cultural information attached in the students’ course book, but it is not delivered to
students frequently, even sometimes it is not included in learning process.
The absence of cultural content in the classroom may be caused by many factors.
There are two main indicated reasons behind why the cultural content is meagerly
taught or not embedded well as contended by Salem; (1) the first problem teachers
are facing is that of an overcrowded curriculum.9 Many teachers find it difficult to
spare their time to deliver the cultural information since there are lots of other
materials need to be delivered as the curriculum demand. Due to lack of time,
teachers tend to disregard the cultural knowledge and more emphasize the linguistic
form. The culture content is mostly considered insignificant for learning process. (2)
8
The lecturer of Speaking for Everyday Communication Class in English Teacher Education
Department of State Islamic University of SunanAmpel Surabaya.
9
Nada M. Salem, “Teaching Cultures: Problems…
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The second problem faced by is the fear of not well-informed.10 Mostly EFL teachers
are afraid of teaching culture because of misconception of teaching mindset that
teaching culture is solely about transferring cultural fact.
That mislead paradigm of cultural teaching emerges the fear to teach culture since
they feel their knowledge about target language’s culture is limited since they lack of
foreign experiences as well.11 Furthermore, the available methods and materials are
still meager. It is becoming worse as teachers only think that they need to deliver the
factual culture information and disrespect the analysis of deeper sense within culture
like norm, beliefs and values. In fact, teaching culture is not only merely about
imparting the facts to students, but also about process rather than the facts. Moreover,
the foreign culture sometimes commonly is seen bad and biased because of media
these days. It makes the teacher has more anxiety for the teacher to teach cultural
substances, especially about the foreign values. However, in every society in the
world, there are always some positive and negative traits thus teacher role is to filter
them and transfer it in a better way toward students.
Integrating culture in language classroom is not something in vain, considering
the advantages carried by it. One of the most significant benefits of culturalembedded teaching is intercultural competence. The starting-point for understanding
interculturality as a part of language proficiency lies in an examination of the notion
Nada M. Salem, “Teaching Cultures: Problems…
Nada M. Salem, “Teaching Cultures: Problems and… 1-2.
10
11
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of ‘communicative competence’.12 As quoted by Liddicoat from Hymes and Troike,
communicative competence means everything that speakers need to know in order to
communicate properly within a particular speech community.13 Accordingly, the
main benefit of incorporating the cultural content in language class is helping
students to gain and improve that communicative competence by introducing and
teaching different cultures and contexts.
In essence, culture is something that cannot be separated from language and
inextricably bound up; without language, culture will not be possible represented
well, and without culture, language will be like a tree without roots.14 Thereby, the
cultural content is something essential in almost each English class, especially in EFL
context. Thus, this research takes place in speaking classes in order to examine
whether the class contains the cultural substance or not, and also the techniques used
by lecturer to deliver them.
Pertaining to this issue, there have been several previous studies that inquire the
connection between those two variables; culture and language. First, a research which
is written by Bilal Genc and Erdogan Bada entitled “Culture in Language Learning
and Teaching”15 that delves the students of The ELT department of Çukurova
University in Turkey responses and opinions about the effect of learning culture.
Anthoy J. Liddicoat, et.al., “Report on Intercultural Language Learning”, Australian Government:
Department of Education, Science and Training. July 2013, 10.
13
Anthoy J. Liddicoat, et.al., “Report on Intercultural...
14
Li Sun, “Culture Teaching in Foreign Language Teaching”, Theory and Practice in Language
Studies.Vol. 3 No.2, February 2013, 371.
15
Bilal Genc - ErdoganBada, “Culture in Language Learning and Teaching”.The Reading Matrix.Vol.
5 No. 1, April 2005.
12
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Moreover, this study illustrates how statements of language teaching experts are
proven by the result of this research to support culture-embedded learning can be
beneficial for language learning.
The second research is by Mohamed Amin A. Mekheimer and Hamad S. Aldosari
entitled “Impediments in Cultural Teaching in EFL Programmes at Saudi Arabia
University”16. This study reviews the cultural teaching specifically through literature
means. Furthermore, it also explores the faculty and the students’ attitudes and
perception toward cultural-embedded teaching by literature as the ultimate
manifestation of cultural expression.
Third research entitled, “Is It Culture or Is It Language? Examination of
Language Effects in Cross-Cultural Research on Categorization, by Li-Jun Ji, Richard
E. Nisbett, Zhiyong Zhang17. This research makes inquiry about the relationship
between cultural background and categorization style which occurred in Chinese
descendant. The research took Chinese with different backgrounds and in several
different places as their objects to confirm whether place and starting point time in
learning second language can influence their style to categorize certain words.
Comparing with those three previous studies, this research takes different focus
and topic. While, the abovementioned studies focus and emphasize more on benefits
and relations carried by cultural teaching based on students’ perspective, this study
Mohamed Amin A. Mekheimer-Hamad S. Aldosari, “Impediments in Cultural Teaching in EFL
Programmes at Saudi Arabia University”, Journal of Intercultural Communication. Issue 26, July
2011.
17
Li Jun Ji, et.al., “Is it Culture or Is It Language? Examination of Language Effects in Cross-Cultural
Research on Categorization”.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.Vol. 87, No. 1, 2004.
16
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emphasizes on what cultural contents inserted in language classes. Thus, this research
did not investigate what are the advantages; otherwise it examined on how extent
cultural aspects which is believed can be beneficial in language learning has been
involved and delivered in language classroom.
B. Research Questions
1. What cultural content has been taught in speaking for everyday
communication class?
2. How has cultural content been taught in speaking for everyday
communication class?
C. Objective of the Study
According to the statement of research problem, this study has certain objectives
as follow:
1. Toknowwhat materialsof cultural content taught in speaking classroom.
2. To investigate how the cultural content was delivered to the students.
D. Significance of the Study
The research intended to determine in what extent and aspect the cultural
information taught in speaking class. Therefore, lecturer and students can be aware
of how much the cultural knowledge’s role in language learning. Additionally, it is
aimed to promote incorporating culture in language learning classes, especially in
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EFL classes. For particularly, the teacher or lecturer, the result of this study can
become a consideration to embedding cultural teaching in their class as often as
possible–with suitable strategy and materials for speaking class students since
language and culture are inseparable. It can be accomplished by the educators
through analyzing in which part cultural learning can help students better.
E. Scope and Limitation of the Study
This study was conducted in State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel (UIN
Sunan Ampel) Surabaya. The subject of the study is the students of speaking classes
in English Teacher Education Department. The study focused on investigating what
and how much the information of target language’s culture embedded in speaking
class. The research is limited on content usage as an integral part of language
learning. Moreover, it was searching any further information about the
implementation of certain strategy to embed the cultural knowledge in speaking
class. However, this study is neither going to investigate the further information
about the effects and influences of cultural content in second language learning
process nor how the students attitude toward the cultural-embedded learning.
F. Definition of Key Terms
1. Cultural content: substantive information related with the quality in a person
or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts,
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letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.18. In this study, cultural content
defines as any materials contain with cultural information related with the
native English speaker’ context embedded in speaking class. Cultural
information here refers to knowledge that represents of a particular
understanding of real things and abstract concepts as the manifestation of
Native English speakers culture.
2. Language learning: the process by which humans acquire the capacity to
perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate, this
capacity involves the picking up of diverse capacities including syntax,
phonetics, and an extensive vocabulary; the language might be vocal as with
speech or manual as in sign.19 In this study’s context, language learning
means the process of learning and acquiring English as the foreign language.
3. Culture teaching: Also called as cultural transmission is the process through
which cultural elements, in the form of attitudes, values, beliefs, and
behavioral scripts, are passed onto and taught to individuals and
groups.20Whereas, in this study cultural learning refers to the process of any
cultural information that is delivered to the students within the language
classes.
18
Dictionary.com, Culture, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture, accessed on February 20th
2015.
19
Cognitive Atlas, Language Learning, http://www.cognitiveatlas.org/concept/language_learning,
accessed on September 29th 2014.
20
Springer
Reference,
Cultural
Transmission,
http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/179936.html, accessed on September 29th
2014.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES
This chapter presents review of related literature which is used as the foundation
and reference related to this study. Mainly, this chapter will be divided into three
main parts sub-chapter; language and culture, how to teach culture in language class,
and the benefits of incorporating culture in language classroom.
A. Review of Related Literature
1. Language
There are some descriptions of the language term based on its function.
Language can be seen as a code or a social practice. In its function as code,
“language is made up of words and a series of rules that connect words together.”1
While, from the different view, quoted from Shohamy, “an understanding of
language as ‘open, dynamic, energetic, constantly evolving and personal”2,
indicates that language cannot be seen from the linguistic aspect only, instead of
that, “a language is a way of seeing, understanding and communicating about the
world and each language user uses his or her language(s) differently to do this.”3
Hence, this understanding implies that language term is not enough to be
1
The Australian Government.Department of Education, Employment and Workplace
Relations.Language, Culture and Learning.(Canberra: GPO. 2005), 2.
2
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 2.
3
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 2.
12
12
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considered merely as a code, but as a social practice. It means that language
definition cannot be limited only in linguistic matter, instead as a means to
communicate and establish interpersonal relationship in society.
2. Culture
Based on the “Teaching and Learning Languages: A Guide”, "One way in
which culture has often been understood is as a body of knowledge that people
have about a particular society.”4 However, as a body of knowledge, there are
several dimensions to see a culture as knowledge such as culture about knowledge
of works of arts, places and institutions, events and symbols, and ways of living.
In the case of education, specifically, language education, all of that knowledge in
which a part of cultural content scope can be considered as a set of learnable rules
aimed for students to be noticed and understood. The cultural information which
is acquired should not be merely about the cultural facts exemplified about music,
food or holiday stuffs, but also in the deeper sense of culture such as the values,
norms or beliefs of its society, because culture understanding essentially is how to
grasp a framework and paradigm of a particular group of people live and
communicate shared meanings with each other
4
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 5.
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14
3. Cultural content
First of all, remember that Cultural Content term in this research only refers to
cultural information of the target language society, or in the other words, it
denotes to native speakers cultures.
a. Allwood Theory
According to Allwood (1990), there are two main parts of culture-embedded
information that generally associated with language teaching;
1. Factual Cultural Information
Parts of culture involved as cultural information are; (1) Physical
geography; natural environment, climate, natural resources, (2) Cultural
geography; demographic distribution, routes of transportation, exploitation of
the natural environment, (3) History Religious and other significant
ideologies, (4) Political and social institutions, (5) Types of industry, (6)
Types of commerce, (7) Types of contacts with other groups, (8) Customs of
habitation, (9) Customs of eating, (10) Customs of clothing, (11) Leisure,
Sports and holidays.5
The factual information above is mostly contained in books, comics,
movies or video films. However, the students can obtain the information
inside the classroom if the teacher wants to employ the usage of authentic
Jens Allwood. “On The Role of Cultural Content and Cultural Context in Language
Instruction”.Gothenburg Papers in Theoretical Linguistics 60, (University of Göteborg, Dept of
Linguistics 1990), 4.
5
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15
material like essay, article, magazine, and so forth or do the role-play as one
its methodology to acquire cultural content. While the factual information
actually is a part of culture that still considered as shallow and superficial, but
in the case of language learning, the beginning of cross cultural awareness
initially started with those stuffs.
2. Attitudes and Values
Below is the information that is included as attitudinal and values focus:
family, child rearing, love and sex, friendship, sex roles, work, authority,
hospitality, beauty, time, space, goals of life, view of death, criteria for belief
and knowledge, view of the Divine and/or supernatural, metaphysics.6 The
information included as attitudes and values generally relate with the
paradigm or behavior of target language people toward intangible matter such
as the human relationship or any other deeper sense opinion.
b. Standards for Foreign Language Learning (3Ps) Theory
Another theory concerned with teaching culture is stated in Standards for
Foreign Language Learning (National Standards in Foreign Language Education
Project, 1999) which provides a framework of three elements of culture; “the
philosophical perspectives, the behavioral practices, and the products –both
tangible and intangible of a society.”7
Jens Allwood. “On The Role of Cultural Content and… 6-7.
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3.
6
7
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16
Accordingly, there are three basic components of culture that integrate one
another known as 3P, which are: Perspectives are what members of a culture
think, feel, and value, Practices are how members communicate and interact
with one another, and Products are the things members of a group create, share,
and transmit to the next generation, ex: technology, music, art, food, literature,
etc.8 It means that ‘perspective’ represents the attitude and behavioral side,
‘practice’ is about the interaction and interpersonal relationship matter, stated by
Lafayette cultural practices are, ‘patterns of behavior accepted by a society’, or
in the other words are ‘what to do where and when’.9It also includes any other
forms of procedural aspects of cultures such as rites of passage and use of the
forms of discourse.10It means that Practices emanates from cultural practical
way including interaction, rites, and discourse form. While ‘products’ are culture
manifestations which embodying as a real form that can be seen, listened, read
or experienced by human body senses.11
Products are easily identified, even they come in tangible or intangible form,
yet they are easier to be observed rather than the other two categories; practices
and perspectives.12Practices and Perspectives are more difficult to notice and its
feature is so subtle because they bound up and ingrained in society interaction
and their way of life, so people think it is something normal or ‘right’way to
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3.
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21st Century… 78.
10
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21st Century… 78.
11
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3.
12
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3.
8
9
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17
dosomething.13People will think that there is nothing much distinctive or special
with something they always do comparing tothe other cultures’ people do;
therefore those two categories are more difficult to recognize. The relationship
between three elements of culture is represented in triangle diagram as in below:
FIGURE 2.1The Culture Triangle (National Standards in Foreign Language
Education Project, 1999, p.47) from Oxana Dema and Aleidine J. Moeller in
“Teaching Culture in 21st Century Language Classroom”
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 4.
13
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18
According to the Standards for Foreign Language Learning (1999) regarding
to the teaching culture:
2.1 Students should demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between
the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.14
2.2 Students should demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between
the products and perspectives of the culture studied.15
Based on standard points above, it can be seen that the three categories of
cultures are intertwined and influencing one another. Perspectives at the top of
the culture triangle show that perspectives are a main source of the culture and
the other two categories; practices and products are derived from it.16
4. Interrelation Between Language and Culture
The main concern of learning another language is comprehending the
relationship between language and culture. “In actual language use, it is not the
case that it is only the forms of language that convey meaning. It is language in its
cultural context that creates meaning: creating and interpreting meaning is done
within a cultural framework.”17 Moreover, Liddicoat, Papademetre, Scarino, &
Kohler stated that “learning to communicate in an additional language involves
developing an awareness of the ways in which culture interrelates with language
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21st Century Language Classroom”,
Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education.Paper 181, 2012, 78.
15
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21st Century… 78.
16
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21st Century… 78.
17
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3.
14
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19
whenever it is used.”18 It means that language can reflect its society’s culture.
Once language is used by speakers, it is inevitable to not link the language to its
culture since both variables are bound up together. Learners need to learn target
language’s culture to both, enhance their language skill and improve the crosscultural awareness in order to carry the precise meaning and avoid any
misunderstanding meaning interpretation in speaking.
5. How to Teach Culture in Language Class
Numerous strategies and techniques in teaching culture in language classroom
have been developing for years. Certain strategies to incorporate cultural content
in language are necessary to achieve intended class’s goals and objectives. There
are several strategies to embedding culture in language classroom based on Frank
in his journal “Raising Cultural Awareness in the English Language Classroom”
which are by cultural collections, web quests, cultural “informants”, role-plays,
cultural observations, and culture journals.
First strategy is cultural collection. This strategy requires the use of authentic
materials as many as possible in various formats. Learners and teachers can
employ lots of media such as movies, music, literature or everyday items as a
means to feel, analyze and sense the target’s language culture in more tangible
way. Learners could be asked to describe and identify those authentic materials
18
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 4.
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20
based on their use, function or criteria in order to enhance their understanding in
target language’s culture. Furthermore, the use of authentic collections also can be
a media to compare between the students’ culture and foreign culture that they
learn exemplify students can explain how a particular material have different
function or use in their country and how it represent their country’s culture. The
benefits of this strategy are beside that students will be more interest and
encourage understanding the cultural content in real way which is also fun for
them, it also easy to be integrated with the topic within language classroom.19
Second is web quest. This strategy requires reliable internet connections and
access to computers. The teacher will ask the learners to make a report with
certain cultural topic like food, music or etiquette. The report will analyze the
background information of cultural practice, for example; “why do people do the
things they do?” This report will be such a mini-research which conducted based
on the internet sources, and the teacher’s role is provide them the information of
internet sites related with the topic. The details of the report can be either,
designed by either the teacher or the students themselves. It should be noted that
the report will be based on several questions to investigate the history, origin, or
even comparison of culture aspects. The final task of this strategy is presenting
their report in front of the class using creative media such as power point, poster,
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 7.
19
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21
or properties. The benefits of this technique are it improves students’ observation,
cultural awareness and English skill at once.20
Third is cultural “informant” strategy. This technique employs the native
speaker or proficient non-native speaker as the cultural informer or source. They
will be invited to the class and explain the specific aspect of their culture. Yet, the
students should have prepared some questions to ask beforehand. The questions
may be about that native local’s culture or even how is the behavioral standpoint
of foreigners while implementing their culture, for instance; Is it okay in your
country to ________? Why do people in your country ________? This strategy
can also be an opportunity to give reciprocal feedback and teach the informant
about students’ culture. It is going to be a chance for students to have cross
cultural understanding by comparing both cultures while practicing their speaking
skill as well.21
The fourth strategy is using role play. Role plays can engage the students
wholly to be more feeling and empathic with the situation of different context by
simulating situation in the role-plays. “For example, students can think of ways
communication may fail between people from high- and low-context cultures and
invent scenarios to illustrate how problems arise.”22 While, some students perform
in front of the class, the rest of it can become audiences which observing and
analyzing the play. They can do a discussion related with how miscommunication
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 7-8.
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 8.
22
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 8.
20
21
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22
can take place, how it can be avoided and how to overcome it. Therefore, the
teacher should prepare in advance about the issue or the situation that they will
perform. The details included the outline’s play, the role and proportion’s given to
each student, and the messages behind the play should be designed clearly by the
teacher. Furthermore, ensure that students can give teacher relevant feedback and
constructive opinion toward the situation being played out.23
The fifth is using culture observations. The students will be asked to collect
the cultural practices products of their own culture and target language’s culture
first, like movie, music, poetry, books, magazines, etc. Afterwards, students can
conduct the observation by describing the behavior and those products, then find
the similarities and differences bet
COMMUNICATION CLASS IN ENGLISH TEACHER
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF STATE ISLAMIC
UNIVERSITY OF SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA
THESIS
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Sarjana
Pendidikan (S.Pd) in Teaching English
By
NUR ATIKA FITRIA
NIM D75211071
ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS TRAINING
SUNAN AMPEL STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
SURABAYA
2016
ABSTRACT
Fitria, N.A. (2015). CulturalContent in Speaking for Everyday Communication Class
in English Teacher Education Department of State Islamic University of Sunan
Ampel Surabaya. A Thesis, English Teacher Education Department, Faculty of
Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, Sunan Ampel State Islamic University,
Surabaya, Advisor: Hilda Izzati Madjid, MA.
Key Words: cultural content, language learning, culture teaching
Language is a way of seeing, understanding, and communicating. Thereby,
learning language should be accompanied by understanding the context or in
the other words the culture of target language. Without proper understanding
about the context or culture, the comprehension of the meaning is inaccurate
and incomplete. Inaccurate and incomplete understanding can lead the speakers
to have misinterpretation and misunderstanding while talking with people who
have different background. Culture teaching can be done by embedding the
cultural information or cultural content. Cultural content is necessary to
integrate in language learning, especially in speaking as one of language skills
which is a verbal communication. Hence this research inquires both; what
cultural content taught in speaking class is and how it is delivered to the
students in speaking for everyday communication class. Cultural content refers
to any information relate to target language’s cultural components which
consist of products, practice and perspectives. Ways of the lecturer deliver the
cultural content means how the lecturer performs culture teaching in class. This
research is grounded on study case model which examining the multiple
problems that bounded upon one main scope, and aimed to gain the
understanding about the issue in-depth and in details. The research data was
collected through observation, interview and documentation. This research’s
results showed that there was cultural content during the learning process in the
class. The cultural content is delivered as the lesson part included the three
categories; culture products, practices, and perspectives, and those all three
categories confirmed appeared within learning material. In the case of the
lecturer’s way deliver the cultural content, it is found that cultural teaching
mostly performed through direct explanation, classroom discussion and reading
the text.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE SHEET ............................................................................................................ i
ADVISOR APPROVAL SHEET .............................................................................. ii
APPROVAL SHEET ................................................................................................iii
MOTTO .................................................................................................................... iv
DEDICATION SHEET.............................................................................................. v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... vi
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................viii
PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN TULISAN ................................................................ ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... x
LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................xiii
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ xiv
LIST OF APPENDICES .......................................................................................... xv
CHAPTER I
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ................................................................................ 1
Research Questions ........................................................................................ 9
Objective of the study .................................................................................... 9
Significance of the Study ............................................................................... 9
Scope and Limitation ................................................................................... 10
Definition of Key Term ................................................................................ 10
CHAPTER II
: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Literature ...................................................................... 12
1. Language ............................................................................................... 12
2. Culture ................................................................................................... 13
3. Cultural Content .................................................................................... 14
a. Allwood Theory............................................................................... 14
1. Factual Cultural Information .................................................... 14
2. Attitudes and Values ................................................................ 15
b. Standards for Foreign Language Learning Theory ......................... 15
4. Interrelation between Language and Culture ........................................ 18
5. How to Teach Culture in Language Class............................................. 19
6. Benefits of Incorporating Cultural Content in Language Classroom.... 25
B. Previous Studies .......................................................................................... 27
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CHAPTER III
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
: RESEARCH METHOD
Approach and Research Design ................................................................... 31
Researcher Presence ..................................................................................... 32
Research Location ........................................................................................ 33
Data and Source of Data............................................................................... 34
Data Collection Techniques ......................................................................... 36
Research Instruments .................................................................................. 39
Data Analysis Technique ............................................................................. 40
Checking Validity of Findings ..................................................................... 43
Research Stages ............................................................................................ 44
CHAPTER IV
: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. Findings ........................................................................................................ 45
1. Cultural Content Taught in Speaking for Everyday
Communication Class ........................................................................... 46
a. Chapter 1: Me & Myself .............................................................. 49
b. Chapter 2: My Schedule .............................................................. 52
c. Chapter 3: Gorgeous .................................................................... 53
d. Chapter 4: Favorite Sport............................................................. 56
e. Chapter 5: Final Exam ................................................................. 59
2. How Cultural Content Taught in Speaking for Everyday
Communication Class ........................................................................... 61
B. Discussion .................................................................................................... 73
1. Cultural Content Taught in Speaking for Everyday
Communication Class ........................................................................... 73
a. Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................ 74
b. Chapter 2: Punctuality ................................................................. 74
c. Chapter 3: Ways of Describing People ........................................ 75
d. Chapter 4: Sports and Sports Terms ............................................ 76
e. Chapter 5: Greeting Response ..................................................... 77
f. Chapter 6: Date and Time ............................................................ 78
g. Chapter 7: Politeness Strategies................................................... 79
h. Chapter 8: Advice Giving ............................................................ 79
i. Chapter 9: Hand Gestures and Other Non-verbal
Communication............................................................................ 80
j. Chapter 10: Hand Gestures and Other Non-verbal
Communication............................................................................ 81
k. Chapter 11: Internet Site .............................................................. 82
l. Chapter 12: Classroom Environment........................................... 83
2. How Cultural Content Taught in Speaking for Everyday
Communication Class ........................................................................... 86
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CHAPTER V
A.
B.
: CONCLUSION
Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 92
Suggestion .................................................................................................... 94
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APENDICES
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LIST OF TABLES
Table
Page
3.1.Techniques for Collecting Data. ........................................................................ 36
3.2.Data Classification and Analysis ....................................................................... 42
4.1.Result of the Students Interview ........................................................................ 47
4.2.Introduction Dialog ............................................................................................ 49
4.3.Culture Corner in Chapter 1 (My & Myself) ..................................................... 50
4.4.Culture Corner in Chapter 2 (My Schedule) ...................................................... 52
4.5.Vocabulary for Describing People Complexion ................................................ 53
4.6.Culture Corner in Chapter 3 (Gorgeous)............................................................ 55
4.7.Culture Corner in Chapter 4 (Favorite Sport) .................................................... 57
4.8.Culture Corrner in Chapter 5 (Final Exam) ....................................................... 59
4.9.Culture Corner in the First Observation ............................................................. 62
4.10.Culture Corner in the Second Observation ...................................................... 64
4.11.The Third Picture and the Description Box ..................................................... 69
4.12.Dialog Transcript about Freckles ..................................................................... 69
4.13.Culture Corner in the Third Observation ......................................................... 70
4.14. Cultural Teaching Approach and Steps Based on the Lesson Plan ................ 71
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
Page
Figure 2.1The Culture Triangle (National Standards in Foreign Language
Education Project, 1999, p.47) from Oxana Dema and Aleidine J. Moeller
in “Teaching Culture in 21st Century Language Classroom”..............................17
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LIST OF APENDICES
Appendix 1 Interview Guideline for Lecturer
Appendix 2 Interview Guideline for Students
Appendix 3 Cultural Material from the Coursebook
Appendix 4 The Lecturer’s Lesson Plan
Appendix 5 Observation Documentation
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
The general language definition is “a matter of a series of words with a sequence
of rules to connect them all together in order to create the purposed meaning from the
speaker.”1 In a deeper understanding of language definition, the language is not
merely viewed as a code whose learning scopes are grammar, sentence construction
and vocabulary only. Language is not a thing to be studied but a way of seeing,
understanding and communicating about the world and each language user uses his or
her language(s) differently to do this.2
A shallow language definition can make the language itself being comprehended
in a narrow understanding and consequently affects in language acquisition, moreover
if the paradigm of learning language is more emphasized on the form of language
than the meaning or the context used in language practice. Otherwise, language has
broader understanding than as a mere form, language is seen as a social practice
which involves the rich complexities of communication, something that people
employ in daily basis to express and convey the meaning with the intention to
establish and continue the interaction with the society surrounding. In a nutshell, the
1
The Australian Government.Department of Education, Employment
Relations.Language, Culture and Learning.(Canberra: GPO. 2005), 2.
2
The Australian Government.Department of Education, Employment
Relations.Language, Culture and… 2.
and
Workplace
and
Workplace
1
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2
main objective of language use is to keep the social and interpersonal relationship in
human being’s life. Therefore, language cannot be learnt from vocabulary and
grammar only, but people or learners also need to know how that language is used to
create and represent meanings and how to communicate with others and engage into
communication.3 Svalberg stated that in order to achieve that goal, it requires the
development of awareness of the nature of language and its impact on the world.4 It
means that cultural awareness is required in language learning process to attain the
function of language as a social practice.
Integrating culture in language learning has been realized and become a concern
by many experts and authors for decades. It happened because language is always
used to refer something beyond itself depending on its own society, which means the
language meaning refer to distinctive cultural context. In foreign language learning,
language and culture position will reflect on learners’ attitude and process
significantly in learning a new language. Without learning the target language’s
culture, the comprehension of the meaning will be inaccurate and incomplete. Noted,
inaccurate and incomplete comprehension in communication can lead conversation
by the communicators into misunderstanding and misinterpretation which can result
into any tangible or intangible conflict. Hence, language and culture cannot stand
alone without influencing and impacting each other.
3
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 16.
4
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 16.
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3
The way to introduce the culture in the class is by delivering cultural content
information within the materials. Quoted by Frank, Cohen stated that cultural content
refers to things like the beliefs, values, customs, products, and the communication
styles of a given culture or society.5 As mentioned before that language cannot exist
without any influence of its socio-cultural condition where the language is derived,
and in conversely, without language, cultural content cannot be transmitted to other
people. The reciprocal relationship of those two entities shows that culture and
language is inseparable thing. Thus, if one person starts learning a new language, they
cannot ignore the context of that target language used in the conversation by setting
aside the inter-cultural knowledge.
Due to this issue, language learners are not only demanded to understand the
linguistic matter, but also to learn and understand the context, which means that
students should associate the meaning with time, place and circumstance of the target
language society. Then, learning language is not simply learning communication, but
also learning how the language allows the speaker to adjust the linguistics aspect and
meaning in order to be accepted socially in both the learners’ own and target
language’s society. Thereby, it requires cross-cultural knowledge.
In addition, the relationship between language and culture is more emphasizing in
verbal communication or in the other words related with speaking skill. In that case,
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness in English Language Classroom ”English Teaching
Forum.No. 4, 2013, 3.
5
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4
the incorporation between speaking skill as a part of language learning and cultural
content is a crucial and significant matter.
Unfortunately, the introduction of diverse cultural content in language classroom
is not considered very important since culture learning is not the exclusive domain of
language educators. Culture content has always been a marginal aspect and put down
into minor area in language learning process. That contrasts with what Tang states,
“the true content of the foreign language course is not the grammar and the
vocabulary of the language, but the cultures expressed through that language.”6 Thus,
it means the proper content that should be learned as well in a language is the cultural
content. However, Salem states that culture remains the weakest component of our
curricula; cultural teaching remains insubstantial and sporadic in most language
classes, especially those related to the Less Commonly Taught Languages.7
State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya faces this problem as well.
Thus far, there is a boundary between cultural knowledge and language learning since
it is considered as two different subjects instead of integrated one. For instance, in
English Teacher Education Department of State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel,
although there are specific classes available for both culture material in cross-cultural
understanding class and language material in several classes specifically for speaking
Oxana Dema,- Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in the 21st Century Language
Classroom”.Faculty Publications:Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teaching Education,.Paper
181, 2012, 77.
7
Nada M. Salem, “Teaching Cultures: Problems and Solutions”. National Capital Language Resource
Center.May-June 2012, 1.
6
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5
class, those are held in different classes or both materials are seemed as two separated
and unrelated courses. Therefore, the cultural-embedded teaching in speaking classes
is necessary since learners need to attain the cultural information to speak and convey
its meaning in precise and appropriate manner.
In the case of speaking class, the cultural content inserted in teaching learning
process and materials is very lacking. The outset indication of this problem shown by
inadequate cultural substances taught within class. According to one of the speaking
class lecturers, Mr. Sigit8, there is no sufficient time to insert cultural content in
speaking class lesson appropriately. Notwithstanding, he said that actually there is
cultural information attached in the students’ course book, but it is not delivered to
students frequently, even sometimes it is not included in learning process.
The absence of cultural content in the classroom may be caused by many factors.
There are two main indicated reasons behind why the cultural content is meagerly
taught or not embedded well as contended by Salem; (1) the first problem teachers
are facing is that of an overcrowded curriculum.9 Many teachers find it difficult to
spare their time to deliver the cultural information since there are lots of other
materials need to be delivered as the curriculum demand. Due to lack of time,
teachers tend to disregard the cultural knowledge and more emphasize the linguistic
form. The culture content is mostly considered insignificant for learning process. (2)
8
The lecturer of Speaking for Everyday Communication Class in English Teacher Education
Department of State Islamic University of SunanAmpel Surabaya.
9
Nada M. Salem, “Teaching Cultures: Problems…
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The second problem faced by is the fear of not well-informed.10 Mostly EFL teachers
are afraid of teaching culture because of misconception of teaching mindset that
teaching culture is solely about transferring cultural fact.
That mislead paradigm of cultural teaching emerges the fear to teach culture since
they feel their knowledge about target language’s culture is limited since they lack of
foreign experiences as well.11 Furthermore, the available methods and materials are
still meager. It is becoming worse as teachers only think that they need to deliver the
factual culture information and disrespect the analysis of deeper sense within culture
like norm, beliefs and values. In fact, teaching culture is not only merely about
imparting the facts to students, but also about process rather than the facts. Moreover,
the foreign culture sometimes commonly is seen bad and biased because of media
these days. It makes the teacher has more anxiety for the teacher to teach cultural
substances, especially about the foreign values. However, in every society in the
world, there are always some positive and negative traits thus teacher role is to filter
them and transfer it in a better way toward students.
Integrating culture in language classroom is not something in vain, considering
the advantages carried by it. One of the most significant benefits of culturalembedded teaching is intercultural competence. The starting-point for understanding
interculturality as a part of language proficiency lies in an examination of the notion
Nada M. Salem, “Teaching Cultures: Problems…
Nada M. Salem, “Teaching Cultures: Problems and… 1-2.
10
11
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of ‘communicative competence’.12 As quoted by Liddicoat from Hymes and Troike,
communicative competence means everything that speakers need to know in order to
communicate properly within a particular speech community.13 Accordingly, the
main benefit of incorporating the cultural content in language class is helping
students to gain and improve that communicative competence by introducing and
teaching different cultures and contexts.
In essence, culture is something that cannot be separated from language and
inextricably bound up; without language, culture will not be possible represented
well, and without culture, language will be like a tree without roots.14 Thereby, the
cultural content is something essential in almost each English class, especially in EFL
context. Thus, this research takes place in speaking classes in order to examine
whether the class contains the cultural substance or not, and also the techniques used
by lecturer to deliver them.
Pertaining to this issue, there have been several previous studies that inquire the
connection between those two variables; culture and language. First, a research which
is written by Bilal Genc and Erdogan Bada entitled “Culture in Language Learning
and Teaching”15 that delves the students of The ELT department of Çukurova
University in Turkey responses and opinions about the effect of learning culture.
Anthoy J. Liddicoat, et.al., “Report on Intercultural Language Learning”, Australian Government:
Department of Education, Science and Training. July 2013, 10.
13
Anthoy J. Liddicoat, et.al., “Report on Intercultural...
14
Li Sun, “Culture Teaching in Foreign Language Teaching”, Theory and Practice in Language
Studies.Vol. 3 No.2, February 2013, 371.
15
Bilal Genc - ErdoganBada, “Culture in Language Learning and Teaching”.The Reading Matrix.Vol.
5 No. 1, April 2005.
12
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Moreover, this study illustrates how statements of language teaching experts are
proven by the result of this research to support culture-embedded learning can be
beneficial for language learning.
The second research is by Mohamed Amin A. Mekheimer and Hamad S. Aldosari
entitled “Impediments in Cultural Teaching in EFL Programmes at Saudi Arabia
University”16. This study reviews the cultural teaching specifically through literature
means. Furthermore, it also explores the faculty and the students’ attitudes and
perception toward cultural-embedded teaching by literature as the ultimate
manifestation of cultural expression.
Third research entitled, “Is It Culture or Is It Language? Examination of
Language Effects in Cross-Cultural Research on Categorization, by Li-Jun Ji, Richard
E. Nisbett, Zhiyong Zhang17. This research makes inquiry about the relationship
between cultural background and categorization style which occurred in Chinese
descendant. The research took Chinese with different backgrounds and in several
different places as their objects to confirm whether place and starting point time in
learning second language can influence their style to categorize certain words.
Comparing with those three previous studies, this research takes different focus
and topic. While, the abovementioned studies focus and emphasize more on benefits
and relations carried by cultural teaching based on students’ perspective, this study
Mohamed Amin A. Mekheimer-Hamad S. Aldosari, “Impediments in Cultural Teaching in EFL
Programmes at Saudi Arabia University”, Journal of Intercultural Communication. Issue 26, July
2011.
17
Li Jun Ji, et.al., “Is it Culture or Is It Language? Examination of Language Effects in Cross-Cultural
Research on Categorization”.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.Vol. 87, No. 1, 2004.
16
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emphasizes on what cultural contents inserted in language classes. Thus, this research
did not investigate what are the advantages; otherwise it examined on how extent
cultural aspects which is believed can be beneficial in language learning has been
involved and delivered in language classroom.
B. Research Questions
1. What cultural content has been taught in speaking for everyday
communication class?
2. How has cultural content been taught in speaking for everyday
communication class?
C. Objective of the Study
According to the statement of research problem, this study has certain objectives
as follow:
1. Toknowwhat materialsof cultural content taught in speaking classroom.
2. To investigate how the cultural content was delivered to the students.
D. Significance of the Study
The research intended to determine in what extent and aspect the cultural
information taught in speaking class. Therefore, lecturer and students can be aware
of how much the cultural knowledge’s role in language learning. Additionally, it is
aimed to promote incorporating culture in language learning classes, especially in
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EFL classes. For particularly, the teacher or lecturer, the result of this study can
become a consideration to embedding cultural teaching in their class as often as
possible–with suitable strategy and materials for speaking class students since
language and culture are inseparable. It can be accomplished by the educators
through analyzing in which part cultural learning can help students better.
E. Scope and Limitation of the Study
This study was conducted in State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel (UIN
Sunan Ampel) Surabaya. The subject of the study is the students of speaking classes
in English Teacher Education Department. The study focused on investigating what
and how much the information of target language’s culture embedded in speaking
class. The research is limited on content usage as an integral part of language
learning. Moreover, it was searching any further information about the
implementation of certain strategy to embed the cultural knowledge in speaking
class. However, this study is neither going to investigate the further information
about the effects and influences of cultural content in second language learning
process nor how the students attitude toward the cultural-embedded learning.
F. Definition of Key Terms
1. Cultural content: substantive information related with the quality in a person
or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts,
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11
letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.18. In this study, cultural content
defines as any materials contain with cultural information related with the
native English speaker’ context embedded in speaking class. Cultural
information here refers to knowledge that represents of a particular
understanding of real things and abstract concepts as the manifestation of
Native English speakers culture.
2. Language learning: the process by which humans acquire the capacity to
perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate, this
capacity involves the picking up of diverse capacities including syntax,
phonetics, and an extensive vocabulary; the language might be vocal as with
speech or manual as in sign.19 In this study’s context, language learning
means the process of learning and acquiring English as the foreign language.
3. Culture teaching: Also called as cultural transmission is the process through
which cultural elements, in the form of attitudes, values, beliefs, and
behavioral scripts, are passed onto and taught to individuals and
groups.20Whereas, in this study cultural learning refers to the process of any
cultural information that is delivered to the students within the language
classes.
18
Dictionary.com, Culture, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture, accessed on February 20th
2015.
19
Cognitive Atlas, Language Learning, http://www.cognitiveatlas.org/concept/language_learning,
accessed on September 29th 2014.
20
Springer
Reference,
Cultural
Transmission,
http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/179936.html, accessed on September 29th
2014.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES
This chapter presents review of related literature which is used as the foundation
and reference related to this study. Mainly, this chapter will be divided into three
main parts sub-chapter; language and culture, how to teach culture in language class,
and the benefits of incorporating culture in language classroom.
A. Review of Related Literature
1. Language
There are some descriptions of the language term based on its function.
Language can be seen as a code or a social practice. In its function as code,
“language is made up of words and a series of rules that connect words together.”1
While, from the different view, quoted from Shohamy, “an understanding of
language as ‘open, dynamic, energetic, constantly evolving and personal”2,
indicates that language cannot be seen from the linguistic aspect only, instead of
that, “a language is a way of seeing, understanding and communicating about the
world and each language user uses his or her language(s) differently to do this.”3
Hence, this understanding implies that language term is not enough to be
1
The Australian Government.Department of Education, Employment and Workplace
Relations.Language, Culture and Learning.(Canberra: GPO. 2005), 2.
2
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 2.
3
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 2.
12
12
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13
considered merely as a code, but as a social practice. It means that language
definition cannot be limited only in linguistic matter, instead as a means to
communicate and establish interpersonal relationship in society.
2. Culture
Based on the “Teaching and Learning Languages: A Guide”, "One way in
which culture has often been understood is as a body of knowledge that people
have about a particular society.”4 However, as a body of knowledge, there are
several dimensions to see a culture as knowledge such as culture about knowledge
of works of arts, places and institutions, events and symbols, and ways of living.
In the case of education, specifically, language education, all of that knowledge in
which a part of cultural content scope can be considered as a set of learnable rules
aimed for students to be noticed and understood. The cultural information which
is acquired should not be merely about the cultural facts exemplified about music,
food or holiday stuffs, but also in the deeper sense of culture such as the values,
norms or beliefs of its society, because culture understanding essentially is how to
grasp a framework and paradigm of a particular group of people live and
communicate shared meanings with each other
4
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 5.
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3. Cultural content
First of all, remember that Cultural Content term in this research only refers to
cultural information of the target language society, or in the other words, it
denotes to native speakers cultures.
a. Allwood Theory
According to Allwood (1990), there are two main parts of culture-embedded
information that generally associated with language teaching;
1. Factual Cultural Information
Parts of culture involved as cultural information are; (1) Physical
geography; natural environment, climate, natural resources, (2) Cultural
geography; demographic distribution, routes of transportation, exploitation of
the natural environment, (3) History Religious and other significant
ideologies, (4) Political and social institutions, (5) Types of industry, (6)
Types of commerce, (7) Types of contacts with other groups, (8) Customs of
habitation, (9) Customs of eating, (10) Customs of clothing, (11) Leisure,
Sports and holidays.5
The factual information above is mostly contained in books, comics,
movies or video films. However, the students can obtain the information
inside the classroom if the teacher wants to employ the usage of authentic
Jens Allwood. “On The Role of Cultural Content and Cultural Context in Language
Instruction”.Gothenburg Papers in Theoretical Linguistics 60, (University of Göteborg, Dept of
Linguistics 1990), 4.
5
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15
material like essay, article, magazine, and so forth or do the role-play as one
its methodology to acquire cultural content. While the factual information
actually is a part of culture that still considered as shallow and superficial, but
in the case of language learning, the beginning of cross cultural awareness
initially started with those stuffs.
2. Attitudes and Values
Below is the information that is included as attitudinal and values focus:
family, child rearing, love and sex, friendship, sex roles, work, authority,
hospitality, beauty, time, space, goals of life, view of death, criteria for belief
and knowledge, view of the Divine and/or supernatural, metaphysics.6 The
information included as attitudes and values generally relate with the
paradigm or behavior of target language people toward intangible matter such
as the human relationship or any other deeper sense opinion.
b. Standards for Foreign Language Learning (3Ps) Theory
Another theory concerned with teaching culture is stated in Standards for
Foreign Language Learning (National Standards in Foreign Language Education
Project, 1999) which provides a framework of three elements of culture; “the
philosophical perspectives, the behavioral practices, and the products –both
tangible and intangible of a society.”7
Jens Allwood. “On The Role of Cultural Content and… 6-7.
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3.
6
7
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Accordingly, there are three basic components of culture that integrate one
another known as 3P, which are: Perspectives are what members of a culture
think, feel, and value, Practices are how members communicate and interact
with one another, and Products are the things members of a group create, share,
and transmit to the next generation, ex: technology, music, art, food, literature,
etc.8 It means that ‘perspective’ represents the attitude and behavioral side,
‘practice’ is about the interaction and interpersonal relationship matter, stated by
Lafayette cultural practices are, ‘patterns of behavior accepted by a society’, or
in the other words are ‘what to do where and when’.9It also includes any other
forms of procedural aspects of cultures such as rites of passage and use of the
forms of discourse.10It means that Practices emanates from cultural practical
way including interaction, rites, and discourse form. While ‘products’ are culture
manifestations which embodying as a real form that can be seen, listened, read
or experienced by human body senses.11
Products are easily identified, even they come in tangible or intangible form,
yet they are easier to be observed rather than the other two categories; practices
and perspectives.12Practices and Perspectives are more difficult to notice and its
feature is so subtle because they bound up and ingrained in society interaction
and their way of life, so people think it is something normal or ‘right’way to
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3.
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21st Century… 78.
10
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21st Century… 78.
11
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3.
12
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3.
8
9
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17
dosomething.13People will think that there is nothing much distinctive or special
with something they always do comparing tothe other cultures’ people do;
therefore those two categories are more difficult to recognize. The relationship
between three elements of culture is represented in triangle diagram as in below:
FIGURE 2.1The Culture Triangle (National Standards in Foreign Language
Education Project, 1999, p.47) from Oxana Dema and Aleidine J. Moeller in
“Teaching Culture in 21st Century Language Classroom”
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 4.
13
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According to the Standards for Foreign Language Learning (1999) regarding
to the teaching culture:
2.1 Students should demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between
the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.14
2.2 Students should demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between
the products and perspectives of the culture studied.15
Based on standard points above, it can be seen that the three categories of
cultures are intertwined and influencing one another. Perspectives at the top of
the culture triangle show that perspectives are a main source of the culture and
the other two categories; practices and products are derived from it.16
4. Interrelation Between Language and Culture
The main concern of learning another language is comprehending the
relationship between language and culture. “In actual language use, it is not the
case that it is only the forms of language that convey meaning. It is language in its
cultural context that creates meaning: creating and interpreting meaning is done
within a cultural framework.”17 Moreover, Liddicoat, Papademetre, Scarino, &
Kohler stated that “learning to communicate in an additional language involves
developing an awareness of the ways in which culture interrelates with language
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21st Century Language Classroom”,
Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education.Paper 181, 2012, 78.
15
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21st Century… 78.
16
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21st Century… 78.
17
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3.
14
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19
whenever it is used.”18 It means that language can reflect its society’s culture.
Once language is used by speakers, it is inevitable to not link the language to its
culture since both variables are bound up together. Learners need to learn target
language’s culture to both, enhance their language skill and improve the crosscultural awareness in order to carry the precise meaning and avoid any
misunderstanding meaning interpretation in speaking.
5. How to Teach Culture in Language Class
Numerous strategies and techniques in teaching culture in language classroom
have been developing for years. Certain strategies to incorporate cultural content
in language are necessary to achieve intended class’s goals and objectives. There
are several strategies to embedding culture in language classroom based on Frank
in his journal “Raising Cultural Awareness in the English Language Classroom”
which are by cultural collections, web quests, cultural “informants”, role-plays,
cultural observations, and culture journals.
First strategy is cultural collection. This strategy requires the use of authentic
materials as many as possible in various formats. Learners and teachers can
employ lots of media such as movies, music, literature or everyday items as a
means to feel, analyze and sense the target’s language culture in more tangible
way. Learners could be asked to describe and identify those authentic materials
18
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 4.
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20
based on their use, function or criteria in order to enhance their understanding in
target language’s culture. Furthermore, the use of authentic collections also can be
a media to compare between the students’ culture and foreign culture that they
learn exemplify students can explain how a particular material have different
function or use in their country and how it represent their country’s culture. The
benefits of this strategy are beside that students will be more interest and
encourage understanding the cultural content in real way which is also fun for
them, it also easy to be integrated with the topic within language classroom.19
Second is web quest. This strategy requires reliable internet connections and
access to computers. The teacher will ask the learners to make a report with
certain cultural topic like food, music or etiquette. The report will analyze the
background information of cultural practice, for example; “why do people do the
things they do?” This report will be such a mini-research which conducted based
on the internet sources, and the teacher’s role is provide them the information of
internet sites related with the topic. The details of the report can be either,
designed by either the teacher or the students themselves. It should be noted that
the report will be based on several questions to investigate the history, origin, or
even comparison of culture aspects. The final task of this strategy is presenting
their report in front of the class using creative media such as power point, poster,
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 7.
19
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or properties. The benefits of this technique are it improves students’ observation,
cultural awareness and English skill at once.20
Third is cultural “informant” strategy. This technique employs the native
speaker or proficient non-native speaker as the cultural informer or source. They
will be invited to the class and explain the specific aspect of their culture. Yet, the
students should have prepared some questions to ask beforehand. The questions
may be about that native local’s culture or even how is the behavioral standpoint
of foreigners while implementing their culture, for instance; Is it okay in your
country to ________? Why do people in your country ________? This strategy
can also be an opportunity to give reciprocal feedback and teach the informant
about students’ culture. It is going to be a chance for students to have cross
cultural understanding by comparing both cultures while practicing their speaking
skill as well.21
The fourth strategy is using role play. Role plays can engage the students
wholly to be more feeling and empathic with the situation of different context by
simulating situation in the role-plays. “For example, students can think of ways
communication may fail between people from high- and low-context cultures and
invent scenarios to illustrate how problems arise.”22 While, some students perform
in front of the class, the rest of it can become audiences which observing and
analyzing the play. They can do a discussion related with how miscommunication
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 7-8.
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 8.
22
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 8.
20
21
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22
can take place, how it can be avoided and how to overcome it. Therefore, the
teacher should prepare in advance about the issue or the situation that they will
perform. The details included the outline’s play, the role and proportion’s given to
each student, and the messages behind the play should be designed clearly by the
teacher. Furthermore, ensure that students can give teacher relevant feedback and
constructive opinion toward the situation being played out.23
The fifth is using culture observations. The students will be asked to collect
the cultural practices products of their own culture and target language’s culture
first, like movie, music, poetry, books, magazines, etc. Afterwards, students can
conduct the observation by describing the behavior and those products, then find
the similarities and differences bet