Culture as an Asset in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

Dr Aziza ZaherDepartment of Arabic

MLAC

Why I decided to talk about this topic?

Basic concepts:

Grammatical and communicative approaches to second language learning and teaching

Grammatical approaches• Competence

The speaker’s knowledge of the language

• PerformanceThe actual use of the language in concrete situation

Basic concepts:

• Communicative CompetenceCommunicative competence involves sociolinguistic, strategic, discourse, sociocultural, social as well as linguistic competence (van Ek, 1986)

• Cultural/Intercultural CompetencePutting the learner in touch with the cultural world of a particular group of native speakers; and the capacity for reflexivity, analysing one’s own culture from an external perspective and understanding its relationship with other cultures in order to facilitate communication.

Intercultural Language Teaching (ILT)

ILT is an approach to teaching culture as an integrated part of language. It implies an acknowledgement and understanding of the link between language and culture, as well as an understanding of how communication works across cultures. ILT has mad many implications for the language teaching profession, as teachers need to explore the skills learners need in order to explore culture as it is manifested in language use.

Constructive alignment and outcome based teaching and learning

• Constructive alignmentThe constructive alignment of the intended learning outcomes (ILOs), the teaching/learning activities (TALs) and the assessment tasks (TAs).

• Implications on teachingWhich approach do we use as teachers?Which elements culture to choose and why?What are the implications on teaching and assessment?

Examples from Arabic

• Everything• Me and my colleagues• Food & Celebrations• Jokes, photos, clips, etc• Media (and research)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb8EM4SdgQ8

• Cultural exploration and research • YA & TLRP

War in Gaza in 2008-2009

War in Gaza in 2008-2009

War in Gaza in 2008-2009

Design a product and advertise it!

Design a product and advertise it!

Examples from other languages

• French

• Spanish

• Italian

• Chinese

Thank you!

Questions?!