Insegnare le lingue come cultura: un'intervista con Patrick Boylan

The importance of English in communication and the globalized world as well as the demands of the job market, which is under the influence of modernization, leads people, in general, to become interested in learning it. It is understood that in schools it is necessary consider these expectations and the benefits in order to learn more about how to include cultural aspects in the English classrooms. Therefore, it is understood that teaching English is more than teaching rules and grammatical structures, it is also present the other side of the language, which means show the students the importance and the meaning of being bilingual but also bicultural. This work consists of a bibliographical research that intends to arise discussions around the topics pointed above expecting that the teachers (in or pre-service) can think about their pedagogical practices. RESUMO: A importância da língua inglesa na comunicação e no mundo globalizado, bem como as exigências do mercado de trabalho, que está sob a influência da modernização, leva as pessoas, em geral, a se tornarem interessados em aprendê-la. Entende-se que nas escolas é necessário considerar essas expectativas e esses benefícios, a fim de aprender mais sobre como incluir os aspectos culturais nas salas de aula de Língua Inglesa. Portanto, entende-se que o ensino de Língua Inglesa é mais do que regras e estruturas gramaticais, ensinar é também apresentar o outro lado da língua, o que significa mostrar aos estudantes a importância e o significado de ser bilíngue, mas também bicultural. Este trabalho consiste em uma pesquisa bibliográfica que pretende levantar discussões em torno dos temas apontados acima, esperando que os professores (em serviço ou em pré-serviço) possam refletir sobre suas práticas pedagógicas.

Language, Culture and Curriculum, 1995

The current interest in the role of culture in language teaching is due to a number of factors, political, educational, ideological. Both in Europe and in the U.S., albeit for different reasons, there is a great deal of political pressure now put on foreign language educators to help solve the social and economic problems of the times. Educators fear that the mere acquisition of linguistic systems is no guarantee of international peace and understanding. After years of communicative euphoria, some language teachers are becoming dissatisfied with purely functional uses of language. Some are pleading to supplement the traditional acquisition of "communication skills" with some intellectually legitimate, humanistically oriented, cultural "content". Others, who teach their language to non-native speaker immigrants, are under pressure to absorb (read: acculturate) into their society growing numbers of newcomers. And there is of course the recrudescence of nationalism around the world that draws political capital from increased links between national languages and national cultures. The reasons for the growing "culturalisation" of language teaching are many, the motives often contradictory. After a short definition of terms, I will first review the history of the relationship of language and culture in language teaching. I will then try to survey the current landscape as it relates to various educational traditions in which languages are taught. In a third part I will suggest a theoretical base for exploring the cultural component of language study.-2-Definition of Terms The term "cultural" has often been associated with the term "social", as when one talks about the "socio-cultural" factors affecting the teaching and the learning of foreign languages. Many scholars do not distinguish between the social and the cultural. In this paper, I will take both adjectives to refer to the two sides of the same coin, namely, the synchronic and the diachronic context in which language is used in organised discourse communities. Both terms refer to a individual's place within a social group and his/her relation to that group in the course of time. In the words of Adrienne Rich: "A place on the map is also a place in history" (1986). First let us agree on a definition. Irrespective of whether we are talking written or oral culture, highbrow or popular culture, noteworthy events or events of everyday life, the term "culture" has always referred to at least two ways of defining a social community. The first definition comes from the humanities; it focuses on the way a social group represents itself and others through its material productions, be they works of art, literature, social institutions, or artifacts of everyday life, and the mechanisms for their reproduction and preservation through history. The second definition comes from the social sciences: it refers to what educators like Howard Nostrand call the "ground of meaning", i.e. the attitudes and beliefs, ways of thinking, behaving and remembering shared by members of that community (Nostrand, 1989: 51). This latter definition is in many ways similar to the one given by social

This paper was solely based on bibliographical research and its objective is to shed some light in the field of teaching culture in a second language acquisition context. At the event of language death spread around the world, some needs to maintain a language alive are discussed. Culture and language are two sides of the same coin and reflections about their relation are provided. It is argued that discourse is an important part of the duo language/culture; and the idea that we should teach language related to culture is defended. Keywords: culture and language, language and discourse, foreign language teaching, language maintenance. * Bióloga, mestre e doutora em Zoologia pela USP, atualmente é aluna de graduação do curso de Letras-USP, Habilitação Português-Inglês, trabalha com tradução e preparação de textos em geral.

2005

The author would like to express sincere appreciation to all the people help make this dissertation possible. First I would like to thank my advisor, Dr Kevin R. Mackie, who inspired me to work on the research presented here and helped me at various stages of the writing. His knowledge and enthusiasm about our research field greatly encouraged me and build a role model for me to follow.