Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №21/1999

Introducing a concept of “A cultural value”
into English language teaching

(through the topic “Home”, “Apartment”, “Dwelling”)

One of the fundamental goals of learning foreign languages is successful communication with native speakers. It is widely acknowledged now that a good command of linguistic forms and a high level of communicative skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) are not enough for it. There is something else that either facilitates communication and understanding, or discourages it. This “something” seems to be culture – “a learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, and norms, which affect the behaviors of a relatively large group of people” (1, p. 30). Similar to a native language interference with the norms of English there might be an interference of a native culture. Sometimes it can even come into conflict with the English speaking one and lead to the breaks in communication and personal relationships. A good way to avoid such things might be to inform our students of all levels about cultural differences and to teach them to behave verbally and nonverbally in a culturally appropriate way.

The first step in this direction could be introduction of the concepts of culture and cultural values. The latter is the subject of this article.

One of the key researchers in the area of culture, C. Kluckholn, defined cultural value as “a conception, explicit or implicit, distinctive of an individual or characteristic of a group, of the desirable which influences the selection from available models, means and ends of action” (2., p. 419). To put it in a simpler way, value is “the standard for a person to judge his own and others’ actions” (3., p.149). These standards, or the things desirable, vary from culture to culture. The more the students are aware of differences the more comfortable they might feel overcoming these differences, the greater are the chances for rapport and cooperation with native speaking partners.

Now comes the fundamental question of “how” to introduce different cultural values into language teaching. Should there be a special course on culture? Would it be possible to incorporate a cultural component into traditional language teaching? We believe that the positive answer to the second question is the most productive. Regular usual classroom experience can give a lot of options to do it. The majority of the courses for all levels, in high schools and universities, are focused on the topics reflecting the nature of most common everyday activities. Among them is the topic “Home”, “Apartment”, “Dwelling”, which is usually viewed as giving the students a chance to learn the vocabulary dealing with the description of buildings and pieces of furniture, and grammar dealing with the construction “there is/are” as well as with prepositions of space and direction. This topic may also be very productive for discussing cultural issues since “there is a direct link between the built environment and culture . . . and values of inhabitants” (cited according to 4, p. 131–132). “The house form is constructed very specifically in relationship to such variables as privacy, male and female relationship, and norm enforcement” (4, p.132). We would like to suggest another version of traditional exercises the classroom that might help draw the attention of the students to cultural differences. Here are some of the activities that we have found to be helpful.

· Ask the students to give a list of things in their room (apartment). Let the students compare the lists and find out similarities and differences. Draw their attention to the fact that the things different are not good or bad, they are just different.

· Ask them to describe their own room and the room of his/her best friend. In what way do both rooms reflect the personalities of the owners? What do the belongings and the way they are placed in the room tell the people about what is important to the person who lives in this room?

· Expose the students to pictures showing rooms with similar functions (bedrooms, living-rooms or kitchens) in different countries. Ask them to try to identify the rooms as Russian, American, German, Japanese, etc. Let them give their reasons. (This part may be done in Russian.)

· Show a series of pictures of the rooms first in the native culture and then in the target culture (for example, American). Ask students to do similar activities related to the native and the target cultures:

1) to describe the interiors,

2) to find similar features of different interiors,

3) to answer the questions:

· “What do you think of the habits of people who live in these rooms?” (Do they have many things? Do they have a lot of space? Does the room belong to girls or boys? Do they share a room with anybody? Do they invite many guests into their room? Do they keep order in the room? Do they keep personally important things (photos, letters) in the open places? What do they usually do in a room like this?)

· “What may their preferences (what is important for them) be on the basis of habits identified?” (Do they like to have many things? Can they have many things in the room? Do they like a lot of space? Can they have a lot of space for themselves? Do they like to share a room with a brother or sister or do they prefer to have it to themselves? Do they like to spend time in their room? Do they like to spend time alone? What do they like to do when they are in the room?)

· “What may be important (desirable, valuable) to the people who have such preferences (who like such things and activities)?” (Do they like privacy? Do they like a company of a brother or sister? Do they coordinate their activities with other inhabitants? Do they like joint activities? Are they more comfortable when they are alone or in the company? Do they like to be independent? Do they care about others?, etc.)

· After the discussion about living habits in either of the cultures, ask the students to compare the interiors and the values they have discovered: “In what way do the rooms of American people differ from the rooms of Russian people?”, “How can the ways of life (habits and values) of the Americans and the Russians be different?”

The same approach may be applied to the description and the discussion of the homes in contrastive cultures. Special attention can be paid to the predominantly individual activities in the US in contrast of the predominantly collective ones in Russia. Some comments can be made about these habits reflecting the values of independence, self reliance and individual responsibility in American culture and the values of support, involvement and care – in Russian culture.

The same approach may be applied to the description and discussion of the city structures in contrastive cultures. Russian big cities are generally organized in the shape of the star – “the streets and subway lines meet at major intersections, thus bringing activities together” (5, p. 106) and providing more opportunities for joint experiences. American cities appear to be based on the grid – the pattern that “tends to separate activities” (5, p. 146, 150) and to provide better chances for individually focused experiences.

The ultimate goal is to help the students realize that

1) everyday practices are different in different cultures;

2) they are determined by cultural systems and cultural values;

3) cultural systems and values are not good or bad, they are just different and each deserves respect and understanding.

By G.V. Elizarova


1. Lustig M.W., Koester J. “Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Communication Across Cultures”, Longman, 1999.

2. Kluckholn C. “Values and value orientation in the theory of action”. In: Parsons T., Shils E. (eds.). “Towards a General Theory of Action”, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1951.

3. Sitaram K.S., Haapanen W. “The role of values in intercultural communication”. In: Asante M.K., Newmark E., Blake C.A. (eds.). “Handbook of Intercultural Communication”, SAGE Publications, Beverly Hills, London, 1979, pp.147–160.

4. Ramsey S.J. “Nonverbal behavior: an intercultural perspective”. In: Asante M.K., Newmark E., Blake C.A. (eds.) “Handbook of Intercultural Communication”, SAGE Publications, Beverly Hills, London, 1979, pp.105–143.

5. Hall R.A. Jr. “New Ways to Learn a Foreign Language”, New York: Bantam, 1966.