Cultivation of Cross-cultural competence in language teaching

Traditional language teaching in class is often limited to the understanding of the context, the structure of the sentences and the usage of the vocabulary.  That most of the time is spent on these aspects is partly due to the aim of teaching.  The grammar knowledge is going to be tested and the vocabulary is necessary in reading.  And both of them are closely related to the purpose of language learning, namely having a high score in the examination.  Sometimes teachers have tried to involve a bit culture into the classroom but usually are discouraged by the students because the teaching of culture is neglected by most of the students. Also, It is not regarded as an aspect of the evaluation of one’s teaching ability.  Therefore, teacher may lose his own interest and enthusiasm.

On the other hand, students may have two basic kinds of motivation (Gardner and Lambert 1972).  The first is integrative motivation, which refers to the desire of language learners to acquire the language while immersing themselves into the whole culture of the language, in order to “identify themselves with and become part of that society”(Brown 1994:154).  The second is instrumental motivation, which refers to the functional need for learners to acquire the language in order to serve some utilitarian purpose, such as securing a job, or a place at a university.  Such instrumentally motivated students are neither concerned with the culture from which their target language emerged, nor interested in developing any feelings of affinity with the native speakers of that language.  Generally speaking, most students study the foreign language with the second type of motivation. They do not see too much necessity in learning a language as a cultural instead of the sole tool in communication.  Or they are unable to spare more time to taste the culture aspect of the language they are learning.

Therefore, it is up to teachers to remember that language teaching is not only teaching the language.  They have to try to involve more culture learning in a language class so as to develop not only communicative, but also cultural competence.

The most traditional way that is widely adopted is to make the students know about the culture of the country whose language is taught, including information about its people, about their general attitudes and world views.  Very often, teachers introduce the different ways of living of people.  Students know about holidays, customs, dos and don’ts of its people. They get more familiar with the country and its people as they learn more about the language. Some relevant background knowledge is added so that students can understand the content better.  For example, the text Van Gogh is a story about the famous artist.  His emotion is strong and his passion for painting is great. His behavior couldn’t be understood but he was finally accepted by the world.  When this text is taught, the teacher can bring the students into a much wider art world. The many different painting styles can arouse the students interest in arts and the students then better understand the great painter and his contribution, thus making language learning vivid and meaningful.

Sometimes literature texts such as Annie’s Diary are found in the textbooks.  It is a very good way to learn culture since literature can never be separated from culture and language.   Literature is authentic material.  Except for the language in the material, literature encourages interaction. It is a source of information about the target culture.  Students should not miss the chance to touch bits of social, political and historical background of it. What’s more, literary texts are often rich, with many layers of meaning.  They can be effectively used for discussions and sharing feeling or opinions.  In the whole process, students involve themselves in the language learning and culture awareness.

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