Language and Culture

Language and Culture

1. Language

   • A system of signs (Saussure, 1974).
     • a signifier and a signified

2. Culture

   • According to Brooks (1960)
     • culture
       • Behavioral patterns
       • Lifestyles
     • Culture
       • Music
       • Literature
       • Politics
   • Elements
     • Language
     • Rituals
     • Clothes
     • Science
     • Beliefs
     • Values
   • Culture includes all those activities and ideas of a specific group of people with common and shared traditions
     • Culture is passed from generation to generation
   • Statistical information like institutional structures and other aspects of the target civilisation, highbrow information –literature, arts- , and lowbrow information -customs, habits, and folklore of everyday l
   • Culture must be taught in order to make English learning meaningful.

3. Theories

   • Linguistic Relativity (Sapir and Whorf Hypothesis)
   • The theory-theory
     • Children
       • Look for Explanations
       • Learn through own experiences
       • Learn through own observations
       • Form innate theories
   • Language, Culture and Theorizing
     • Semantic development
     • Children learn semantic structures easily through situations
     • Cognitive representations
   • Developmental relations between Language and Cognition
     • Interactionist approach
       • Linguistic development
       • Cognitive development
     • Independent relation
       • Encoding success/failure words
       • Development of means–ends abilities
     • Direct Relation
       • Naming spurt
       • Children’s spontaneous classification
   • Cross-linguistic studies
     • May language restructure and influence cognition?
       • Differences in linguistic input may be responsible for the children’s different patterns of cognitive development!
   • Language as evidence
     • Korean, Japanese and Americans use the language different because they use different structures form, due to the cultural background and the environment.

4. The importance of teaching culture in the foreign Language classroom

   • Teaching English as a set of symbols and meanings which follow strictly rules to be learnt in order to become a competent speaker, is an empty and short way to understand what being bilingual is
   • Despite many people receive a lot of training on grammar rules, syntax care, semantics and vocabulary, such training does not warrant that they will be able to develop properly and fluently into the country where he or she plans to perform an academic or laboral life.
   • Language is a fundamental part of the culture of a society. Therefore, teaching the culture of a society is certainly a wise way to teach learners to speak a language.
   • Culture must be taught in order to make a language learning meaningful.

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