Unit 1

Language and Culture

 

Present by:

Nidia Esperanza Samboni_ 55184112

Group. 551036_5

  

Tutor

Vanessa Villarraga

 

National Open and Distance University –UNAD

Science of Education School -ECEDU

Bachelor's degree in English as a Foreign Language

July  21th, 2020

Introduction

       Through this work, I show all activities that develop in this language and culture course. It was a course very important and meaningful that contributed to acquiring a lot of knowledge about our culture and the cultures in all world. At the same time, value and recover them to continue with the traditions. 
       In this blog, you will find the relationship between language and culture which we develop with an individual essay, a Powtoon presentation, and an interview a Teacher; in my case, I had the opportunity to carry out the interview to a teacher of New York U.S.A who helps me to acquire more knowledge about his culture and experiences in several countries.        
      In the second unit, you will find Culture, Language, and Education Topics through a mind map, and the investigation about the oral cultural traditions of countries as Egypt, Indian, and Bolivian. 

 

Unit 1. The Relationship between 

Language and Culture

Essay Individual.

In my opinion, we teach culture using language supporting me in the opinion of Damen (1987) who “argues that culture is transmitted and meant in great part through language”. Although the words “culture and language” are related to each other; we can define that the culture is the interaction between the members of a community in a social and affective way, which they transmit theirs believes, values, messages, knowledge, emotions, and experiences for the next generations using the language. This communication can be in a verbal method, not verbal or gestures, and others.

 

Through the language, we can communicate within the culture, also we can share the culture with other people or foreigners who want to learn something about them; this means we teach culture using language. In the same way, through the language, we can learn to know a new culture and exchange information between the communities since the language is one of “the most observable expressions of culture” (Ellis, 1985, p. 251), or on the contrary, the culture could be a motivation to learn a second language, Nostrand (1975).  

In the 90s, the need to teach culture in language classes reached its climax, (Genc & Bada, 2005). Currently, the culture is recognized as a key element in education but its different concepts in each culture make their teaching in the classroom have to dispute among scholars. Likewise, it sees the need to learn several languages to show and teach better our culture, because at the moment to share that knowledge we hope it will be appreciated and respected as we do it.

In other investigations according to Klink (1980) mentions that are necessary have direct contact with the target language and culture to learn a second language so the educators need to implement study- abroad programs where the students have the opportunity to acquire full knowledge since according to other concepts “the language is considered as the main tool an individual uses to internalize culture and the major vehicle for cultural transmission” (Hamers & Blanc, 1989; Seeyle, 1993). Therefore, it is important the use of the language and promotes the motivation to learn new languages in our learners.

in addition, we have two kinds of knowledge: "Recipe" and "conscious" knowledge. The “Recipe” knowledge is related to the unconscious knowledge of native speakers and needs to be explicit to language learners. Conscious knowledge is acquired through formal education, social interactions, and textbooks and teaching (Byram & Morgan, 1994). To carry out successfully these two kinds of knowledge is necessary the students learn them in the language classroom.

 

On the other hand, there is a new concept called “acculturation” where Ellis (1985) defines like “the process of adapting to a new culture” (p. 292), which this means to have the capacity to learn the language, customs, believes, history, traditional foods, holidays, etc. and this process we are teaching culture using language, and in that same sense, it mentions that if learners acculturate, they will learn, but if they don´t acculturate, they will not learn, (Gass&Selinker, 1994).

 

In the same way, there is a body language too known as kinesics; it includes postures, gestures, expressions used as a no verbal language. Also, we can define the character and the tone of the voice influences the understanding and meaning of the words which can be altered. In addition, we find the principle of linguistic relativity points out that the way people think is influenced by the language that they use it when we are speaking a language we are assuming the culture, among other words when the language is learned it can be culturally transmitted.

 

In conclusion, according to different points of view of researchers, I can conclude that we teach culture using language because this is the first we learn in our home, and after through of this, we transmit the culture of our community for other people their customs, practices traditions, foods, music, games, flags, myths, coins, etc. in that same sense, the connections with other cultures will become in a great motivation to learn new languages and carry out them developing a good conversation and understanding about the several traditions and histories which are distinguished into each culture.

Powtoon Presentation

 Interview to an English Teacher

Conclusion about Unit 1

we can define the language is the principal expression of culture through we teach our culture and we can connect with other cultures and exchange knowledge. 

Each culture has its own language, customs, traditions, etc. In the same way, we find a lot of languages, some of them are losing like we can see the language of the indigenous group. 

The cultural expressions are who define and identify a culture such as the folklore, music, symbols, ceremony, food, traditions, etc., are authentics of each region and they are different one and other. 

Currently, the members of a culture are working with the purpose to recover their traditions, customs, language as well.