the effects of cultural instruction on foreign lan

 RELCJournal: DOI:10.1177/0033688205053481200536:39RELCJournalWenliTsouTheEffectsofCulturalInstructiononForeignLanguageLearning  Publishedby:     : : : : : atSunYat-SenUniversityonOctober20,2010rel.sagepub.comDownloadedfrom[RELC36.1(2005)39-57]DOI:10.1177/0033688205053481©2005SAGEPublications(London,ThousandOaksCAandNewDelhi)THEEFFECTSOFCULTURALINSTRUCTIONONFOREIGNLANGUAGELEARNINGWenliTsouNationalUniversityofTainan,[e-mail]EFLteachersinTaiwanhaveconcernsininte-gratingtargetcultureteachingintotheirlanguageclassroomsforreasonssuchasteachers’limitedknowledgeofthetargetculture,lackoftime,lackofmethodsandmaterials.Inordertopersuademorelanguageteacherstoteachtargetlanguageculture,guidelinesaboutdesigninganapplicableculturalinstructionandevidenceaboutitseffectsonlanguagelearningareneeded.Inthestudy,thecombinationofananthropologyprocessandtask-orientedapproachwereappliedtoconducttheculturelessons.CultureinstructionwasimplementedwithintwoelementaryEFLclassroomsforonesemestertoseetheeffectsofcultureinstructiononforeignlanguagelearning.Whencul-turelessonswereintegratedintoEFLinstruction,students’languageproficiencywassignificantlyimproved.Inaddition,theyhadbetterinterestsinlanguagelearning.BackgroundoftheStudyResearchonlanguagelearninghasrecognizedthecloserelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture(Ando1997;Brown1994).‘Languagecompetencemaybeattempteddirectlywithoutpriorimmersionintheculture.Butintheabsenceofcultureexperience,adearthofmotivation,achievement,andenjoymentisprobableinthearduoustaskoflanguagelearning’(CarpenterandTorney1973:11).‘Withoutculturalinsightandskills,evenfluentspeakerscanseriouslymisinterpretthemessagestheyhearorread,andthemessagestheyintendtocommunicatecanbemis-atSunYat-SenUniversityonOctober20,2010rel.sagepub.comDownloadedfrom40RegionalLanguageCentreJournal36.1(2005)understood’(Pesola1991:331).Infact,whenlearnerslearnaboutlan-guagetheylearnaboutculture(Byram1989).Whilethesignificanceofculturehasbeenconstantlymentioned,thespecificcontentsandtech-niquesaboutcultureteachingwithintheforeignlanguage(FL)curriculumstillremainuncleartotheFLeducators.ManyFLclassroomsstillviewculturelearningasanaddendumtolanguagestudyanddealmostlywithfood,festivals,buildingsandotherculturalinstitutions.Withoutknow-inghowandwhattoteachaboutcultureintheFLclassroom,mostFLteachersareuncomfortableinprovidingcultureteaching(Bragaw1991;Hadley1993;Arries1994).Consequently,FLteacherseitherdonottalkaboutthetargetcultureintheirclassroomsoronlymentionpartsofthetargetculturethathasbeenincludedinthetextbook.Culturestillstandsforasmallpercentageintheforeignlanguage-teachingcurriculum.ThegovernmentofTaiwandecidedtoimplementEnglishasarequiredforeignlanguageforallfifthandsixthgradersintheprimaryschoolsatthebeginningofthefallof2001.InordertorecruitenoughEFLteachers,theMinistryofEducationheldexaminations(forlanguageskillsonly)forthepotentialEFLteachers.Thosewhopassedtheexamscouldparticipateintheone-yearteacher-trainingprogramtoimprovetheirEFLteachingskills.Researchhasbeenconductedtoevaluatetheeffectsoftrainingprograms(Chen1999;Wu2000).Theresultsindicatedthataround80%ofthetraineesclaimedthatculturelearningshouldbeincludedintheirtrainingprogram.MostEFLteachersrecognizedtheimportanceofcultureintheirteachingbuttheyalsorealizedthattheywerenotwellequippedwiththeskillsandknowledgeforcultureteaching.Someteach-erswerestillskepticalaboutthenecessityandsignificanceofteachingcultureintheirlanguageclassrooms.Ifguidelinesforcultureteachingandempiricalevidencesaboutpositiveeffectsofculturelessonsonlan-guagelearningcanbeprovided,teachersmaybemorewillingtoteachculture.Thedrivingforcesbehindthisstudy,whichinspiredtheresearchertofocusonthepopulationofelementaryschoolchildreninTaiwan,camefromtwodirections.First,‘elementaryschoolforeignlanguageprogramshavethepotentialforpreparingcitizenstobefunctionallybiculturalaswellasbilingual’,(Pesola1991:331).Inaddition,childrendemonstrategreatereaseinlearningaboutculture.Someresearchindicatedthattheageperiodbeforetenisthemostpromisingforlearningaforeignculturebecauseafteragetenoreleven,childrenhavedevelopedalargenumberofpreconceptionsaboutothercultures,includingmanyrigidstereotypesatSunYat-SenUniversityonOctober20,2010rel.sagepub.comDownloadedfromTSOUTheEffectsofCulturalInstruction41(CarpenterandTorney1973).Aftertheageoften,peoplearelessopentomodificationandaremorerigidinattitudesandbehaviors(Cooper1965;LambertandKlineberg1967).CurtainandPesola(1994)alsobelievedthatfourthorfifthgradersweremoreopen-mindedtowardpeoplewithdifferentlanguagesaswellascu