Exploring EFL Pre-Service Teachers’
Experience with Cultural Content and Intercultural Communicative Competence at
Three Colombian Universities
Indagación sobre la experiencia con el contenido
cultural y la competencia comunicativa intercultural de docentes de
inglés en formación, en tres universidades colombianas
Alba Olaya*
Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas,
Colombia
Luis Fernando Gómez
Rodríguez**
Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, Colombia
This article
was received on September 24, 2012, and accepted on May 15, 2013.
This article
reports the findings of a qualitative research project that explored
pre-service English teachers’ perceptions of and attitudes toward the
aspects of culture and intercultural competence addressed in their English
classes in the undergraduate programs at three Colombian universities. Findings
reveal that pre-service teachers are mainly taught elements of surface culture
and lack full understanding of intercultural competence. They also see culture as a separate aspect of their future teaching
career. We provide alternatives so that pre-service teachers might overcome
limitations of the teaching of culture as preparation for their future teaching
career in the foreign language classroom.
Key words: Cultural content, deep culture,
intercultural communicative competence, pre-service teachers, surface culture.
Este artículo reporta los hallazgos de una
investigación cualitativa que indagó sobre las percepciones y las
actitudes de los profesores en formación en el área de
inglés respecto a los contenidos culturales y la competencia cultural
que se abordan en las clases de inglés, en tres universidades
colombianas. Los hallazgos revelan que los docentes en formación
primordialmente tratan aspectos de la cultura superficial y no tienen total
claridad de qué es la competencia comunicativa intercultural.
También conciben la cultura como un aspecto desligado de su futura
profesión docente. Se sugieren algunas alternativas para que los profesores
en formación puedan superar las limitaciones de la enseñanza de
la cultura y se preparen para su futura carrera docente en el salón de
inglés como lengua extranjera.
Palabras
clave: competencia comunicativa
intercultural, contenido cultural, cultura profunda, cultura superficial,
docentes en formación.
Introduction
The
development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in the English as a
foreign language (EFL) context has become a necessity rather than an option in
our contemporary society. The ongoing process of globalization and the
amalgamation of diverse communities worldwide demand second language learners
and teachers to develop cultural awareness. Hinojosa (2000), Kramsch (2001), Hernández and Samacá
(2006), and Barletta (2009) argue that one of the main missions of foreign
language teaching is not only to prepare students and teacher educators to
learn linguistic structures and to speak another language fluently, but to
instruct them to become aware of cultural boundaries, misunderstandings, and
the way of life of a foreign culture. Genc and Bada (2005) state that language teaching has begun to
recognize that there is an intricate relationship between culture and language,
because teaching language structures without considering the aspects of the
target culture is inadequate. Despite these salient ideas about the inclusion
of culture in the EFL classroom, the teaching of culture and the development of
ICC still require more attention and research, more concretely, in Colombian
EFL education. Therefore, this article explores how EFL pre-service teachers
deal with the fusion of language and culture.
Statement of the Problem
Authors such
as Byram (1997), Lázár
(2003), and Chlopek (2008) assert that one of the
main problems in EFL classrooms is that language teachers often restrict the
inclusion of cultural content in the language classroom. The study of grammar
forms and communicative functions has dominated language syllabi and restricted
learners’ ability to become culturally competent. Taking into account
that the study of the target culture remains an unripe topic in the educational
setting, including Colombia, we, as teacher-researchers, wanted to conduct a
diagnostic research by exploring and identifying what actual perceptions,
knowledge, and attitudes EFL pre-service teachers at three universities in
Bogotá had in regard to the insertion of culture in the English class
and, in this way, detect the level of understanding of ICC they had.
Furthermore, we wanted to inquire about the teaching practices they were given
to develop ICC at the language programs they belonged to. We think that this
diagnostic study, which focuses on EFL pre-service teachers’ actual
voices and opinions, will allow us to determine to what extent culture and ICC
are part of their preparation in the classroom and what methodological
alternatives they should embrace to foster intercultural awareness in a more
conscientious way.
Theoretical Framework
Culture and
intercultural communicative competence are the main theoretical constructs that
guided this exploratory study.
Culture
Sihui (1996) and Prieto (1998) claim that the development of culture is
facilitated through the process of social communication because any set of
behaviors, beliefs, and ideologies are necessarily embraced by the members of a
particular community through language. The inseparable bond between language
and culture leads to observe that English learners must essentially learn
meanings of the target culture, rather than simply studying grammar forms and
communicative functions. The Common European Framework of Reference to
Languages (Council of Europe, 2001) indicates that learners do not simply
communicate, but develop interculturality,
and that linguistic and cultural contents in the classroom contribute to
enhance ICC and create positive attitudes to new cultural experiences.
Robinson (as
cited in Castro, 2007) indicates that many teachers highlight the importance of
“practicing culture” in the classroom rather than trying to define it.
Robinson claims that culture should be viewed from four definitions: the behavioral definition (set of patterns
that are shared and that may be observed in terms of actions and events), the functionalist definition (social rules
governing and explaining events), the cognitive
definition (the knowledge shared by a cultural actor and other actors, and
that helps them to interpret the world), and the symbolic definition (system of symbols used by the individual to
assign meanings to different elements and events).
Despite EFL
teachers’ attempts to incorporate cultural content in their teaching
practices, culture continues being seen from the behavioral definition.
Therefore, it is conceived as a static, accumulated, and classifiable concept
that can be taught and learned with no effort (Paige, Jorstad,
Siaya, Klein, & Colby, 2003). Aspects of culture
such as celebrations, food, tourist places, and important people, which are
classified as elements of surface or observable culture (Hinkel,
1999), seem to be the most common contents discussed in the EFL context. In
this sense, there is a need to address significant aspects of deep culture from
the functionalist, cognitivist, and symbolic levels (as proposed by Robinson,
1988) that are very often omitted, including, for instance, attitudes to life,
personal and collective ideologies, beliefs, and customs that constantly change
through generations. In fact, Trujillo (2002) suggests that culture changes
through time and this endless transformation must be the main object of
interest in the language classroom.
Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC)
ICC is
defined as the “ability to ensure a shared understanding by people of
different social identities, and [the] ability to interact with people as
complex human beings with multiple identities and their own
individuality”(Byram, Gribkova,
& Starkey, 2002, p. 10). Byram (1997) proposes a
model of ICC composed of three main factors or savoirs: The first factor is knowledge of “social groups and
their products and practices . . . and of the general processes of societal and
individual interaction” (p. 51). The second factor consists of skills: the skill of interpreting, the
skill of relating, and the skill of discovering, which all together help
individuals to learn, explain, and compare the meaning of a given situation or
documents from another culture. The third factor of ICC involves having
positive attitudes such as openness,
empathy, readiness, and curiosity about cultural expressions that may be
similar or quite different from one’s own.
With
knowledge, skills, and attitudes, learners can develop, as proposed by Byram (1997), another savoir
that he calls critical cultural awareness which is the ability to analyze
critically that our own and the target cultures are different and dynamic
because all human beings do not behave and think homogeneously, but act and see
life in varied ways. Byram (1997) claims that critical cultural awareness is “an
ability to evaluate critically and on the basis of explicit criteria perspectives
practices and products in one’s own and other cultures and
countries” (p. 53). In this sense, the intercultural speaker becomes
critical when he/ she “brings to the experiences
of their own and other cultures a rational and explicit standpoint from which
to evaluate” (p. 54).
Similarly,
Banks (2004) argues that the citizens of this globalized society need to
acquire knowledge, skills, and attitudes in order to coexist with other
cultural communities and cultural borders. Banks also affirms that critical
cultural awareness means to support human rights and equality, as well as to
accept the inclusion of minority groups into the mainstream society. This
competence reduces the proliferation of stereotypes, prejudices, and
misrepresentations of others, and allows learners to see the deeper aspects of
culture. These views of ICC become a relevant epistemological notion for those
EFL learners who are preparing to become EFL teachers.
Research Methodology
Research Questions:
Supported by
the previous theoretical framework, our research was led by the following
questions:
What
perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes do EFL pre-service teachers have in
regard to the incorporation of the cultural component in the EFL class?
How might
EFL pre-service teachers foster ICC through the cultural contents studied in
their English class?
Context of the Study
This
research was carried out at three universities in Bogota. Two are state founded
universities while the other one is private. The three universities offer an
undergraduate teaching program—in English or Languages—which
provides teaching and training for those who want to teach English in the EFL
context. Their programs consist of ten semesters and are completed by credit
hours. The programs are composed of different areas of knowledge of which the
field of foreign languages is the most important one in terms of time
distribution, credit hours, and number of subjects. Advanced levels, with which
our study was conducted, took English lessons 6 to 10 hours a week.
Participants
In order to
select the students to participate, we asked the directors of the Language
Departments of each institution to let us develop this study with a group of
fifth semester learners. A total of 51 upper-intermediate EFL students, aged 18
to 22, from the three institutions participated, including both females and
males: 16 students from U11 15 students from
U2, and 20 students from U3. The reason for choosing upper-intermediate
students was that, at this point of their career, they already had enough
background knowledge and experience to give account for the cultural
experiences in their English classes. One of the main features of the
participants is that they are EFL pre-service teachers. Therefore, they are
given professional training to become English teachers. As part of their
preparation, they not only need to have a good English level to teach future
generations, but be knowledgeable about teaching methods and theories related
to culture and ICC, since they need to be qualified to teach in the on-going
era of globalization.
Instruments
For the
study, we selected three data collection instruments: (a) Questionnaires
focused on three core aspects: knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes toward
culture (see Appendix A). Participants answered the
questionnaires individually when we visited each institution. (b) During our
visits, we also used an individual semi-structured interview, which was
recorded on tape, transcribed later and saved in a file. The interview was
conducted in English because we were aware that we were interviewing teacher-educators
and we wanted to expose them to speaking in the target language about their
preparation in terms of the cultural aspects they had been instructed in. The
interviews consisted mainly of four questions: The cultural topics approached
in the English class, students’ preferences for any cultures, opinions
about the importance of culture, and the cultures existing in the classroom.
The questionnaire and the interviews contained open-ended questions because we
wanted to observe participants’ broad range of feelings, thoughts, and
opinions about their experiences with contents of culture; in other words, to
have data from their varied perspectives. (c) We also made a documentary
analysis of the study plans of the programs in which participants were
enrolled. The purpose was to observe whether or not study plans included any
explicit cultural contents in English courses.
Data Analysis
In order to
analyze the data, we followed the grounded approach principles because, instead
of basing our study on a prior hypothesis, we interpreted and found similar
patterns and themes that emerged from the data collected. We did an in-depth
exploration of the data in order to find EFL pre-service teachers’
knowledge, perceptions of, and attitudes toward culture through a color coding
system. Color coding allowed us to establish the frequency and to identify the
similar opinions students had given. After that, we decided to, as Freeman
(1998) suggests, name, group, find relationships, and display data contained in
the questionnaires. Data were displayed in the order participants had answered
each question so that we could identify patterns and relationships (see
Appendix B). We also did the same process separately with
the other two instruments (interviews and study plans).
Later,
through a process of triangulation which consists of analyzing multiple sources
of information or points of view on the phenomenon that is being investigated
(Freeman, 1998), we established relationships with the data collected in the
questionnaires, interviews, and study plans in order to see if salient patterns
appeared among all of them. This triangulation made possible verification that
the data were reliable and consistent since we realized that the same opinions
and patterns were present in the other instruments. We recognize, obviously,
that the study plans did not show evidence of students’ voices, but were
useful to establish relationships as to what extent they incorporated cultural
content and if students knew the information described in them. In the findings
section, we will use the following codes to analyze and interpret data:
questionnaires (Q), interviews (I), participants (P), and University (U). It is
important to say that the units of analysis taken from students’ answers
are verbatim. That is why some of them have grammar mistakes or are in Spanish.
Findings and Discussion
In this
section we will describe and discuss the findings of our research. First, we
will refer to pre-service teachers’ knowledge and perceptions about
culture and ICC. Then, we will explain their perceptions towards cultural
contents, methodologies, and resources used in their classes. Finally, we will
report about their attitude as to what extent they consider culture and ICC
important for their professional teaching career.
Perceptions of Theories on Culture and ICC
Since
participants were pre-service teachers, we wanted to inquire about their
knowledge of culture in the EFL context, involving theories and definitions of
culture and ICC, and the dynamic nature of culture as useful information for
their teaching careers. Data showed that most of them gave a general definition
of culture based on traditional views. They defined it as a set of customs,
habits, identity, beliefs, traditions, and values of a particular community, as
can be seen in the following examples.
Culture...are the several
characteristics that set or define a society. (P4, Q, U3)
Culture is the main characteristics of, of a town, of
a country, of a city [sic]. (P1, I,
U1)
A set of beliefs, behaviors,
thoughts, customs, that are learned and transmitted in a group of people. (P1, Q, U2)
Participants’
answers demonstrated that they seemed to have a static view of culture. Words
like “main characteristics” and “learned and
transmitted” suggest that they think that culture is unquestionably
transmitted without suffering any possible alteration or transformation. None
of the pre-service teachers recognized culture as relative and changeable. This
finding supports Trujillo’s view (2002) that EFL learners and, in
particular, EFL pre-service teachers need to become aware that elements of
surface culture should not be the only contents to study in the classroom.
When students
were asked about what ICC was, most of them gave partial definitions. This
supports the fact that students lack knowledge of this competence. For
instance, at U1 only four pre-service teachers defined ICC as ability, others
had a partial or vague view of it, and some others did not provide any answer.
At U2, six participants, out of fifteen, answered that ICC was an ability or
skill, while the other seven did not define the term. Similarly, a few students
from U3 defined ICC better when compared with U1 and U2 students, but most of
them gave an incomplete definition:
Is the ability to interact with other cultures. (P3, Q, U2)
Competence to talk with people from
other places and with other culture. (P15, Q, U3)
Moreover,
students seemed to confuse communicative competence with ICC since they believe
that being able to communicate appropriately with speakers from the target
language is the main priority, as shown in these data samples:
Learning a [sic] foreign communication. (P3, Q, U1)
Yes, I think is important because is the language
which I want to learn. (P1, I, U3)
I can learn English more, I can
learn English easier. (P4, I, U2)
Thus, they
need to be guided to acknowledge the significant role culture and intercultural
awareness play in the process of communication and as part of their training to
become teachers in the future. This finding strongly relates to Byram’s (1997) claim that individuals must attain
certain levels of intercultural understanding in order to develop critical
intercultural awareness with respect to their own country and others since,
according to the participants’ answers; they are more concerned about how
to communicate with speakers of the target culture than to deal appropriately
with their cultural differences.
Figure 1 shows participants’ level of understanding of
ICC at the three universities. Perceptions of ICC show that only a limited
number of pre-service teachers had some general idea about the concept, but
none of them referred concretely to knowledge, skills, or attitudes as
essential components of ICC.
Cultural Contents Reviewed in and Outside of the
English Classroom
Another
aspect we wanted to explore referred to cultural topics they discussed in their
English classroom. All of them mentioned aspects of surface culture, including
history, tourism, arts, entertainment, and food; being history and tourism the
most salient aspects. It is important to note that only 8 participants out of
51 answered that they had discussed “social and historical
aspects.” However, they did not report which social and historical facts
they had studied, and this may imply that they had not internalized or
critically learned those particular facts. Surprisingly, these pre-service
teachers never referred to aspects of deep culture such as relationships,
culture shock, cultural misunderstanding, relations of power, social class,
politeness, discrimination, otherness, attitudes to life, and identity. Data
showed that they are often trained to teach observable and surface elements of
culture. This finding indicates that they still need their teachers’ help
to become aware of the dynamism and transformation of deep elements of culture
because, as data suggest, they learn culture at an informative and superficial
level, rather than from a critical and reflective perspective. As pre-service teachers
they need to be more critically prepared on concepts of culture so that they do
not replicate a superficial approach to culture when assuming a teaching
position in an EFL classroom in the future. As Hernández and Samacá (2006) highlight, learning about culture goes
beyond studying a list of facts about history, music, arts, or geography.
Similarly, it is our understanding that pre-service teachers should address
issues of deep culture as identity, social clash, attitudes, and conflicting
values and beliefs that might differ from their own, but that will empower them
to deal with otherness and complex interaction among individuals from the
target culture. A way to promote this discussion of the foreign culture is
suggested by Álvarez and Bonilla (2009), who
state that learners should be engaged in interactions through a collaborative
and a dialogical process because students should take a critical position about
the target culture, departing from the understanding and analysis of their
culture.
Besides
these topics of surface culture studied in class, pre-service teachers admitted
that they had done research on cultural contents outside the classroom. As they
were asked if they did research on culture, 38 students reported that they had
researched on their own initiative while 12 had not. Figure 2
shows this aspect more specifically at each university.
Additionally,
most students recognized that they had done more research on the Anglophone
cultures than on their own culture, while just a few students had done more
research on their own culture than the target culture. Sixteen participants
from the three universities acknowledged that they had investigated other
cultures different from the Anglophone and their own. Over all, data revealed
that more learners had initiative to do research on the Anglophone cultures
without their teachers’ request. However, most of the topics students
acknowledged having researched included history, beliefs, music, science, art,
literature, and food. These topics confirm the finding that pre-service
teachers mainly focus on aspects of surface culture, since they seem to be
probably influenced by the topics addressed in their language classes. This
fact was clearly evidenced in the data as only few students reported having
researched deep aspects of culture such as impolite behaviors and slang. In
short, the positive finding is that they acknowledged being autonomous when
learning elements of the Anglophone cultures outside the classroom. The
limitation that we identified as analysts of the data is that students need to
be encouraged to research cultures different from the Anglophone ones in order
to create more diverse and inclusive intercultural awareness, since interculturality implies the discussion of different
nations around the world that do not necessarily have to belong to the Anglo-Saxon
civilization. This will allow EFL pre-service teachers in their future teaching
positions to promote an open environment of inclusion and diversity, since they
will surely teach learners from different cultural backgrounds within Colombia.
From the data,
only one pre-service teacher acknowledged that he had researched some elements
of deep culture, such as behaviors, expressions, and accents. On the other
hand, those participants who answered they had never done research on their own
initiative argued that they were not interested in culture, had no time to
investigate, and were not motivated to study that topic. Others did not answer
why they lacked interest. They only said they had never done any type of
research. Some comments related to the question are:
I think I have too many homeworks [sic]
to do and I don’t have time. (P3, Q, U1)
Because I am
not interested on that. (P2, Q, U2)
I think that it’s a lack of self-work and
initiative, a lack of motivation. (P4, Q, U3)
The fact
that several EFL pre-service teachers are not concerned about learning cultural
content on their own indicates that they are not totally aware of the real need
of becoming intercultural in our current society and that they need more
guidance to understand that ICC is not an innate ability, but one that is
acquired and taught through conscious instruction. In this sense, those
teachers who instruct pre-service teachers need to address the study of
cultural content more purposely in their classes so that pre-service teachers
do more research and discuss this topic more often in order to become better
intercultural English speakers and more qualified EFL teachers.
One
interesting perception articulated by one pre-service teacher regarding the
reasons for doing research on his own is:
I think is important to know how the others had acted
and why they had done know and understand the other can help us growing like
people and as teachers we would need it [sic].
(P8, Q, U1)
This
participant and another from U2 recognized that their interest in learning
cultural content is because they think it is an important aspect for their
future teaching career. The other 49 participants at the three universities
said that they had initiative to learn about culture because they were planning
to travel abroad and because they were just interested in learning this kind of
information. Some of their opinions are:
I think it’s important because maybe we will
travel. (P2, I, U2)
Because if I want to travel to some other
place, I have to know about that culture. (P12, Q, U1)
Because I like to learn more about countries I’m
studying. (P4, Q, U3)
What people do there and what we do here and maybe the
places where we can go. (P6, I, U2)
Participants’
answers indicate that they still need to be instructed by their teachers to see
culture not only as a tool to meet their traveling and tourists’
interests, but to be prepared to become English teachers in the future, since
the language programs in which they are enrolled aim at preparing qualified
teachers in the Colombian context. At this point we were able to establish a
significant correlation: since most participants see culture as informative and
at a surface level, which will allow them to travel as tourists and to
communicate when traveling, they still need to become more aware of culture at
a deeper level.
As a
conclusion, participants seem not to be familiar with the distinction of
surface and deep levels of culture because they have not been trained to
recognize those levels. As a consequence, with their teachers’
assistance, pre-service teachers are called upon to become more aware of ICC
and consider more mindful reasons to see the study of culture in the EFL
classroom, not only for traveling plans, but also for their role as future
English teachers and citizens of a multicultural world. This finding leads us
to reflect on what Quintero (2006) points out: that an intercultural person is
one rooted in his/her own culture but, at the same time, open to the world; a
person who observes the unknown from the known, and who interacts with
otherness from his/her own affirmation and self-assessment, that is to say, one
who becomes critical of the globalized world around him/her.
Additionally,
data gave us interesting insights as to which topics participants would like to
study regarding culture. Some of them said that they would like to study features
of deep culture (without being aware that those aspects belonged to deep
culture), including behaviors, accents, the culture of U.S. Native-American
Indians, body language, educational systems, and politeness. However, the
majority stated that they would like to study aspects such as historical facts,
food, landmarks, “special days,” the arts, important people, and traditions
in general. These responses support once more the fact that pre-service
teachers’ perceptions about culture rely on the surface level of culture,
and that they have not become aware of deeper aspects. History seems to be the
most required aspect they would like to study, but they see history as an
opportunity to learn factual information from the past, but do not reflect how
historical events have caused cultural conflicts, resistance, and social
differences. Figure 3 presents the level of surface and
deep culture that students would like to learn in the English classroom.
Consequently,
data revealed that students need to apply different manifestations and
expressions of deep culture (attitudes to life, gender, race, social classes,
prejudices, how people act in certain circumstances, ideologies, individuality,
etc.) so that they will be able to foster ICC more appropriately. This can be
connected to Nieto’s (2002) concern that these deep cultural aspects are
manifestations of economic, political, and social power that should be
discussed to promote critical intercultural awareness in the classroom.
Importance of Incorporating Culture in the EFL
Classroom
According to
the participants, it is important to incorporate culture in the English
classroom because it is related to language. Twenty students, out of 51, established
a relationship between culture and language:
Because the English Language is part of the culture
and it is important to know cultural aspects! (P3, Q, U2)
It is important, every language [is part of a]
culture, so if we study about [culture] we can understand the language much
better. (P7, Q, U1)
Because learning a foreign language
implies learning the culture, too. (P10, I, U3)
These
opinions reveal that almost half of the participants from the three
universities think that language is a medium through which to acquire culture.
They perceived culture as an essential element to negotiate meaning in real
social situations of life. This finding contrasts with the notion of surface culture
that most of them have. At least half of the participants identified the link
between language and culture as dynamic in actual cross-cultural interaction,
but it does not mean that they are aware of this cultural feature as dynamic.
Also, because only less than half made this connection, the other half needs to
see culture as a powerful agent when speakers from diverse backgrounds engage
in the process of communication. Some of their answers indicate that including
culture in the ELF classroom is just for the sake of learning language and
gaining general knowledge of a culture, but they do not see it as determinant
component in authentic communicative practices, as these samples suggest:
Is very important because of this
why I can know about other cultures and other aspect from other countries in
the world [sic]. (P2, Q, U1)
I think it is quite important because, because the
cultural component improves the process of learning languages. (P7, I, U2)
Because it is a good way to improve
our knowledge. (P4, Q, U3)
These views
emphasize that English teachers should become foreign culture teachers, having
the ability to teach learners to experience and analyze the home and target
cultures through communicative language practices in the classroom, rather than
in informative terms.
Another
important finding in the data was that only five out of 51 participants thought
culture would help them to become more qualified English teachers in the
future:
Because it is important knowing other
cultures for our self-development like teachers. (P5, Q, U3)
Because first, I’m going to be a teacher,
I’m going to teach this. (P6, Q, U1)
As a teacher we have to know different cultures to
teach the other, to teach to the kids. (P3, I, U2)
We might
observe, then, that teacher educators need to instruct pre-service teachers to
consider cautiously to what extent the aspect of culture is a crucial element
to qualify their teaching career, since they have not thought about this point
yet.
Pre-Service Teachers’ Preferences About Cultures to Be Studied
When
students were asked if they were more inclined to learn about a specific English
culture over another, most of them said they were. Twenty-four participants
tend to study one Anglophone culture over the other:
Yes, I studied the cultures and the food. The United States and British. (P7, I, U2)
I would like to know more about British culture than
American culture. (P12, Q, U3)
Inglaterra ya que es
un idioma, más limpio que el norteamericano [I prefer
British English because it is a cleaner language than the American one]. (P2,
Q, U3)
Opinions
show that EFL pre-service teachers are sometimes biased about cultural groups
as they did not explain why they preferred one culture over another.
Learners’ predisposed and simplified views seem to be the result of their
lack of solid ICC. In this sense, English teachers are called upon to help
students to become more critical in regard to preconceptions of certain
cultural groups. Pre-service teachers need more guidelines to understand that,
for instance, there is not a “better” and “cleaner”
English accent. On the contrary, all cultures and languages are different and
unique, and English variations, from the perspective of lingua franca,2
can never be categorized as “cleaner” or “better,”
because English is a universal language that not only functions as a means for
individuals to communicate worldwide, but has different variations and accents.
English is one of the most popular languages that has
facilitated intercultural encounters regardless of notions of language purity
and appropriate use. Over all, this finding from data suggests that pre-service
teachers still need to create more positive attitudes to respect and value
differences, rather than excluding them just because they have stereotypes and
reductionist labels on them.
Another
relevant finding from data is that pre-service teachers do not have clear
opinions about the people and lifestyles of other cultures. Most of them only
made generalizations and stated ambiguous opinions of foreign people. Views
such as: “American people are more businessmen than Colombian
people” (P4, Q, U1) and “I know that they have a lot of different
aspects of us but I do not know any specific point” (P7, I, U2)
demonstrate that their opinions are hedged on general stereotypes or that they
simply do not know about deep attitudes, particular characteristics, or
cultural behavior of the foreign culture. This information is significant in this
study because it shows again that students have mostly focused on the study of
language forms and on the surface level of cultural aspects and have not
completely envisioned, with their teachers’ help, deep aspects in regard
to complex social relationships. Stereotypes and unawareness of the people of
the target culture lead us to conclude that EFL pre-service teachers still
require developing more conscientious ICC. They must become critical thinkers
who are able to interpret, compare, and discover—skills proposed by Byram (1997)—intricate meanings of the target and
their own culture.
When
pre-service teachers were asked which characteristics a person should have in
order to become aware of cultural aspects, they recognized that an
intercultural person requires having tolerance, openness, respect, patience,
and curiosity. Nonetheless, 16 participants from the three universities did not
answer this question. Similarly, when being asked if they thought they had the
characteristics they had mentioned in the previous question, 44 students were
unable to answer this question (see Figure 4).
Data showed
that although participants listed positive attitudes, they found it difficult
to recognize they held them. It seems to be that pre-service teachers need to
build those positive attitudes, as suggested by Byram
(1997), in order to develop ICC and to be more convinced that they can be
capable of adopting them as part of their qualification to become EFL teachers.
In fact, Byram has stated that any person can become
intercultural, but it requires effort, preparation, and awareness.
Methodologies and Resources Used to Teach and Learn
Culture
The most
common methodology used at both U1 and U3 when discussing culture is
students’ presentations, while at U2 teachers’ presentations are a
salient method. This might indicate that U2 follows a more teacher-centered
approach than U1 and U3, where teachers’ presentations are less frequent.
In this direction, U1 implements teachers’ presentations in a lesser
degree, while U3 students reported that teachers’ presentations are
sporadic, since pre-service teacher education students have to do research on
cultural issues and give their own presentations as part of their preparation
to become English teachers.
In regard to
home videos, U3 participants acknowledged that they often used this kind of
methodology. U1 students sometimes use home videos, while U2 students rarely
use them to learn culture. Role-plays are more used at U2 than in the other two
universities, but the students at the three universities said that they have
sometimes role-played situations related to cultural content. In conclusion, the
most common instructional activity to study culture is through students’
oral presentations.
Students at
the three universities (33 participants out of 51) reported that videos and
movies are the most used resources to study culture in class. However, they did
not give concrete examples of those visual materials. Listening activities rank
the second place. Contrary to what many might think, the Internet was not
recognized as a significant resource in the language classroom. Only seven EFL
education students, out of the 51 mentioned, said they used the Internet as an
effective way to learn culture. Nonetheless, they did not say if they often
used the Internet as an extra class resource to research content for their
presentations. It seems to be that they use the Internet to prepare their presentations
outside the classroom, but it is not often used as a class activity to learn
cultural content.
A third
resource that participants valued is reading materials, including books,
articles, and magazines. Data showed that U2 students have more access to
reading material than U1 and U3 students. This information may be consistent
with the methodologies used at U1 and U3 where teaching culture is mainly based
on students’ presentations. Results indicate that U1 and U3 teachers
still need to encourage learners to read books, documents, and stories as ideal
resources to acquire cultural content in order to complement the oral
presentations they already have as a methodology.
Moreover,
EFL students of pre-service education were very critical about how culture
should be taught in the English class. Essentially, they would like to have
more involvement and more experiential learning. Their answers mostly depended
on the methodology used at each university. U2 students would like to have more
presentations and discussions through which they can compare and contrast
cultural groups. Since U2 students reported that teachers mostly give
presentations, they would like to participate more in class discussions. U1
students asserted that they would like to have a “more reflective,”
“deeper,” and “critical” analysis of cultural content.
They would also like to do research and read books, and if possible, to talk to
and meet native speakers. Some U3 students recognized that the current ways
through which they learn culture are good. However, they would like to have
options different from oral presentations. They suggested the use of real life
situations, reading short stories, and chatting with native people online.
In brief,
participants’ answers from the three universities still demand more
significant methodologies which could involve them in a more critical and
experiential way focused on more meaningful student-centered approaches.
Interestingly enough, students also mentioned that classes should reduce the
great emphasis on grammar and include more cultural content.
Students’
opinions seem to relate to what we observed in the study plans from the three
universities. At U1, the study plan includes six semesters of English courses
in which the cultural component is not evident. It is the teacher’s
decision whether he/she includes any cultural issues to be discussed. However, there
are three courses that address “society” of the foreign language.
Similarly, at U2, all the English courses from first to ninth semesters focus
on the development of language proficiency, but there are four courses that
include cultural components: Language and Communication (fourth sem.);
Language, Society, and Culture (sixth sem.); and Literature in English 1 and 2
(eighth and ninth sem.). By contrast, U3 devotes six courses named
“Anglophone Languages and Cultures.” However, the courses focus on
elements of the surface culture, and this superficiality supports the fact that
the teaching of culture in the EFL context, as claimed by Byram
(1997) and Hinkel (1999), lacks a deeper perspective.
In addition, there are two courses oriented towards one aspect of culture:
English literature in seventh and eighth semesters in which the study of
literary works and authors is addressed. There are four more courses called
Emphasis and Competences Development which in some cases may be oriented
towards the study of culture, but it also depends on the teacher’s
decision when he/she is assigned the course. The description of the study plans
may indicate, when relating them to students’ answers, that teacher and
students are making a great effort to include culture, but, in general, it is
mainly oriented to language study because the study plans neither describe nor
contain cultural aspects to be studied. They only stress the importance of
developing communicative competence through language forms and communicative functions.
The findings
summarized in this section invite us to reflect upon the importance of
including this core component in the teaching of English. In order to reach this
aim, there is a need to re-shape the fundamentals of the EFL context: the institution’s
study plans, the teacher’s conceptions of culture and ICC, the syllabus,
the methodologies, the resources and activities. For instance, institutions can
make the ICC component more visible in their study plans and programs so that
its inclusion does not depend on a teacher’s decision. Similarly,
teachers can replicate effective ICC experiences from their colleagues such as
the one presented by Agudelo (2007) where he
encouraged his students to explore and analyze the relationship between language
and culture and its role in the field of language teaching through the use of
critical pedagogy, and by addressing issues of cultural and linguistic
diversity and intercultural communication.
In addition,
teachers can implement strategies as the ones mentioned by Fleet (2006) in
order to teach culture: Saying in our own words what we have read or heard,
doing research on cultural issues, sharing different culture views,
personalizing cultural contents, discussing cultural misunderstandings, and
giving presentations on lifestyles and different ideologies, among others. We
can use authentic materials as the ones described by Peterson and Bronwyn
(2003): films, news broadcasts, and television shows; websites; photographs,
magazines, newspapers, restaurant menus, travel brochures, and other printed
materials. An example of deep cultural contexts is proposed by Álvarez and Bonilla (2009), who engaged students in
ethnographic work about subcultures (vegetarians, body builders, and gays) in
order to examine and understand diverse groups that deviate from traditional
representations of homogeneous culture.
We
personally suggest discussing literary works, studying history critically
rather than informatively, and addressing conflicting and debatable topics
about discrimination, xenophobia, homophobia, race, gender roles, hatred, human
rights, relations of power, politeness, social differences, consumer societies,
the working class conditions, the world economy, and the growth of
globalization, among others. These topics are not only realistic, but provide
learners with the capacity to become reflective and critical about how people
from other cultures as well as their own see these topics, and how those issues
might favor or affect the relationships among the diverse cultural groups
around the world and within learners’ own cultural backgrounds.
Conclusions and Implications
Based on the
three research questions, findings lead us to address the following
conclusions:
1. The
development of this study helped us envision mainly two assets of English-language
programs so far: (a) Raising students’ awareness on the importance of
cultural topics and their relationship to language. (b) Helping students become
autonomous and interested in learning about cultural topics.
2. Although
cultural content has become part of the language classroom, there must be a significant
change by including both elements of surface and deep culture, since the latter
is poorly studied in the classroom. For the particular professional necessities
of students involved in pre-service teacher education, they need more
instruction on how to teach elements of surface and deep culture in the EFL
context.
3. Pre-service
teachers need further preparation to compare and interpret cultural content.
Rather than just being understanding, they should become more critical about
issues of otherness, power relationships, ideologies, and identity. Since this
kind of learners already possesses an appropriate language level, critical and
interpretative processes might possibly be achieved if teachers incorporate
aspects of deep culture. This change will allow pre-service teachers to become more
critical intercultural learners.
4. Students
involved in teacher education are still influenced by stereotypes and
misconceptions of other cultural groups. This might be caused because the
teaching practices are primarily oriented to the study of superficial culture.
Teachers are called upon to find alternatives so that they help prospective EFL
teachers to reduce false misrepresentations of other people through more
pertinent materials in which cultural conflicts, behaviors, and ideologies can
be discussed.
5. Although
prospective teachers of English in Colombia seem to have a positive attitude
towards culture, there is a great necessity to help them to create stronger
personal attitudes to become intercultural as regards tolerance, curiosity,
readiness, and openness, since they are not totally convinced of having those
attitudes and, in most cases, do not recognize they have them.
6. It
is the responsibility of teacher education programs at the three universities
where the study was conducted to get prospective English teachers aware that
studying culture implies more than just gaining information in a received way
or from a tourist’s perspective. As future educators, they must see
culture as part of their teaching career so that they are able to instruct
their students on ICC and, if possible, contribute to the process of helping
others to face the current process of globalization. Therefore, in regard to
the first research question, pre-service teachers’ perceptions of and
attitude toward cultural content need to be strengthened along their teaching
training so that they might become more prepared EFL teachers.
7. With
respect to the second research question, University teachers should start to
train pre-service teachers in Colombia to become more aware of ICC theories.
ICC can be fostered among pre-service teachers not only through the study of
contents and the development of class activities about culture, but with
theories of what ICC is as they are involved in epistemological discussions
about English teaching methods and theories in order to become better qualified
teachers in the Colombian context and competent intercultural beings in this
globalized world.
It is
important to say that the teaching of culture is best approached by creating an
open and tolerant atmosphere within the school and classroom community itself
(Fleet, 2006), where members surely come from diverse backgrounds of their own
country. Pre-service teachers in particular must value and appreciate their own
national differences to later appreciate foreign groups. Not only celebrating
cultures of all types, but establishing critical views can empower pre-service
teachers to develop critical ICC so that they will be able to accept all
students in the EFL classroom regardless of race, color, social class, age,
sexual orientation, educational level, and ideology. Language should be a means
to learn about all the cultures and subcultures of the world. As found in this
research, pre-service teachers and learners belonging to Language Programs at
several universities in the EFL context still need more preparation,
methodologies, themes, and positive attitudes to become better intercultural
interpreters of diversity and stronger advocators for inclusion and difference.
1 U1, U2, and U3 stand for the three universities where
the study was conducted.
2 A language used to make communication possible among
speakers who do not share a mother tongue, in particular when it is a foreign
language, distinct from speakers’ mother tongues.
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About the Authors
Alba Olaya holds a BA
Degree in Spanish and Modern Languages from Universidad Pedagógica
Nacional (UPN, Colombia), and an MA in Applied
Linguistics from Universidad Distrital Francisco
José de Caldas (Colombia). She is a member of the research group
Hypermedia, Testing, and Teaching English at UPN, and a full time teacher at
Universidad Distrital Francisco José de
Caldas. Her research interests are ICTs and interculturality.
Luis Fernando Gómez Rodríguez holds a BA Degree in
English and Spanish from Universidad Pedagógica
Nacional (Colombia), an MA in Education from Carthage
College, USA, and a PhD in English Studies from Illinois State University, USA.
He is a member of the research group Hypermedia, Testing, and Teaching English,
and a full time teacher at UPN. His research interests are interculturality
and the teaching of literature in EFL.
Answer the
following questions about the incorporation of cultural content in the English
classroom. Feel free to answer in English or Spanish. Be honest with your
answers. They will only be used for academic or research purposes. Your
identity will be confidential.
Section I
1. Do you
consider that the cultural component has been incorporated to the syllabus of
your English class?
Yes:___ No:___
2. Give
a short definition of the following terms:
Culture:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Intercultural
communicative competence:_____________________________________________________________________________
3. If
your answer to Question 1 is Yes, tick the cultures
that have been discussed in your English class.
a. your own
culture ☐
b. Anglophone
cultures ☐
c. other
cultures ☐
4. If
your answer to Question 1 is Yes, which cultural
aspects have been discussed in your English class? (e.g.,
historical aspects, social aspects, tourism, etc.).
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Have you
done research about cultural aspects of other countries by your own initiative?
Yes:___ No:___
Why___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Why not?_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Which
aspects have you taken into account?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. What
kind of cultural knowledge would you like to study in your English class?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Section II
1. Do
you think it is important to incorporate the cultural component in your English
class? Why? Why not?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Do you feel
more inclined to learn about a specific English-speaking culture over another?
Why?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Why not?_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Which ones?____________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What
ideas/opinions do you have about the people and lifestyles of other cultures?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Do
you think you have changed your opinion/ attitude about the cultures based on something
you learned in your English class?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. What
qualities should a person have in order to become aware of cultural aspects? Do
you have any of them?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Section III
1. Which
methodology has been implemented in order to get to know the English-speaking/
Anglophone cultures? Tick the one(s) that apply.
a.
Presentations given by students ☐
b.
Presentations given by the teacher ☐
c.
Home-videos made by students ☐
d.
Role-plays ☐
e. Simulated
TV/radio programs/interviews ☐
Other____________________________________
Please, specify:
________________________________________________________
2. What
kind of resources/materials has been used in your English class to study
cultural content?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. How
do you think the cultural component should be approached in your English
classes?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Appendix B:
Sample of Displayed Data from Questionnaires
Students’ Answers from University 2
Section I: Question 2
