Abstract: On NOT Teaching Culture
Format: Workshop/Plenary
Time: 45 minutes
Title: “On NOT Teaching Culture: Giving Students Tools for a Future without Borders”
Target Students: Intermediate to advanced, any age group
When teaching “culture,” many EFL teachers focus on the simple academic learning of various traditions, rules of behavior and values of one or more groups of people. In this workshop, we will explore reasons why this is an insufficient method for preparing non-native speakers of English for a future in which the chances students will interact with native speakers of English will continue to shrink.
Firstly, the word “culture” has become less and less useful, since it is a mostly abstract notion that allows little room for the enormous diversity within even small groups of people who would claim to be members of the same culture.
It is perhaps more useful to look at interaction between peoples of different backgrounds as interdiscourse communication, since it can be said that two people who grew up in the same neighborhood, but have entirely different groups of friends and colleagues, may have a very hard time communicating with each other.
In addition, we now live in a world where there are more non-native speakers of English than native speakers, where English as an international language is growing more and more relevant. Thus, our students’ opportunities for conversing with non-native speakers will be drastically higher in the future.
Thus, I propose that students be given a basic notion of the need for simple awareness that all people come to every interaction with often very different expectations. In addition, students should be made aware of the various ranges of possibilities for such expectations, including those of personal space, face-saving, eye contact, solidarity, deference and topic introduction.
In this workshop, we will explore these concepts and practice some activities designed for intermediate to advanced students of English to develop their skills of intercultural communication.
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