Social Roles

Every individual in a culture has a specific social role in his/her community. Looking for a definition one can say, “a social role represents the cultural expectations of how people in a social position are expected to behave” (De Capua & Wintergerst, 2004, p. 194). These expectations defer from culture to culture. The status of a person influences the expectations of the people around and with it the person’s social role. Learning about different cultural social roles, especially about actions that people are expected or not expected to do, was helpful in order to understand the behaviour of English Native speakers, as well as the behaviour of people from other cultures. As students of this TESOL course about pragmatics and culture it is essential to understand these differences from culture to culture. When working with students from other cultures or preparing students from the own culture for staying in an English culture, differences in social roles should be understood. It can prevent misunderstanding and not excepted behaviour. It can also help the teacher to deal with students, as well as their family member, in a way that is appropriate for them. Looking at the German culture, especially the individualistic role of women can be misunderstood by many other cultures. In addition, a German community does not treat other people, who are already older or have a higher social status, with respect, as it is common in many other cultures. When teaching German students the difference of these social roles should be addressed in order to help German students of the English language to be sensitive for differences in social role behaviour. German students might not necessarily need to be aware of these differences, when visiting an English speaking country, as Western cultures are kind of similar. When visiting non-western countries that use English as a medium of communication, however, Germans should be careful with their behaviour to prevent from offending anyone. Native and non-native language learners of the English language can benefit from knowledge about social roles in different cultures. It helps non-native speakers to reach their goal of communicating properly in the new learned language. It also helps native-speakers to understand people from other cultures better and maybe tolerate some mistakes in connection with expected behaviour.

An interesting factor that should be considered, when talking about social roles, is the problem of many societies that force people into a specific social role. The “social-role theory” says that many women and men confirm social stereotypes, because of the behavioural expectations of their society (Vogel, Wester, Heesacker, & Madon, 2003). I believe that students should be aware of that. TESOL teachers can also awake an awareness of injustice, caused by wrong expectations of social roles. Students should not only be aware of differences, but see possible problems in their own society and be open for change.

 

DeCapua, A. & Wintergerst, A. (2004). Crossing cultures in the language classroom. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan University.

Vogel, D.L., Wester, S.R., Heesacker, M., & Madon, S. (2003). Confirming gender stereotypes: A social role perspective. Sex Roles, 48(11/12), 519-528.

 

Culture Shock

Culture shock is something that can not be avoided, when staying in another culture for a longer time. It can be helpful to know about its causes, its stages and to understand why it is happening. Especially for TESOL teachers and in connection with this course about implications of culture, it seems to be important to know about culture shock, as teachers might be in close contact with people from other cultures or prepare students to be able to communicate and eventually live in another culture. De Capua and Wintergerst (2004, pp. 209-211) describe four different stages of culture shock: The honeymoon or tourist stage, culture shock, adjustment or acculturation stage and the recovery or adaption stage. The experience of the stage of culture shock can be experienced very different from one person to the other. It seems that some people enter the stage of culture shock earlier and others later, while some experience it longer and heavier, and others experience the culture shock only slightly and shortly. One aspect that influences this stage of culture shock and the following process of adjustment appears to be the person’s personality and character. For some personality types it might be easier to adjust to another culture and environment than for others.

While experiencing culture shock the attitude of the person often decides on how people from the new culture will treat him or her (Oberg, n.d.). Aggressive or frustrated behavior leads to rejection and avoidance from the people of the host country (Oberg, n.d.). Knowing about culture shock and its stages can help a person to understand what is happening and try to act solution orientated, without letting out negative emotions too much.
Culture shock can affect language learning of non-native speakers a lot. Feeling disturbed by the people of the new culture can hinder the success in learning the new language. I believe that the Native speakers of that new language can also help the person, who is experiencing culture shock, if they know about its process and understand the feelings of the language learner.

It is good to know that after the culture shock, the stage of adjustment is following and the person will build up a new identity that is able to live in the new culture happily. When teaching in Germany, I think that the topic of culture shock should be adressed for two reasons. First, it can help and prepare students, who plan to stay in an English speaking country for a longer time. The second reason is that covering the topic about culture shock can help students in the German classroom to understand foreign students better. As Germany has many immigrants, that can be very helpful for the school climate.

DeCapua, A. & Wintergerst, A. (2004). Crossing cultures in the language classroom. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan University.

Oberg, L. (n.d.). Culture shock and the problem of adjustment to new cultural environments. Consortium for International and Multicultural Studies. Retrieved from http://www .worldwide.edu/travel_planner/culture_shock.html

Teaching Culture

This week we discussed about teaching culture. While looking for a definition of culture one will find many descriptions for it. Culture seems to be very complex. A good classification is the subdivision of culture into Culture and culture: Culture including art architecture, theatre, dance, music and literature and culture including morals, beliefs, values, norms and customs (Kumaravadilu, 2008, p. 10).

When it comes to teaching another language, culture can not be ignored. I believe that one’s culture gains importance when it collides with another culture. When students learn a new language, they automatically get in contact with a new culture. De Capua and Wintergerst (2004) point out that one always sees other people and things through the glasses shaped by one’s past and surrounding culture. When learning a new language, one will communicate with people that think, feel and act differently. Applying that to the Germany culture, however, includes much less possible conflicts and problems than apllying it to other cultures, as the English and German culture are both Western cultures and do not have many major differences.

However, it is normal to think about one’s own values, attitudes and beliefs as being right, but interacting with other cultures or learning about other cultures requires looking above personal convictions and being open for others’ beliefs and ways of living.

A study conducted during the fall term of the academic year 2003-2004 showed that 100 percent of the students, who took a “culture course”, confirmed that the class contributed to any of their language skills as well as changed their attitudes towards the target culture (Genc & Bada, 2005). This study emphasises that educators have the responsibility to introduce their students to other cultures and develop a sensitivity and openness for different cultures. It supports the importance of discussing the topic about teaching culture in our TESOL class. Understanding the importance and effects of teaching culture is one of the main goals of this course "Pragmatic Implications of Culture and History for TESOL". Even if nowadays teaching of culture inside the English classroom still receives a lot of critique (De Capua & Wintergerst, 2004), teachers seem to put more focus on this important aspect of language learning, which helps students to understand people from other cultures as well as improves their language skills.

DeCapua, A. & Wintergerst, A. (2004). Crossing cultures in the language classroom. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan University.

Genc, B., & Bada, E. (2005). Culture in language learning and teaching. The Reading Matrix, 5(1), 73-84. Retrieved from http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/genc_bada/article.pdf