CULTURAL CONTENT IN SPEAKING FOR EVERYDAY
COMMUNICATION CLASS IN ENGLISH TEACHER
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF STATE ISLAMIC
UNIVERSITY OF SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA
THESIS
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Sarjana
Pendidikan (S.Pd) in Teaching English
By
NUR ATIKA FITRIA
NIM D75211071
ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS TRAINING
SUNAN AMPEL STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
ABSTRACT
Fitria, N.A. (2015). CulturalContent in Speaking for Everyday Communication Class in English Teacher Education Department of State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya. A Thesis, English Teacher Education Department, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, Sunan Ampel State Islamic University, Surabaya, Advisor: Hilda Izzati Madjid, MA.
Key Words: cultural content, language learning, culture teaching
D. Significance of the Study ... 9
E. Scope and Limitation ... 10
F. Definition of Key Term ... 10
CHAPTER II : REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Review of Related Literature ... 12
1. Language ... 12
b. Standards for Foreign Language Learning Theory ... 15
4. Interrelation between Language and Culture ... 18
5. How to Teach Culture in Language Class ... 19
6. Benefits of Incorporating Cultural Content in Language Classroom.... 25
CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHOD
A. Approach and Research Design ... 31
B. Researcher Presence ... 32
H. Checking Validity of Findings ... 43
I. Research Stages ... 44
CHAPTER IV : RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION A. Findings ... 45
1. Cultural Content Taught in Speaking for Everyday Communication Class ... 46
a. Chapter 1: Me & Myself ... 49
b. Chapter 2: My Schedule ... 52
c. Chapter 3: Gorgeous ... 53
d. Chapter 4: Favorite Sport ... 56
e. Chapter 5: Final Exam ... 59
2. How Cultural Content Taught in Speaking for Everyday Communication Class ... 61
B. Discussion ... 73
1. Cultural Content Taught in Speaking for Everyday Communication Class ... 73
a. Chapter 1: Introduction ... 74
b. Chapter 2: Punctuality ... 74
c. Chapter 3: Ways of Describing People ... 75
d. Chapter 4: Sports and Sports Terms ... 76
e. Chapter 5: Greeting Response ... 77
f. Chapter 6: Date and Time ... 78
g. Chapter 7: Politeness Strategies ... 79
h. Chapter 8: Advice Giving ... 79
i. Chapter 9: Hand Gestures and Other Non-verbal Communication ... 80
j. Chapter 10: Hand Gestures and Other Non-verbal Communication ... 81
k. Chapter 11: Internet Site ... 82
l. Chapter 12: Classroom Environment ... 83
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION
A. Conclusion ... 92 B. Suggestion ... 94
LIST OF TABLES
3.1.Techniques for Collecting Data. ... 36
3.2.Data Classification and Analysis ... 42
4.1.Result of the Students Interview ... 47
4.2.Introduction Dialog ... 49
4.3.Culture Corner in Chapter 1 (My & Myself) ... 50
4.4.Culture Corner in Chapter 2 (My Schedule) ... 52
4.5.Vocabulary for Describing People Complexion ... 53
4.6.Culture Corner in Chapter 3 (Gorgeous) ... 55
4.7.Culture Corner in Chapter 4 (Favorite Sport) ... 57
4.8.Culture Corrner in Chapter 5 (Final Exam) ... 59
4.9.Culture Corner in the First Observation ... 62
4.10.Culture Corner in the Second Observation ... 64
4.11.The Third Picture and the Description Box ... 69
4.12.Dialog Transcript about Freckles ... 69
4.13.Culture Corner in the Third Observation ... 70
4.14. Cultural Teaching Approach and Steps Based on the Lesson Plan ... 71
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1The Culture Triangle (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, 1999, p.47) from Oxana Dema and Aleidine J. Moeller
in “Teaching Culture in 21st Century Language Classroom” ... 17
LIST OF APENDICES
Appendix 1 Interview Guideline for Lecturer
Appendix 2 Interview Guideline for Students
Appendix 3 Cultural Material from the Coursebook
Appendix 4 The Lecturer’s Lesson Plan
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
The general language definition is “a matter of a series of words with a sequence of rules to connect them all together in order to create the purposed meaning from the
speaker.”1 In a deeper understanding of language definition, the language is not merely viewed as a code whose learning scopes are grammar, sentence construction
and vocabulary only. Language is not a thing to be studied but a way of seeing,
understanding and communicating about the world and each language user uses his or
her language(s) differently to do this.2
A shallow language definition can make the language itself being comprehended
in a narrow understanding and consequently affects in language acquisition, moreover
if the paradigm of learning language is more emphasized on the form of language
than the meaning or the context used in language practice. Otherwise, language has
broader understanding than as a mere form, language is seen as a social practice
which involves the rich complexities of communication, something that people
employ in daily basis to express and convey the meaning with the intention to
establish and continue the interaction with the society surrounding. In a nutshell, the
1
The Australian Government.Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.Language, Culture and Learning.(Canberra: GPO. 2005), 2.
2
2
main objective of language use is to keep the social and interpersonal relationship in
human being’s life. Therefore, language cannot be learnt from vocabulary and
grammar only, but people or learners also need to know how that language is used to
create and represent meanings and how to communicate with others and engage into
communication.3 Svalberg stated that in order to achieve that goal, it requires the
development of awareness of the nature of language and its impact on the world.4 It
means that cultural awareness is required in language learning process to attain the
function of language as a social practice.
Integrating culture in language learning has been realized and become a concern
by many experts and authors for decades. It happened because language is always
used to refer something beyond itself depending on its own society, which means the
language meaning refer to distinctive cultural context. In foreign language learning,
language and culture position will reflect on learners’ attitude and process
significantly in learning a new language. Without learning the target language’s culture, the comprehension of the meaning will be inaccurate and incomplete. Noted,
inaccurate and incomplete comprehension in communication can lead conversation
by the communicators into misunderstanding and misinterpretation which can result
into any tangible or intangible conflict. Hence, language and culture cannot stand
alone without influencing and impacting each other.
3
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 16.
4
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
3
The way to introduce the culture in the class is by delivering cultural content
information within the materials. Quoted by Frank, Cohen stated that cultural content
refers to things like the beliefs, values, customs, products, and the communication
styles of a given culture or society.5 As mentioned before that language cannot exist
without any influence of its socio-cultural condition where the language is derived,
and in conversely, without language, cultural content cannot be transmitted to other
people. The reciprocal relationship of those two entities shows that culture and
language is inseparable thing. Thus, if one person starts learning a new language, they
cannot ignore the context of that target language used in the conversation by setting
aside the inter-cultural knowledge.
Due to this issue, language learners are not only demanded to understand the
linguistic matter, but also to learn and understand the context, which means that
students should associate the meaning with time, place and circumstance of the target
language society. Then, learning language is not simply learning communication, but
also learning how the language allows the speaker to adjust the linguistics aspect and
meaning in order to be accepted socially in both the learners’ own and target
language’s society. Thereby, it requires cross-cultural knowledge.
In addition, the relationship between language and culture is more emphasizing in
verbal communication or in the other words related with speaking skill. In that case,
5Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness
4
the incorporation between speaking skill as a part of language learning and cultural
content is a crucial and significant matter.
Unfortunately, the introduction of diverse cultural content in language classroom
is not considered very important since culture learning is not the exclusive domain of
language educators. Culture content has always been a marginal aspect and put down
into minor area in language learning process. That contrasts with what Tang states,
“the true content of the foreign language course is not the grammar and the
vocabulary of the language, but the cultures expressed through that language.”6 Thus, it means the proper content that should be learned as well in a language is the cultural
content. However, Salem states that culture remains the weakest component of our
curricula; cultural teaching remains insubstantial and sporadic in most language
classes, especially those related to the Less Commonly Taught Languages.7
State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya faces this problem as well.
Thus far, there is a boundary between cultural knowledge and language learning since
it is considered as two different subjects instead of integrated one. For instance, in
English Teacher Education Department of State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel,
although there are specific classes available for both culture material in cross-cultural
understanding class and language material in several classes specifically for speaking
6
Oxana Dema,- Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in the 21st Century Language Classroom”.Faculty Publications:Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teaching Education,.Paper 181, 2012, 77.
7Nada M. Salem, “Teaching Cultures: Problems and Solutions”.
5
class, those are held in different classes or both materials are seemed as two separated
and unrelated courses. Therefore, the cultural-embedded teaching in speaking classes
is necessary since learners need to attain the cultural information to speak and convey
its meaning in precise and appropriate manner.
In the case of speaking class, the cultural content inserted in teaching learning
process and materials is very lacking. The outset indication of this problem shown by
inadequate cultural substances taught within class. According to one of the speaking
class lecturers, Mr. Sigit8, there is no sufficient time to insert cultural content in
speaking class lesson appropriately. Notwithstanding, he said that actually there is
cultural information attached in the students’ course book, but it is not delivered to students frequently, even sometimes it is not included in learning process.
The absence of cultural content in the classroom may be caused by many factors.
There are two main indicated reasons behind why the cultural content is meagerly
taught or not embedded well as contended by Salem; (1) the first problem teachers
are facing is that of an overcrowded curriculum.9 Many teachers find it difficult to
spare their time to deliver the cultural information since there are lots of other
materials need to be delivered as the curriculum demand. Due to lack of time,
teachers tend to disregard the cultural knowledge and more emphasize the linguistic
form. The culture content is mostly considered insignificant for learning process. (2)
8
The lecturer of Speaking for Everyday Communication Class in English Teacher Education Department of State Islamic University of SunanAmpel Surabaya.
9
6
The second problem faced by is the fear of not well-informed.10 Mostly EFL teachers
are afraid of teaching culture because of misconception of teaching mindset that
teaching culture is solely about transferring cultural fact.
That mislead paradigm of cultural teaching emerges the fear to teach culture since
they feel their knowledge about target language’s culture is limited since they lack of foreign experiences as well.11 Furthermore, the available methods and materials are
still meager. It is becoming worse as teachers only think that they need to deliver the
factual culture information and disrespect the analysis of deeper sense within culture
like norm, beliefs and values. In fact, teaching culture is not only merely about
imparting the facts to students, but also about process rather than the facts. Moreover,
the foreign culture sometimes commonly is seen bad and biased because of media
these days. It makes the teacher has more anxiety for the teacher to teach cultural
substances, especially about the foreign values. However, in every society in the
world, there are always some positive and negative traits thus teacher role is to filter
them and transfer it in a better way toward students.
Integrating culture in language classroom is not something in vain, considering
the advantages carried by it. One of the most significant benefits of
cultural-embedded teaching is intercultural competence. The starting-point for understanding
interculturality as a part of language proficiency lies in an examination of the notion
10
Nada M. Salem, “Teaching Cultures: Problems…
7
of ‘communicative competence’.12
As quoted by Liddicoat from Hymes and Troike,
communicative competence means everything that speakers need to know in order to
communicate properly within a particular speech community.13 Accordingly, the
main benefit of incorporating the cultural content in language class is helping
students to gain and improve that communicative competence by introducing and
teaching different cultures and contexts.
In essence, culture is something that cannot be separated from language and
inextricably bound up; without language, culture will not be possible represented
well, and without culture, language will be like a tree without roots.14 Thereby, the
cultural content is something essential in almost each English class, especially in EFL
context. Thus, this research takes place in speaking classes in order to examine
whether the class contains the cultural substance or not, and also the techniques used
by lecturer to deliver them.
Pertaining to this issue, there have been several previous studies that inquire the
connection between those two variables; culture and language. First, a research which
is written by Bilal Genc and Erdogan Bada entitled “Culture in Language Learning
and Teaching”15
that delves the students of The ELT department of Çukurova
University in Turkey responses and opinions about the effect of learning culture.
12Anthoy J. Liddicoat, et.al., “Report on Intercultural Language Learning”,
Australian Government: Department of Education, Science and Training. July 2013, 10.
13Anthoy J. Liddicoat, et.al., “Report on Intercultural...
14Li Sun, “Culture Teaching in Foreign Language Teaching”,
Theory and Practice in Language Studies.Vol. 3 No.2, February 2013, 371.
15
8
Moreover, this study illustrates how statements of language teaching experts are
proven by the result of this research to support culture-embedded learning can be
beneficial for language learning.
The second research is by Mohamed Amin A. Mekheimer and Hamad S. Aldosari
entitled “Impediments in Cultural Teaching in EFL Programmes at Saudi Arabia University”16
. This study reviews the cultural teaching specifically through literature
means. Furthermore, it also explores the faculty and the students’ attitudes and
perception toward cultural-embedded teaching by literature as the ultimate
manifestation of cultural expression.
Third research entitled, “Is It Culture or Is It Language? Examination of Language Effects in Cross-Cultural Research on Categorization, by Li-Jun Ji, Richard
E. Nisbett, Zhiyong Zhang17. This research makes inquiry about the relationship
between cultural background and categorization style which occurred in Chinese
descendant. The research took Chinese with different backgrounds and in several
different places as their objects to confirm whether place and starting point time in
learning second language can influence their style to categorize certain words.
Comparing with those three previous studies, this research takes different focus
and topic. While, the abovementioned studies focus and emphasize more on benefits
and relations carried by cultural teaching based on students’ perspective, this study
16
Mohamed Amin A. Mekheimer-Hamad S. Aldosari, “Impediments in Cultural Teaching in EFL
Programmes at Saudi Arabia University”, Journal of Intercultural Communication. Issue 26, July 2011.
17Li Jun Ji, et.al., “Is it Culture or Is It Language? Examination of Language Effects in Cross
-Cultural
9
emphasizes on what cultural contents inserted in language classes. Thus, this research
did not investigate what are the advantages; otherwise it examined on how extent
cultural aspects which is believed can be beneficial in language learning has been
involved and delivered in language classroom.
B. Research Questions
1. What cultural content has been taught in speaking for everyday
communication class?
2. How has cultural content been taught in speaking for everyday
communication class?
C. Objective of the Study
According to the statement of research problem, this study has certain objectives
as follow:
1. Toknowwhat materialsof cultural content taught in speaking classroom.
2. To investigate how the cultural content was delivered to the students.
D. Significance of the Study
The research intended to determine in what extent and aspect the cultural
information taught in speaking class. Therefore, lecturer and students can be aware
10
EFL classes. For particularly, the teacher or lecturer, the result of this study can
become a consideration to embedding cultural teaching in their class as often as
possible–with suitable strategy and materials for speaking class students since language and culture are inseparable. It can be accomplished by the educators
through analyzing in which part cultural learning can help students better.
E. Scope and Limitation of the Study
This study was conducted in State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel (UIN
Sunan Ampel) Surabaya. The subject of the study is the students of speaking classes
in English Teacher Education Department. The study focused on investigating what
and how much the information of target language’s culture embedded in speaking class. The research is limited on content usage as an integral part of language
learning. Moreover, it was searching any further information about the
implementation of certain strategy to embed the cultural knowledge in speaking
class. However, this study is neither going to investigate the further information
about the effects and influences of cultural content in second language learning
process nor how the students attitude toward the cultural-embedded learning.
F. Definition of Key Terms
1. Cultural content: substantive information related with the quality in a person
11
letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.18. In this study, cultural content
defines as any materials contain with cultural information related with the
native English speaker’ context embedded in speaking class. Cultural information here refers to knowledge that represents of a particular
understanding of real things and abstract concepts as the manifestation of
Native English speakers culture.
2. Language learning: the process by which humans acquire the capacity to
perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate, this
capacity involves the picking up of diverse capacities including syntax,
phonetics, and an extensive vocabulary; the language might be vocal as with
speech or manual as in sign.19 In this study’s context, language learning means the process of learning and acquiring English as the foreign language.
3. Culture teaching: Also called as cultural transmission is the process through
Dictionary.com, Culture, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture, accessed on February 20th 2015.
19
Cognitive Atlas, Language Learning, http://www.cognitiveatlas.org/concept/language_learning, accessed on September 29th 2014.
20
Springer Reference, Cultural Transmission,
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES
This chapter presents review of related literature which is used as the foundation
and reference related to this study. Mainly, this chapter will be divided into three
main parts sub-chapter; language and culture, how to teach culture in language class,
and the benefits of incorporating culture in language classroom.
A. Review of Related Literature 1. Language
There are some descriptions of the language term based on its function.
Language can be seen as a code or a social practice. In its function as code,
“language is made up of words and a series of rules that connect words together.”1
While, from the different view, quoted from Shohamy, “an understanding of language as ‘open, dynamic, energetic, constantly evolving and personal”2
,
indicates that language cannot be seen from the linguistic aspect only, instead of
that, “a language is a way of seeing, understanding and communicating about the world and each language user uses his or her language(s) differently to do this.”3 Hence, this understanding implies that language term is not enough to be
1
The Australian Government.Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.Language, Culture and Learning.(Canberra: GPO. 2005), 2.
2
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
Language, Culture and … 2.
3
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
13
considered merely as a code, but as a social practice. It means that language
definition cannot be limited only in linguistic matter, instead as a means to
communicate and establish interpersonal relationship in society.
2. Culture
Based on the “Teaching and Learning Languages: A Guide”, "One way in
which culture has often been understood is as a body of knowledge that people
have about a particular society.”4
However, as a body of knowledge, there are
several dimensions to see a culture as knowledge such as culture about knowledge
of works of arts, places and institutions, events and symbols, and ways of living.
In the case of education, specifically, language education, all of that knowledge in
which a part of cultural content scope can be considered as a set of learnable rules
aimed for students to be noticed and understood. The cultural information which
is acquired should not be merely about the cultural facts exemplified about music,
food or holiday stuffs, but also in the deeper sense of culture such as the values,
norms or beliefs of its society, because culture understanding essentially is how to
grasp a framework and paradigm of a particular group of people live and
communicate shared meanings with each other
4
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
14
3. Cultural content
First of all, remember that Cultural Content term in this research only refers to
cultural information of the target language society, or in the other words, it
denotes to native speakers cultures.
a. Allwood Theory
According to Allwood (1990), there are two main parts of culture-embedded
information that generally associated with language teaching;
1. Factual Cultural Information
Parts of culture involved as cultural information are; (1) Physical
geography; natural environment, climate, natural resources, (2) Cultural
geography; demographic distribution, routes of transportation, exploitation of
the natural environment, (3) History Religious and other significant
ideologies, (4) Political and social institutions, (5) Types of industry, (6)
Types of commerce, (7) Types of contacts with other groups, (8) Customs of
habitation, (9) Customs of eating, (10) Customs of clothing, (11) Leisure,
Sports and holidays.5
The factual information above is mostly contained in books, comics,
movies or video films. However, the students can obtain the information
inside the classroom if the teacher wants to employ the usage of authentic
5Jens Allwood. “On The Role of Cultural Content and Cultural Context in Language
15
material like essay, article, magazine, and so forth or do the role-play as one
its methodology to acquire cultural content. While the factual information
actually is a part of culture that still considered as shallow and superficial, but
in the case of language learning, the beginning of cross cultural awareness
initially started with those stuffs.
2. Attitudes and Values
Below is the information that is included as attitudinal and values focus:
family, child rearing, love and sex, friendship, sex roles, work, authority,
hospitality, beauty, time, space, goals of life, view of death, criteria for belief
and knowledge, view of the Divine and/or supernatural, metaphysics.6 The
information included as attitudes and values generally relate with the
paradigm or behavior of target language people toward intangible matter such
as the human relationship or any other deeper sense opinion.
b. Standards for Foreign Language Learning (3Ps) Theory
Another theory concerned with teaching culture is stated in Standards for
Foreign Language Learning (National Standards in Foreign Language Education
Project, 1999) which provides a framework of three elements of culture; “the philosophical perspectives, the behavioral practices, and the products –both
tangible and intangible of a society.”7
16
Accordingly, there are three basic components of culture that integrate one
another known as 3P, which are: Perspectives are what members of a culture
think, feel, and value, Practices are how members communicate and interact
with one another, and Products are the things members of a group create, share,
and transmit to the next generation, ex: technology, music, art, food, literature,
etc.8 It means that ‘perspective’ represents the attitude and behavioral side,
‘practice’ is about the interaction and interpersonal relationship matter, stated by Lafayette cultural practices are, ‘patterns of behavior accepted by a society’, or in the other words are ‘what to do where and when’.9It also includes any other forms of procedural aspects of cultures such as rites of passage and use of the
forms of discourse.10It means that Practices emanates from cultural practical
way including interaction, rites, and discourse form. While ‘products’ are culture manifestations which embodying as a real form that can be seen, listened, read
or experienced by human body senses.11
Products are easily identified, even they come in tangible or intangible form,
yet they are easier to be observed rather than the other two categories; practices
and perspectives.12Practices and Perspectives are more difficult to notice and its
feature is so subtle because they bound up and ingrained in society interaction
and their way of life, so people think it is something normal or ‘right’way to
8Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3. 9
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21stCentury… 78. 10
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21stCentury… 78. 11Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 3.
17
dosomething.13People will think that there is nothing much distinctive or special
with something they always do comparing tothe other cultures’ people do; therefore those two categories are more difficult to recognize. The relationship
between three elements of culture is represented in triangle diagram as in below:
FIGURE 2.1The Culture Triangle (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, 1999, p.47) from Oxana Dema and Aleidine J. Moeller in
“Teaching Culture in 21stCentury Language Classroom”
18
According to the Standards for Foreign Language Learning (1999) regarding
to the teaching culture:
2.1 Students should demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between
the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.14
2.2 Students should demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between
the products and perspectives of the culture studied.15
Based on standard points above, it can be seen that the three categories of
cultures are intertwined and influencing one another. Perspectives at the top of
the culture triangle show that perspectives are a main source of the culture and
the other two categories; practices and products are derived from it.16
4. Interrelation Between Language and Culture
The main concern of learning another language is comprehending the
relationship between language and culture. “In actual language use, it is not the case that it is only the forms of language that convey meaning. It is language in its
cultural context that creates meaning: creating and interpreting meaning is done
within a cultural framework.”17
Moreover, Liddicoat, Papademetre, Scarino, &
Kohler stated that “learning to communicate in an additional language involves
developing an awareness of the ways in which culture interrelates with language
14
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21st Century Language Classroom”,
Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education.Paper 181, 2012, 78. 15
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21stCentury… 78. 16
19
whenever it is used.”18 It means that language can reflect its society’s culture. Once language is used by speakers, it is inevitable to not link the language to its
culture since both variables are bound up together. Learners need to learn target
language’s culture to both, enhance their language skill and improve the cross-cultural awareness in order to carry the precise meaning and avoid any
misunderstanding meaning interpretation in speaking.
5. How to Teach Culture in Language Class
Numerous strategies and techniques in teaching culture in language classroom
have been developing for years. Certain strategies to incorporate cultural content
in language are necessary to achieve intended class’s goals and objectives. There
are several strategies to embedding culture in language classroom based on Frank
in his journal “Raising Cultural Awareness in the English Language Classroom” which are by cultural collections, web quests, cultural “informants”, role-plays, cultural observations, and culture journals.
First strategy is cultural collection. This strategy requires the use of authentic
materials as many as possible in various formats. Learners and teachers can
employ lots of media such as movies, music, literature or everyday items as a
means to feel, analyze and sense the target’s language culture in more tangible
way. Learners could be asked to describe and identify those authentic materials
18
The Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,
20
based on their use, function or criteria in order to enhance their understanding in
target language’s culture. Furthermore, the use of authentic collections also can be
a media to compare between the students’ culture and foreign culture that they learn exemplify students can explain how a particular material have different
function or use in their country and how it represent their country’s culture. The
benefits of this strategy are beside that students will be more interest and
encourage understanding the cultural content in real way which is also fun for
them, it also easy to be integrated with the topic within language classroom.19
Second is web quest. This strategy requires reliable internet connections and
access to computers. The teacher will ask the learners to make a report with
certain cultural topic like food, music or etiquette. The report will analyze the
background information of cultural practice, for example; “why do people do the
things they do?” This report will be such a mini-research which conducted based
on the internet sources, and the teacher’s role is provide them the information of
internet sites related with the topic. The details of the report can be either,
designed by either the teacher or the students themselves. It should be noted that
the report will be based on several questions to investigate the history, origin, or
even comparison of culture aspects. The final task of this strategy is presenting
their report in front of the class using creative media such as power point, poster,
21
or properties. The benefits of this technique are it improves students’ observation, cultural awareness and English skill at once.20
Third is cultural “informant” strategy. This technique employs the native speaker or proficient non-native speaker as the cultural informer or source. They
will be invited to the class and explain the specific aspect of their culture. Yet, the
students should have prepared some questions to ask beforehand. The questions
may be about that native local’s culture or even how is the behavioral standpoint
of foreigners while implementing their culture, for instance; Is it okay in your
country to ________? Why do people in your country ________? This strategy
can also be an opportunity to give reciprocal feedback and teach the informant
about students’ culture. It is going to be a chance for students to have cross
cultural understanding by comparing both cultures while practicing their speaking
skill as well.21
The fourth strategy is using role play. Role plays can engage the students
wholly to be more feeling and empathic with the situation of different context by
simulating situation in the role-plays. “For example, students can think of ways communication may fail between people from high- and low-context cultures and
invent scenarios to illustrate how problems arise.”22
While, some students perform
in front of the class, the rest of it can become audiences which observing and
analyzing the play. They can do a discussion related with how miscommunication
20
22
can take place, how it can be avoided and how to overcome it. Therefore, the
teacher should prepare in advance about the issue or the situation that they will
perform. The details included the outline’s play, the role and proportion’s given to
each student, and the messages behind the play should be designed clearly by the
teacher. Furthermore, ensure that students can give teacher relevant feedback and
constructive opinion toward the situation being played out.23
The fifth is using culture observations. The students will be asked to collect
the cultural practices products of their own culture and target language’s culture
first, like movie, music, poetry, books, magazines, etc. Afterwards, students can
conduct the observation by describing the behavior and those products, then find
the similarities and differences between two cultures and discuss it together with
other students. By comparing and understand the significances of each culture, the
students will improve their intercultural competence and their critical thinking
skill. Furthermore, language skill also can be practice while observing the
products they read, hear or see.24
The last technique is culture journals. Culture journal is a kind of journal that
is used to reflect the students’ cultural experience and feeling toward both their own culture and the culture they are being studied. Teacher can give five to ten
minutes at the end of class session to reflect their cultural experience they get
along the class, or might be the cultural insight they get outside the classroom.
23
The journal is meant to be a recording of thoughts, emotions, and reactions to the
activities in the classroom and serve as records of experiences that can help
students reflect on their growth toward becoming intercultural competent.25
Furthermore, Dema and Moeller suggest some approaches used in
incorporating culture content in language classroom with more recent way in their
paper “Teaching Culture in 21st Century Language Classroom”. The strategy suggested is emphasized in technology usage to support the learning process.
Integrated technology in learning can be an effective and engaging method to
teach culture. There are some media which are perceived to help students learning
culture such as Web 2.0 and digital media.
Means included as Web 2.0 media are forums, blogs, social networking, wiki,
and so forth. Quoted from Ducate and Lomicka that “Teachers find blogs attractive for at least two reasons—interactivity and collaboration”26 Furthermore, Ducate and Lomicka have applied the using of Web 2.0 media, especially blog to
give a model how this strategy implemented in the classroom. Mainly, the
students are asked to run their own blogs using a blog server in the target
language as their project. By blogging, the students need to read, write and
express themselves using target language. The topics varied from daily life, to
current events and popular culture of language they learn. The benefits of
blogging project are that they can feel and experience virtually the taste of target
25
Jerrold Frank, “Raising Cultural Awareness… 10. 26
24
language culture. If it is observed from the 3P culture triangle, the using of blog
emphasizes in practices and perspectives elements. Furthermore, blogging project
helps students improve their language skill, mainly reading and writing skill as
well as their vocabulary and grammar. However, the foremost benefit is enriching
their knowledge of L2 culture.27
Another way to integrate technology in teaching culture is using movie or
video. Actually, movie or video are well known as a means to teach since years
ago, but nowadays teacher can integrate it with more various and sophisticated
digital media. Quoted from Aparisi, Blanco and Rinca that “Feature films have become readily available and have been included in numerous textbooks and
designed to actively involve the learner”28
The usage of video can be conducted
by having the learners to watch target language movie or video as their
coursework. Students can listen to scripted video which introduce them about
people, customs, traditions, foods, cites and other things which presented in
culturally authentic situation. The advantages of this method are learners can
improve the understanding about foreign language culture and associate their
activities related based on the video. By watching the image of second language
culture, norms, habits and interaction, learners can develop cross cultural
27
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21stCentury… 83. 28
25
understanding more and decrease misunderstanding due to one sided judgment
about foreign culture.29
6. Benefits of Incorporating Cultural Content in Language Classroom As an integral part of language, culture knowledge carries many advantages.
According to Kitao as quoted by Genc&Bada which giving reference to several
authors about some of the benefits of teaching culture such as in below:
Firstly, Stainer contends, “studying culture gives students a reason to study the target language as well as rendering the study of second language
meaningful.”30
It means that the learners will not only study the language from the
linguistic or form basic, but also understanding the meaning or the use of the
language depends on the context. Culture can be another motivation as well for
learners to start study second language.
Secondly, Chastain states, “providing access into cultural aspect of language, learning culture would help learners relate the abstract sounds and forms of a
language to real people and places.”31
Sometimes the main difficulty in learning
language is understanding that the native speakers of target language are real
person in real places, therefore the cultural content is needed to bring the real
29
OxanaDema - Aleidine J. Moeller, “Teaching Culture in 21stCentury… 83-84. 30
Bilal Genc - ErdoganBada, “Culture in Language Learning and… 74. 31
students are always curious and interested in foreign culture. Classroom with
cultural content are much more preferred than traditional classes that learn the
language form only.34
Fourth, besides these benefits, studying culture gives learners a liking for the
native speakers of the target language. Such Cooke asserts that, “studying culture also plays a useful role in general education; studying culture, we could also learn
about the geography, history, etc. of the target culture.”35
In addition to the advantages abovementioned, the prominent purpose of
teaching culture in language classroom actually is to improve cross-cultural
communicative competence. First of all, the basic purpose of the students learn
the second language is because they want to be able communicate with foreign
people, especially from the target language countries, and cultural transfer process
in classroom is a kind of preparation form for language learners in case that they
will communicate with foreigners later in the future. The definition of cross
32
Bilal Genc - ErdoganBada, “Culture in Language Learning and … 74. 33
Bilal Genc - ErdoganBada, “Culture in Language Learning and … 74. 34
Bilal Genc - ErdoganBada, “Culture in Language Learning and … 74-75. 35
27
cultural communication itself is when people who are from different background,
culture, and nations perform interaction or communication. Accordingly, as
quoted by Zhou from Spitzberg that cross-cultural communicative competence is
a specific speakers’ ability that indicates: “The competence which follows the
acclimation rules to the society and meanwhile achieve the purpose of the
cross-cultural communication”36
Hence, by incorporating the cultural content in
language classroom, Zhou stated that learners can gain some benefits related to
cross-cultural communicative competence improvement such as finding the
essence of cross-cultural communicative acts, supplies the topic to talk about like
the commonness or the uniqueness of both cultures. In additional, the important
point of increasing this competence level is that the misunderstanding problem
which often occurred from diverse cultural interaction can be solved effectively.37
B. Previous Studies
Impinge on this research; it has been found related previous works which also
discuss culture in language classroom. First research is written by Bilal Genc and
ErdoganBada entitled “Culture in Language Learning and Teaching”. This study intends to know whether the culture course gave the contribution to the students’ language skill of The ELT department of Çukurova University in Turkey. In addition,
this study also investigatesthe students’ responses and opinions about the influences
36Yan Zhou, “The Impact of Cultural Transfer on Cross
-cultural Communication”, Asian Social Science, Vol.4 No.7, July 2008, 143.
28
in learning culture toward their target culture understanding. The researchers process
this study by handing out the five-item questionnaires to the students and
student-teachers of English studying. The collection data progression was done during three
months on the fall term in 2003-2004 academic years. The result of this study reveals
that “a culture class is significantly beneficial in terms of language skills, raising cultural awareness, changing attitudes towards native and societies, and contribution
to teaching profession.”38
The second research is written by Mohamed Amin A. Mekheimer and Hamad S.
Aldosari entitled “Impediments in Cultural Teaching in EFL Programmes at Saudi Arabia University”. This study aimed to identify the cultural teaching difficulties which are integrated in literature specifically through literature means as the ultimate
manifestation of cultural expression and investigate the students and faculty attitudes
and perception towards culture embedded literature teaching. The researchers collect
the data by using questionnaire which is shared to language instructors and students
in the English department, College of Languages and Translation, King Khalid
University. The research finding shows that instructors and students already
recognize the importance of cultural learning through literature in EFL classes.
The third research entitled, “Is It Culture or Is It Language? Examination of Language Effects in Cross-Cultural Research on Categorization, by Li-Jun Ji, Richard
E. Nisbett, Zhiyong Zhang. This research examines “the roles culture and language
38
29
play in cross-cultural research in general and in research on basic cognition in
particular.”39For more specific details, this research investigates whether cultural differences bring impact or not in words categorization style within some groups of
people with distinct cultural background occurred in Chinese descendant. The
research takes Chinese with different circumstances and in several different settings
which are from Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore who spoke both,
Chinese and English. The reason behind to confirm whether place and starting point
time in learning second language can influence their style to categorize certain words.
The outcomes of this research confirm that, “culture had a substantial effect on the way participants grouped of objects.”40 The data shows that Chinese people tend more to categorize words based on the relationship rather than based on the
taxonomic classification like Americans do.
Based on those previous studies, the main conclusion is that incorporating culture
material in classroom brings some effects and it is proven by the result of their
research on students. The theories which ground the notion that culture learning is
important as a part of learning language are more than true. Moreover, the students as
the inquiry subjects show their positive attitudes and manner in this case as well.
Considering those three previous studies, there are some points that differentiate
those prior researches with this research which are; first study discusses the students’ view of point toward cultural teaching, the second discusses the students and faculty
39
30
attitudes towards culture embedded literature teaching, and the last, discusses the
cultural background role in a way of classifying the group of words.
Albeit this study takes the same topic about culture in language, but the focus is
different since it emphasizes in what aspects or parts of culture taught in the
classroom rather than explores the subjects’ opinion related cultural learning or its influences. Furthermore, this research also investigates how the cultural content
conveyed within class by the lecturer or instructor. In the case of collecting the data,
all those three researches used questionnaires as a means to answer their research
questions, while this study used observation, interview and documents. A minor
similarity can be seen from the subject of this research which is not only from the
students, but also from the lecturer and learning process in the class, the same case
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter consists of some principle components of the research methods used
in this research. They are research design, researcher presence, research focus,
research subject and setting, data and source of data, research instruments, and data
analysis.
A. Approach and Research Design
This research used qualitative design with case study approach. Qualitative design
is applied since this inquiry started with the hypothesis that there is a cultural
teaching process in speaking for everyday communication class. Furthermore, that
issue is aimed at examine intensely with two focuses which are what cultural
materials are and how it is taught in the classroom. In this case, the data were
gathered through document study, observation in the real class, and interviewed the
informants who linked directly with the issue. Those characteristics synchronize with
the Creswell theory that stated qualitative research begins with the assumption.1Then,
it is conducted to gain complex and detail understanding about the case.2Moreover,
1
John W. Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, (California: SAGE Publications, 2007), 37.
2
32
the research was accomplished by collecting the data in the natural setting of the
subject.3
For the approach, case study is chosen since the research inquires are more than
one specific case yet still bounded to each other, in this matter the problem are the
cultural content and how it is taught. The case points to two different problems, but
they are still connected in one main field which is culture. Furthermore, the research
involves several various data collection like observation, interview and documents
which is commensurate with case study approach description.
It is synchronized with Creswell theory that contended, “Case study research is a qualitative approach in which the investigator explores a bounded system (a case) or
multiple bounded systems (cases) over time, through detailed, in-depth data
collection involving multiple sources of information (e.g., observations, interviews,
audiovisual material, and documents and reports), and reports a case description and
case-based themes.”4
B. Researcher Presence
The role of the researcher in this research is as the instruments. The instruments
here means that the researcher acted as the planner, data collector, data analyst, data
interpreter and finally also as the research’s reporter. Due to those roles in the whole research process, the researcher can be named as the instrument. Moreover in
3
John W. Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design…37. 4
33
thisresearch, the researcher presence was significant and necessary since she needs to
be responsive and actively participate in every step of research. Additionally, the
researcher identified herself as the researcher to their informants and participants, the
position of the researcher would be clear because she would explain to the participant
her status in this research, the reasons and the goals of the research, so the
participants would know that they were going to be observed.
C. Research Location
This research was conducted in UIN SunanAmpel Surabaya, especially in
speaking for everyday communication class. First, the class is chosen based on
preliminary research by short interview with one of speaking class lecturers who
stated that cultural teaching has been being held during the class though it is still
lacking. Second, it is based on self-experience as a student in speaking class which
noticing that cultural content material has being ignored both by lecturers and
students themselves. Third, the speaking class is chosen because the cultural
knowledge has more influences in communication while oral or verbal interaction are
the most common to get distorted or misunderstood rather than non-verbal
communication like writing.
Speaking for everyday communication class was divided into four classes in
which two of them were taught by Mr. Sigit Pramono and the others two were taught
34
A which consisted of 35 students and lectured by Mr. Sigit. This choice based on the
preliminary research which confirmed in only Mr. Sigit’s class the cultural content has been taught. The cultural content or cultural teaching has been performed during
culture corner session in each meeting. Otherwise, the class of Mr. Rachmat often
exposes Malaysian culture which is not included as the native English speaking
country. Furthermore, the class is chosen to represent the other classes’ case since the material and lesson were same. However, the classes with the most students number
are selected in order to get the overview of the cultural teaching practice are
conducted in a big class, thus A classes are picked as the research location. The class
consists of the students who are in the second semester program academic year
2014/2015 and 2015/2016.
D. Data and Source of Data 1. Type of Data
The primary data of this study was the data of cultural content and how it is
delivered in speaking for everyday communication class. The primary data gained
by doing documentation such as the coursebook, lesson plan, and syllabi. Besides
it, the data were obtained by doing classroom observation in the classroom and
came in the recording video form and field notes.
The secondary data was sorts of data gathered to support the primary data
35
which used to check the cultural content teaching lesson and the way of delivering
it directly from the person related with the context. The interview could also be
used to confirm whether the documents and the real teaching practices match with
lesson plan and recording video as proof of cultural content materials and how to
deliver it.
2. Source of Data
The main source of both primary data and secondary data was students and
lecturer of Speaking for Everyday Communication Class. The class picked was A
class from 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 term which comprised approximately 35
students. The lecturer was Mr. Sigit who teaches two classes from all four classes
of Speaking for Everyday Communication classes. The lecturer and the students
were the subject of the research who involved in cultural learning which
integrated in speaking for everyday communication class. The primary data was
obtained by collecting the documents (lesson plan, syllabi, and coursebook) and
analyzing them. Afterwards, the data was identified and categorized into three
main types of cultural content. The other primary data which is recording video
was taken in speaking for everyday communication class before it was being
analyzed to describe the lecturer’s way in delivering the culture materials.
The secondary data was gained by interviewing the lecturer and students of
36
E. Data Collection Techniques
To acquire the data for this research, the researcher used several kinds of data
collection technique, which are: documentation, observation, and interview. The
process of collecting data is specified in the table below:
Table 3.1 speaking for everyday communication class?
-
RQ 2:
How has cultural content been taught in speaking for everyday communication class?
1. Documentation
Documentation was done to gather all the data to answer both first and second
of the research questions. The researcher conducted the documentation by
gathering several forms of documents from the lecturer of speaking for everyday
communication classes. The first type of data is the coursebook and syllabi to
analyze the first research question about what the cultural content taught in the
class. Next, the second type of document is the lesson plan for the whole semester
37
cultural teaching in the class. Except the documents mentioned, there are some
other documentation processes accomplished while doing the observation which
are video recording and field note taking. Recording video and field note were
also used as a document to answer the second research question.
2. Observation
The researcher conducted a direct observation by attending the class. This
technique is suitable to gather the qualitative data which are basically taken from
natural setting of the research subject. The observation purposes were to record,
search and examine the whole process of classroom interaction and discourse
focused on the lecturer. Although observation emphasized on the lecturer, but it
also involved the whole class interaction includes the students. Approximately,
there are 35 students in the class. Observation is aimed to understand the way that
lecturer used to integrate and deliver cultural content to the students.
The observation process was being recorded from opening to the closing. In
addition, the researcher took some notes during observation whenever found
things related with the cultural materials. Observation conducted three times
which is once at the end of the second semester of 2014/2015 term on May 2015
38
3. Interview
Interview conducted by the researcher to get more detail answer related with
the research question number one and two. The interviewees are speaking for
everyday communication lecturer and five students of the class. The interview
response is aimed to confirm and support the others data so that analysis result
can be more reliable. By interviewing two kinds of source, the answer would not
only come from one party so the reliability of one party can be checked from
another party.
Furthermore, the type of research interview used in this research is
semi-structured interview. The semi-semi-structured interview is a kind of interview which
lets both, interviewer and interviewee develop their ideas to address the questions
and answer them all by a more flexible way though still within purposed
framework designed in advance.5In this interview, the lecturer was asked seven
main questions, while the students were asked five main questions. Mainly, the
lecturers and students were inquired to explain and describe the cultural
information they recognized and the way of the cultural-teaching embedded in
speaking for everyday communication class. Additionally, they are asked to
explain whether instructional materials and media used to add cultural content
lesson.
5
39
F. Research Instruments
Instruments employed in this research are:
1. Video Recording
Video recording here contains of class activity in speaking for everyday
communication class. This video was used as aids to observe the way of cultural
teaching lesson delivered by the lecturer. By using video recording, the researcher
could re-observe and re-analyze, as it could be seen after direct observation in
class as often as possible. The video could help the researcher to recall any points
that might missed or forgotten in the moment of observation.
2. Interview Guideline
The interview guideline comprises into two types; one for the lecturer and
another one for the students. The guideline is consisting of several questions
which were used to answer first and second research problems but in a more
detail description. The questions for the lecturer consist of seven numbers, which
are: (1) Is there any cultural information/content during teaching speaking class
this semester?, (2) If any, what kind of information have you integrated during
teaching process? Describe it!, (3) To what extent do you integrate the cultural
information/content in speaking class materials? Describe it!, (4) How frequent do
you integrate any cultural information in teaching process?, (5) How do you
integrate cultural information/content in the class? (6) What media do you
40
Describe it! (7) Are there any additional sources that support incorporation of
cultural teaching in teaching process that you use (such as books, internet
materials or videos)?
While, for the students, the questions consist of five numbers, which are: (1)
During speaking class in this semester, do you find any cultural
information/content taught?, (2) If any, explain the cultural information/content
you have found! (3) How frequent do you get any cultural information/content in
the class? (4) How does the lecturer deliver or integrate cultural materials to
speaking lesson? (5) What are media used by the lecturer to deliver and integrate
cultural content in the class? Describe it!
G. Data Analysis Technique
Once the data had been collected, the next researcher’s task is to analyze them with appropriate technique. There are several approaches offered to analyze
qualitative data. One of qualitative data analysis techniques is described by Creswell
in his book “Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design”.
The general stages of analyzing qualitative data are by preparing and organizing
all of the data gathered, afterward reducing the data into themes through a process of
coding then eventually, providing the data in figures, tables, charts, or a discussion.
From one of three analysis models, the researcher picked the one that
