1. LANGUAGE & CULTURE
Why,What & How to
Teach?
Prof. GULNAR HUSEYNZADE

5. Language does not exist without
a cultural context.

6. • Cultural context and
communication are closely
interrelated.
• “Cultural awareness” means a
sensitivity to the impact the
culturally affected behaviour
has on using the language in the
process of communication.

7. Now we know that
Culture
is

8. ·Culture permeates every aspect of
communication
▪Çulture is considered to be based on socially-
shared set of normative beliefs & values
generating certain types of behaviour-including
all sorts of linguistic behaviour

9. WOW!!!
WE”LL CREATE A VIRTUAL SOCIETY
WHERE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
LEARNERS WILL GET A CHANCE TO
COMMUNICATE ON A GLOBAL LEVEL

10. 5 conclusions:
1.Communication is a cultural act.
2.Cultural misunderstandings might bring to breakdown in
communication
3.Intercultural competence is defined as the general linguistic,
social & psychological abilities that makes a successful
interaction with individuals from other cultures possible
4.We have to admit openly that not everyone in the world is ”just
like me”& accept that cultures & people are not better or worse,
but they are different.
5.If communication is to be successful at any level of significance each
of us must cross the cultural divide,& the internal divide.
Develop, grow & enjoy yourselves!

11. USED SOURCES:
www.wheatmark.com
http://www.animationfactory.com/

12. We interviewed
50 teachers & 50 students:
“Should cross-cultural training be incorporated
in foreign language teaching & learning ?”
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5 students
0
teachers
Yes
No
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE RESULTS OF THE
INTERVIEW WE DECIDED TO ASK THE RECTOR OF
OUR UNIVERSITY TO INCORPORATE CROSS-
CULTURAL TRAINING IN FL TEACHING & LEARNING

13. • Activity 1
• What foreign language did you study
at secondary school?
• Why did you study these languages
(or this language) and not others?
• Were your reasons for taking the
foreign language any different from
the general aims stated above? (5-7
minutes)

14. • Activity 2
• If you were in a position to
advise on measures to prevent
problems occurring between a
group of people in a
multicultural setting, what
would you advise? (5-7)

15. • Activity 3.
• Make a list of all the things that
were different, that you found
threatening when you visited a
foreign country.
• Then decide which caused the most
anxiety beforehand, and which in
fact turned out to have been the
biggest problem. (8-10 minutes)

16. • Activity 4
• In 1899 Earl Grey remarked:
• Probably everyone would agree that an Englishman
would be right in considering his way of looking at
the world and at life better that that of Maori or the
Hottentot, and no one will object in the abstract to
England doing her best to impose her better and
higher view on these savages… Can there be any
doubt that the white man must, and will, impose his
superior civilization on the coloured races?
• (quoted in Phillipson 1992 p.45)
• What arguments would you use to refuse the point
of view expresses here?
(5-7 minutes)

17. • Activity 5.
• In the context of language
learning and teaching three
terms are frequently used:
mother tongue, language and
dialect. How have definitions of
these changed if they have?

18. • Activity 6.
• A linguistic community does not only
share a code of language, it also
shared a code of behaviour. Many
clashes between parents and
children originate from differences
between the system of norms and
values at home and the one valid
among their friends.

19. • Activity 7.
• You have made friends with someone
whose background is different. You have
been invited to visit your friend’s family for
the weekend. What do you need to know
about your friend’s cultural background to
avoid social misdemeanours while you are
with them? Make a list points you need to
know about. If possible, find out the
answers from “your friend”.

20. • Act 8. Have you personally, or has anyone
you know, experienced a setting where a
member of the company committed a
social misdemeanour that on reflection
may have been caused by a difference in
cultural background?
• Make a note of any such occurrence and
establish the possible cultural rules which
may have given rise to the behaviour
leading to the “mistake” committed.

21. Develop, grow &
enjoy yourselves!

22. THANK YOU!