Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
&
CuLturE
Theoretical Part Outline:
I. Definition of language
II. Definition of culture
III. Cultural differences
IV. Race and ethnic groups
V. Sociolinguistics
Cultural Transmission
The process whereby a language is passed on from
generation to the next
Regulatory language
Using language to control the behaviour of others, or
getting
them to do what we want them to do
Personal Language
To express individuality, personality
Strong feelings and opinions are part of personal language
Through personal language students establish their own identities,
build self esteem and confidence
Imaginative Language
To create a world of one’s own, to express fantasy through dramatic
play, poetry, stories
To explore, to investigate, to acquire knowledge, to do research, to
acquire understanding.
It is the language for thinking , figuring things out
Informative Language
To communicate information, to report facts or conclusions
The linguistic units (sounds and words) and the rules for
combining them make up what is called grammar
Sapir- Whorf Hypothesis
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4 Teaching culture
5 The benefits of teaching culture
6 Teaching culture techniques
The National Center for Cultural Competence
defines culture as an “integrated pattern of human
behavior that includes thoughts, communications,
languages, practices, beliefs, values, customs,
courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting and roles,
relationships and expected behaviors of a racial,
ethnic, religious or social group; and the ability to
transmit the above to succeeding generations”
(Goode, Sockalingam, Brown, & Jones, 2000). This
means that language is not only part of how we
define culture, it also reflects culture.
We use the term culture to refer to all the ideas
and assumptions about the nature of things and
people that we learn when we become members of
social groups. It can be defined as « socially
acquired knowledge » this is the kind of
knowledge that, like our first language, and hence
of our culture, only after having developed
language. The particular language we learn
through the process of cultural transmission
provides us with a ready made system of
categorizing the world around us and our
experience of it.
Culture is a set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioral
conventions, and basic assumptions and
values that are shared by a group of people,
and that influence each member's behavior
and each member's interpretations of the
meanings of other people's behavior
(Oatey,2000 : 4)
Culture may mean different things to
different people. In the anthropological
sense, culture is defined as the way people
live (Chastain 1988:302).
Trinovitch(1980:550) defines culture as
“...an all-inclusive system which
incorporates the patterns of behavior of
human beings with their verbal and non-
verbal systems of expressive behavior
starting from birth, and this “all-inclusive
system” is acquired as the native culture.
This process, which can be referred to
as “socialization”, prepares the
individual for the linguistically and
non linguistically accepted patterns of
the society in which he lives.
In a word, culture is a way of life
(Brown, 1994163). It is the context
within which we exist, think, feel and
relate to others. It is the “glue” that
binds a group of people together.
It can be defined as a blueprint that
guides the behavior of people in
community and is incubated in family
life. It governs our behavior in groups,
makes us sensitive to matters of status,
and helps us to know what others expect
of us and what will happen if we do not
live up to their expectations. Thus,
Culture helps us to know how far we can
go as individuals and what our
responsibility is to the group.
The culture of people refers to all aspects of
shared life in a community.
According to Stanbridge (1991:2), culture is :
a mixture which incorporates behavior
(thoughts, actions and language),
knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, law,
and other qualities acquired by man as social
being.
Culture is understood as history, geography,
all cultural activities in human society, history
of characters/words, proverbs, idiomatic
usages, slang, products of all kinds---
literature, art, music, architecture, films,
values, beliefs, behavior patterns, ways of
talking/expressing,interpersonal relationship,
the ways one gets along with others and
conduct oneself in society, religious belief
and education.
Hofstede(1980,pp21-23)defines culture as
« the collective programming of the mind
which distinguishes the members of one
group from another », which is passed
from G to G, it is changing all the time
because each generation adds (sth) of its
own before passing it on.
1) A daily way of life: Way of how people (live, eat,
greet, dress, adress, sing, act)
2) Of what people ‘make’ and ‘do’
Culture
2) Four components of culture
Hoults (1969) states four components of
culture, which have been identified in the
sociological literature namely,
1) Values: which control other components of
culture, deal with what a society attaches
importance to;
2) Norms: relates to patterns of behavior
designed for individual members of a society
in particular situations;
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3) Institutions: relates to the division of a
society where values and norms are
applied;
4) Artifacts: are objects that are produced
from the values and norms of a culture. All
these components are largely relative in
nature, and they illuminates society’s
systems, beliefs and world news.
The components of culture are
closely interrelated as language is
the primary vehicle for expressing
cultural perspectives and
participating in social practices;
and culture is expressed through
that language.
Could you think of any language without culture ?
The language we speak influences what we see and think, and what
we see and think, in part, influences our culture .
Sir Edward Tailor’s first definition in 1871:
“that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art,
morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society”
What do we mean by
cultural differences?
Definition:
Cultural differences are the
variations in the way of life,
beliefs, traditions and laws
between different countries,
religions, societies and people.
However, the word culture can
be used to describe the way of
life of much smaller groups.
The most common meaning of culture, as
suggested, is that of large groups of people and
how their lifestyles and beliefs differ; this is where
cultural differences come in. Where we live and
what we believe have a great impact on all aspects
of our life whether we realize it or not.
Some of the differences between cultures are
enforced by internal rules (such as legal age of
marriage) whereas others just happen through
many years of development towards a certain way
over another (e.g. Eating with knives and forks).
Potter, 1989
Cultural differences are
important to identity and they
provide us with a sense of
belonging. A person's culture is
often very important to them and
will have usually been a part of
them since birth.
Another important contributor to the
cultural difference is the history of a particular
region or country. The events of the past
certainly shape the moods and opinions of
people living in that specific country. When a
large group of people observe a set of
traditions, habits, social norms and values, it
gives rise to cultural differences.
When different people of different
cultures get together then many
problems arise, this is called cultural
differences.
Be careful when
you greet
someone with a
slap on the
back...
India:
In India, you are not
supposed to hug your
grandparents, but touch
their feet. You are not
supposed to kiss in
public, at all, so you
therefore do not kiss
people when you meet
them either.
East Africa: Some East African tribes pretend to
spit on each others’ feet.
Zambia: In Zambia some people greet each other
by squeezing a thumb.
Central African Republic: Here good friends
might slap your right hand, and then you grab each
other’s middle finger using a thumb and middle
finger, then “snap” the other person’s finger.
Mozambique: People from the northern parts of
the country clap their hands three times before
saying hello.
Oman: In Oman you usually shake hands, but
some might kiss you on the nose.
By : Jamati
Imad Eddine
Race and Ethnic Groups
OUTLINE
I. What is race?
II. What is ethnicity?
III. Racism
IV. Minority group Vs dominant group
V. Patterns of race and ethnic relations
Traditional view
Race is a category of people who
share observable physical
characteristics.
People sharing the same physical
traits such us skin color, texture of
hair, shape of eyes…
Scientific view
Race has no scientific basis.
All people belong to the human species.
There are greater differences within racial groups
than between racial groups.
Racial differences become important because people
believe them to be.
terms like Black, White, Asian, and Latino are social
groups, not genetically distinct branches of
humankind.
"Race is a real cultural, political and economic
concept in society.
What is ethnicity?
An ethnic group may define themselves as
different because of their language, religion,
geography, history, ancestry…
How does ethnicity differ from
race?
Ethnicity Race
Domina
nt group Minority
group
Medical Jargon:
commonly used medical abbreviations and
terminology: