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Integrating Global Issues in Genre Based Approach to Introduce Culture in the EFL Classroom By: TITIK WINARTI

INTRODUCTION : THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE IN EFL Culture is a term that has various meanings. Culture is the way people approach and resolve dilemmas. One of the key components in language teaching is culture. Culture helps guide an individual how to use the language. According to Samovar (1981:11) Culture not only dictates who talks to whom, about what, and how the communication proceeds, it a lso helps to determine how people encode messages, the meanings they have for messages, and the conditions and circumstances under which various messages may or may not be sent, noticed, or interpreted. Culture is the foundation of communication. The concept of culture and how it is to be described and understood is widely debated, as is the idea of cultural practices. de Haan (1999: 22) says that culture can be understood as those features of social practice that sustain and represent practice, and that at the same time are able to reproduce and reconstruct it. Social practices are negotiated forms of interaction with the (social and natural) world within recognized contexts of interaction. Liddicoat et al. (2003:45) define culture as a complex system of c oncepts, attitudes, values, beliefs, conventions, behaviours, practices, rituals, and lifestyles of the people who make up a cultural group, as well as the artefacts they produce and the institutions they create. Based on the theories above, it can be concluded that culture is a term that has various meanings. Culture is not only a learned set of shared messages, meanings, and interpretations but also about beliefs, values, and norms that affects the behaviour of a relatively large group of people. Culture, however, varies from one country to another and from one community within that country to another. Due to the diversity of culture, it is imperative for teachers to know which culture to teach in the language-learning classroom. According to Lazar (1993:66), our students' comprehension is frequently impeded not by linguistic features in a literary text, but by cultural ones. We owe it to them to help them understand what these might be. Language can never be divorced from culture. Kramsch (1993:8) claims that culture awareness must be viewed both as enabling language proficiency and as being the outcome of refle ction on language proficiency. Omaggio (1993:358) says that a teacher s role is not to impart facts I.

about the target culture, but to help students obtain the skills to understand the facts that they will discover for themselves in studying the target culture. In this way, students will be prepared for various cultural situations they have never previously encountered. Mitchell and Myles (2004:235) argue that language and culture are not separate, but are acquired together, with each providing support for the development of the other. Language and culture interact with each other in a way that culture connects to all levels of language use and structures. From the explanation above, it can be concluded that language learners need to develop not only their linguistic competence but also their intercultural communicative competence to overcome both linguistic and cultural barriers they may encounter in interaction with people from other cultures. It seems that students with better linguistic competence should have more cultural knowledge and awareness or vice versa. EFL, English as a foreign language, indicates the use of English in a non English-speaking region. Study can occur either in the student's home country, as part of the normal school curriculum or otherwise, or, for the more privileged minority, in an Anglophone country that they visit as a sort of educational tourist, particularly immediately before or after graduating from university. Typically, EFL is learned either to pass exams as a necessary part of one's education, or for career progression while working for an organization or business with an international focus. There are many things teachers should consider when including cultural information in their classrooms. Culture in EFL classrooms encompasses many areas. The best instructional practices help students negotiate unfamiliar situations while still recognizing the importance of their own cultures. Cultural awareness helps learners broaden the mind, increase tolerance and achieve cultural empathy and sensitivity. According to Tomalin and Stempleski (1993: 5), cultural awareness encompasses three qualities: 1. Awareness of one s own culturally-induced behaviour 2. Awareness of the culturally-induced behaviour of others 3. Ability to explain one s own cultural standpoint Teaching in EFL classrooms from an intercultural perspective involves developing in learners critical cultural awareness of their own culturally-shaped world view and behaviours as well as the skills and attitudes to understand and successfully interact with people from other cultures, that is, to become interculturally as well as linguistically competent. EFL teachers therefore need to shift from a traditional stance to an intercultural one to develop both linguistic and intercultural competences of learne rs.

GLOBAL ISSUES As language and culture are symbiotic, cultivating global issues for a peaceful world is one of the most urgent tasks for teachers. Global awareness, respect for other cultures and communication skills, especially communicative competence in English will be more vital for multicultural citizens of the world. Cates (1990) states that a global issues curriculum aims to enhance students linguistic skills while also providing them with the knowledge and skills required to deal with world problems. On the other hand, imitation without any filter of a foreign culture is a suicide. People should respect themselves without copying every culture they get. We establish good relationships with people from d ifferent cultures of the world but young people tend to pretend to be someone else due to a sense of inferiority complex and adoration for Western cultures. In the age of globalization, we need to be proud of being ourselves and contribute to the world, representing our own culture and traditional values. A review of the relationship between language and culture reveals that the integration of culture into the EFL curriculum with a view to fosteri ng cultural awareness seems important and necessary. Being aware of the foreign language cultural norms does not mean that EFL learners have to become native-like, rather such a cultural awareness allows them to develop an understanding of the nature of the target culture as well as their own culture. Haratmeh (2003) says that the importance of developing intercultural communicative competence alongside linguistic competence has resulted from learners needs for acquiring intercultural skills for cross-cultural communication in which they may encounter linguistic and cultural barriers. According to Nakamura, there are some rationales why teachers should include global education in the syllabus. First, world problems, especially global issues affect every member of the human family on this planet. Second, globalization has created an interdependent context on the earth, namely what happens in one place affects others in different parts of the world. Third, the attitude of many young people in the "North" is that they need little knowledge about other cultures. Fourth, in the "South" young people tend to copy their peers in the North without giving a critical thought of the effects such a life style has on their families, communities and the earth. Fifth, teaching of intercultural tolerance towards diversity and respect of nature and human rights must start as early as possible at school. With these five rationales in the midst of today s confused world, it seems self-evident that EFL instructors should be encouraged to play key roles in integrating controversial global issues into the EFL class as a part of global education (Nakamura, 2002). It is hoped that students will enjoy studying global issues and at the sametime they are able to improve their linguistic skills.

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GENRE BASED APPROACH Genre based approach started with the Systemic Functional School of Linguistics inspired by the work of MAK Halliday during the 1960s and 70s. They viewed language as a resource for making meanings, and so started looking at whole stretches of discourse in context rather than looking at isolated chunks to uncover a set of rules. So far, so familiar. Their claim, however , is that all extended discourse can be categorised into just seven basic types. These seven genres are recount, narrative, information report, discussion, exposition, explanation, and procedure. (http://www.findaproperty.co.uk) Furthermore, genre based approach developed in the 2004 English curriculum include transactional conversations (to get something done), interpersonal conversations (to establish and maintain social relations), short functional texts (announcements, greeting cards etc.), monologues and ess ays of certain genres. In other words, these are the communicative competence to be developed. Along with the competence, the literacy levels are also determined based on the government regulation that senior high school graduates are supposed to be ready for handling the kinds of text they face at university level. In other words, they are supposed to be able to access accumulated knowledge typically obtained at higher learning institutions. For this reason, the text types determined for senior high school levels include recount, descriptive, report, news item, narrative, discussion, explanation, exposition, and review. The short explanation and examples of text about famine as global issues gives an idea of what each one means in more detail . Recount Purpose: to retell events in order to inform. Generic Structure : 1. Orientation/scene-setting 2. Retelling of events 3. Reorientation Kevin Carter was born in apartheid South Africa and grew up in a middle-class, whites-only neighborhood. In March 1993 Carter made a trip to Sudan. Carter was quite shocked as it was the first time that he had seen a famine situation and so he took many shots of the children suffering from famine. One of his photographs was sold to The New York Times where it appeared for the first time on March 26, 1993. Practically overnight hundreds of people contacted the newspaper to ask whether the child had survived, leading the newspaper to run a special editor's note saying the girl had enough strength to walk away from the vulture, but that her ultimate fate was unknown. On April 2, 1994 Nancy Buirski, a foreign New York Times picture editor, phoned Carter to inform him he had won the most coveted prize for photojournalism. Carter was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature

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Photography on May 23, 1994 at Columbia University's Low Memorial Library. (Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org) Narrative Purpose : to retell events in order to entertain. Generic Structure : 1. Orientation 2. Complication 3. Resolution Sudanese Girl Dying of Hunger as a Vulture Patiently Waits Kevin Carter went to Sudan to capture images of that nations dismal and unending civil war in 1993. One of the pictures he took was of a starving little girl, she had collapsed in the bush and a vulture nearby seemed to be waiting for her to die. The photo was reproduced all over the world, touching thousands of people, becoming an icon of African misery, winning a Pulitzer Prize, and, a year later, apparently contributing to Carters own suicide. Carter only spent a couple of days in Sudan. According to Susan D Moeller, who tells Carters story in Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War and Death, he had gone into the bush seeking relief from the terrible starvation and suffering he was documenting, when he encountered the emaciated girl. When he saw the vulture land, Carter waited quietly, hoping the bird would spread its wings and give him an even more dramatic image. It didnt, and he eventually chased the bird away. The girl gathered her strength and resumed her journey toward a feeding centre. Afterwards, writes Moeller, Carter sat by a tree, talked to God, cried, and thought about his own daughter, Megan. When the image of the prostrate girl and the patient vulture appeared, many people demanded to know what had happened to her. The New York Times explained in an editors note that while she resumed her trek, the photographer didnt know if she had survived. Carter stood accused; callers in the middle of the night called him unethical and denounced him. The girl began to haunt the photographer. In June 1994, Carter, beset by difficulties, killed himself. His suicide note read: "I am depressed without phone money for rent money for child support money for debts money!!! I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executionersI have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky." (Taken from: P.A.P.-BLOG HUMAN RIGHTS ETC.) Descriptive Purpose : to describe a particular person, place or thing.

Generic Structure :

1. Identification 2. Description

Report Purpose: to describe the way things are Generic Structure : 1. General classification 2. Description: qualities, parts & their function, habits, behaviour, uses

A famine is a widespread scarcity of food that may apply to any faunal species. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Emergency measures in relieving famine primarily include providing deficient micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, through fortified sachet powders or directly through supplements. Food shortages in a population are caused either by a lack of food or by difficulties in f ood distribution; it may be worsened by natural climate fluctuations and by extreme political conditions related to oppressive government or warfare. Famine strikes Sub-Saharan African countries the hardest, but with exhaustion of food resources, over drafting of groundwater, wars, internal struggles, and economic failure, famine continues to be a worldwide problem with hundreds of millions of people suffering . These famines cause widespread malnutrition and impoverishment; the famine in Ethiopia in the 1980s had an immense death toll, although Asian famines of the 20 th century have also produced extensive death tolls. Modern African famines are characterized by widespread destitution and malnutrition, with heightened mortality confined to young children. The demographic impacts of famine are sharp. Mortality is concentrated among children and the elderly. Famine may thus be viewed partially as a social phenomenon, involving markets, the price of food, and social support structures. A second lesson drawn was the increased use of rapid nutrition assessments, in particular of children, to give a quantitative measure of the famine's severity. Since 2004, many of the most important organizations in famine relief, such as the World Food Program and the U.S. A gency for International Development, have adopted a five -level scale measuring intensity and magnitude. The intensity scale uses both livelihoods' measures and measurements of mortality and child malnutrition to categorize a situation as food secure, food insecure, food crisis, famine, severe famine, and extreme famine. (Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org )

News Item Purpose : to inform about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or impotant. Generic Structure : 1. News worthy events 2. Background events 3. Sources.

Famine haunts the population of Simeuleu Island Jakarta (AsiaNews) Famine haunts the population of Simeuleu Island. So far no one has come to the rescue of the small island of 73,000 people. According to Indonesian daily Kompas, no relief and humanitarian aid has reached it since Sunday, December 26. The paper reports that people on the island are already going hungry and might soon suffer from epidemic outbreaks because of lack of medicines. Simeuleu is a small island off Banda Aceh near the epicentre of the quake that struck the Indian Ocean on December 26. Whilst survivors in Banda Aceh have started building makeshift shelters out of salvaged material from the city's ruins, residents on Simeuleu seem to have been forgotten. Ibnu Abbas, Simeuleu' Deputy Mayor, reached Kompas by satellite phone to complain that the island is being neglected. "We are very concerned about the government's statement that Simeuleu is not urgent," Mr Abbas is quoted as saying. "This is very wrong since this island was one of the most tsunami-affected areas. If humanitarian relief does not come soon, there will be mass famine among the island's 73 thousands people." The Deputy Mayor added that although the "number of victims is very 'small' with only six people dead and 50 badly injured, the main problem is how people will survive [when] 50 percent of the island's 15 thousand homes have been destroyed by the tsunami". Meanwhile, the Health Ministry reported today that "at least 500,000 Indonesians have become refugees". At the same time, aftershock are still been felt. In Banda Aceh people were woken by a 5.7 quake measuring at around 1.30 am. No victims were reported. Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday visited Aceh bringing heavy machines. US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Florida Governor Jeb Bush travelled to Banda Aceh. Strong criticism is now being voiced at former presidents B. P. Suharto, B. J. Habibie, A. Wahid and M. Sukarnoputri who so far have said little or nothing about the national tragedy. Only B. J. Habibie, who is now living in Germany, released a statement today through his Jakarta-based Habibie Center saying that it would soon help tsunami victims through a foster parent plan.

(Taken from http://www.asianews.it)


Discussion Purpose: to present arguments from different viewpoints. Generic Structure : 1. Statement of the issue 2. Argument(s) for+ evidence 3. Argument(s)against +evidence 4. (recommendation-summary/conclusion) Explanation Purpose: to explain natural or social processes, or how something works. Generic Structure : 1. General statement of introduction 2. Series of logical steps Exposition Purpose: to promote a particular point of view Generic Structure : 1. Opening statement of position (thesis) 2. Arguments - point+elaboration 3. Restatement of opening position Why is there mass starvation? Why is there mass starvation? The answer seems obvious mass starvation occur because of a mass scarcity of food. The obvious answer, however, is wrong. Sometimes mass starvation occurs when food per capita is low but mass starvation has also occurred when there was plenty of food per capita. Famines occur not only from a lack of food, caused by drought, crop failures or floods, but also from a lack of information. Rumors of a famine, even false rumors, are often enough for people to start hoarding and panic buying, which pushes up the price of goods, and which makes it impossible for poor people to get enough food. As a result, they may starve in the midst of abundance. A war may have the same effect or make it worse. Moreover, so can ineffective food distribution mechanisms. While Famines involve widespread acute starvation, there is no reason to think that it will affect all groups in the famine-affected nation. Indeed, it is by no means clear that there has ever occurred a famine in which all groups in a country have suffered from starvation, since different groups typically do have very different commanding powers over food, and an over-all shortage brings out the contrasting powers in stark clarity. Free information can counter these risks. It can debunk myths and rumors about food availability. It can inform accountable governments of certain risks and force them to act in order to remedy the food distribution, to impose price controls etc. Price controls, however, are a risky business. Higher food prices may lead to a larger volume of food production because food producers will be encouraged to produce. Hence, higher prices may increase the overall availability of food and reduce the risk of famine.

However, as we have seen, availability is not enough to stop famines. Distribution and equality of availability is just as important, and higher prices may result in very unequal availability and may put poor people at risk. Then, again, these poor people may find a better paying job in food production if food prices are higher . This is all very complicated indeed. (Taken from: P.A.P.-BLOG HUMAN RIGHTS ETC.)

The Coming World Famine A "perfect storm" of circumstances is coming together that is leading many agriculture experts to predict that we will soon be experiencing a worldwide food crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Even in such technologically advanced times, the reality is that the food supply is not immune to droughts and plagues. Even the United States has been dramatically affected. Just consider the following examples. All time record breaking heat and drought continues to plague the state of Texas. In fact, extreme drought conditions can be found in many agricultural areas throughout the United States this summer. In addition, farmers all over the United States are reporting very disappointing harvests. For example, the very weak wheat harvest this year is seriously disappointing farmers across the state of Illinois. But it is not just the U.S. that is experiencing serious agricultural problems. In fact, the news from the rest of the world is even more troubling. Agricultural scientists fear that Ug99, a devastating wheat fungus also known as stem rust, could wipe out over 80 percent of the world's wheat crop as it spreads out from Africa. Harvests all across the globe are frighteningly low. When you add up all of the recent agricultural news stories it means one thing: a massive food crisis is on the way. Harvests around the world are going to be much smaller at a time when world demand for food is at an all-time high. In other words, there are going to be food shortages. Very serious food shortages. Are you all starting to get the point? In just a few months, the world is going to have a lot less food than what it needs. When people around the world find that they can't feed their families, there will likely be food riots. In the United States, there will not be shortages of food - at least at first. But what this will mean is that there will be dramatic price increases at the supermarket. Are you ready? Now is the time to ensure that you and your family are prepared for the food crisis that is ahead. We encourage you to take

advantage of t e low pri es on emergency food t at are out t er right now e while you still can. ee e e cy s yc (Take Review Pu po to c tique or analy e and evaluate an art work and makeyour point of view know. Generic Structure : 1. Orientation 2. Interpretative Recount 3. Evaluation Pro edure Pu po to e plain how to do something Generic Structure : 1. statement of what is to be achieved 2. list of materials tools needed 3. sequence of instructions 4. (diagram,illustration) Senior high school graduates are e pected to achieve the informational level where they can carry out more e tended and interpersonal conversations, and deal with te ts to access knowledge at university level andself-study. To implement the 2004 English curriculum the two cycles and four stages recommended are represented in the following diagram:

Diagram: Cycles and Stages of Learning (Hammond et al. 1992:17)

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INTRODUCING CULTURE THROUGH GLOBAL ISSUES-TOPIC TEXT Teaching English in EFL Classroom presents global issues as part of cultural studies. It can help students become familiar with common elements of popular culture and make them more critical consumers of other cultures. Another way to look at culture in EFL classrooms is as a means of providing opportunities for students to share aspects of their own cultural backgrounds. For instance, Robinson (1985) proposed that reading about the target language s culture could help these students come to terms with what they experience in the targetlanguage country, and therefore, be better prepared for it. Global issues can be serious and gloomy. It is a challenge to teach about conflict, famine, poverty and discrimination without the classroom atmosphere becoming heavy and the students depressed. One of the keys to maintaining a positive attitude towards the class is to focus on solutions to the problems. Moreover, it is hoped that studying global issues made students more enthusiastic to learn English. Although students found studying a content -based curriculum challenging, they believed that learning about other countries and cultures enhances their understanding of the world. Students also thought studying global issues will be of practical benefit to them in the future. Some practical activities to introduce culture through global issues-topic text in EFL classroom. A. Pre-Reading 1. Teacher explains the communicative competence to be developed in the text. 2. Teacher surveys the text with the students, looks at the title and pictures in the text. While students are reading the text, they can guess what the text is about. 3. Teacher can turn the title into a question. The questions prepare the teacher to help the students make predictions about the text by asking, "Given text entitles Sudanese Girl Dying of Hunger as a Vulture Patiently Waits, what do you think the text will be about? Teacher asks students, "Why do you think that?" to encourage them to justify their responses and activate prior knowledge. 4. Teacher asks students to watch and give comment about real life presentation which has correlation to the text. Moreover, teacher can ask students to make a small group, they can discuss and make comparison between Sudanene and their own condition. B. During Reading 1. Teacher asks students to read text at a time, keep their questions in mind. As students read each section, try to find answers to their questions. They reread all the paragraphs. 2. Students pay attention to any words that are difficult to understand. They study the pictures and other visual aids. Teacher asks the students what

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they already know about any of the main ideas. If a passage is more difficult, teacher can ask students to read slowly. 3. Teacher asks the students to say or write what they have read about each paragraph in their own words. 4. At the end of this section, teacher asks students to look up from the text and in their own words recite an answer to their questions for that section. They can write down their answer. Teacher provides examples that support it. Finally, recite the answer in students own words and jot it down. The written questions and answers can help students study in the future. C. Post-Reading 1. After completing the questions, teacher can review students notes. Identify the main points by looking for the most important idea in each section. 2. After the students finish reading, students can then exchange them to see if they can guess what genre was being attempted, and identify the elements of the text that tell them why. 3. Teacher explains that the text is a narrative because it not only tells us about some past event but also contains the complication that Kevin Carter got. 4. Teacher can discuss what different condition and culture that students know after watching real life presentation and reading text entitles Sudanese Girl Dying of Hunger as a Vulture Patiently Waits ; furthermore, teacher can give closing by playing something bothering presentation. 5. Finally, teacher can convey a great sense of sympathy about Sudanese condition to the students. CONCLUSION Teaching in EFL classroom should develop both students linguistic competence and their intercultural communicative competence. Culture is not only a learned set of shared messages, meanings, and interpretations but also about beliefs, values, and norms that affects the behaviour of a relatively large group of people. Cultural awareness helps learners broaden the mind, increase tolerance, and achieve cultural empathy and sensitivity. Global awareness, respect for other cultures and communication skills, especially communicative competence in English will be more vital for multicultural citizens of the world. A review of the relationship between languag e and culture reveals that the integration of culture into the EFL curriculum with a view to fostering cultural awareness seems important and necessary. There are some reasons why teachers should include global education in the syllabus such as world problems and V.

globalization. Genre based approach views language as a resource for making meanings and looking at whole stretches of discourse in context rather than looking at isolated chunks to uncover a set of rules. This approach claims to be able to show EFL students where they are going wrong, not only in terms of grammar or lexis, but also in how they string things together at sentence and clause level. Furthermore, students will have good intercultural competent as well as linguistics competent.

VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY Cates, K. 1990. Teaching for a better world: Global issues in language education . The Language Teacher, 14(5), 3-5. de Haan, M. 1999 Learning as Cultural Practice: How Children Learn in a Mexican Mazahua Community. Amsterdam: Thela Thesis Hammond, J, A. Burns, H. Joyce, D. Brosnan, L. Gerot. 1992. English for Special Purposes: A handbook for teachers of adult literacy. Sydney: NCELTR, Macquarie University. Kramsch, Claire. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching . Oxford, UK : Oxford University Press. Lazar, G. 1993. Literature and Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP. Liddicoat, A.J., Papademetre, L., Scarino, A., & Kohler, M. 2003. Report on intercultural language learning. Canberra ACT: Commonwealth of Australia. Marzieh Sharifi Haratmeh PhD Incorporating Culture into the EFL Curriculum. Foreign Language Teaching Journal No.84.Fall.Vol.22 pp.58. Nakamura, K. 2002. Developing Global Literacy through English as an International Language (EIL) Education in Japan. International Education Journal Vol.3, No.5, 2002 . WCCES Commission 6 pp.63 -74. Omaggio, A. 1993. Teaching language in context . Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle. Samovar, 1981. Understanding intercultural communication Wadsworth Pub. Co. Tomalin, B., & Stempleski, S. (1993). Cultural awareness. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. http://www.findaproperty.co.uk http://en.wikipedia.org http://www.asianews.it http://theemergencyfoodsupply.co m P.A.P.-BLOG HUMAN RIGHTS ETC.

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