Culture and SLA - Week 7 -  Second Culture Acquisition

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 7 of the course Culture and Second Language Acquisition for the master's in English teaching at ULACIT term IIIC0 2022. This week we will discuss the question, can you acquire a second culture and think and see the world the way a member of that culture does? 

Today's Goals:

• Discuss appropriate culture learning goals for different contexts.
• Articulate several core beliefs about how you see yourself as a cultural educator.
• Explore the topics of cultural and linguistic relativity and discuss to what degree it is possible (or even necessary) to acquire a second culture.
• Compare the cultural differences you explored in your film anlysis podcast.

Guiding Questions: 

• How can I articulate and classify the aims of culture learning?
• How do I view myself as a cultural educator?
• Is it possible to truly acquire a second culture as an adult?
• What cultural practices and perspectives were in conflict in the film The Gods Must be Crazy?

Warm Up: Body Language

Click the group link below and follow the instructions in the document. 

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

Topic 1: Culture Learning Outcomes

The reading for last week focused on the topic of culture learning outcomes; the different possible results of the culture learning process. Moran provides us with a useful way of classifying these outcomes which can help us choose a particular way of focusing our teaching efforts depending on our context. Let's review the what, how, and why of the six culture learning outcomes.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

Theory Break: Culture Learning Outcomes

• “To generalize … across all these culture learning outcomes, I would say that all intend that learners confront, comprehend, accept, and overcome cultural differences. This process involves an interplay of mind, body, heart, and self - or, in technical terms, cognition, behavior, affect, and identity. As part of mastering the language, learners need to change the way they think, act, feel, and perceive themselves and their roles if they are to function effectively and appropriately in the other culture (p. 119).”

• The particular culture learning outcomes you seek for your students will inform the focus you give your lessons and the model of culture teaching you develop. Moran says, “the key distinction among [culture teaching]... models lies with differing notions of ‘overcoming’ cultural differences. These range from simply changing one’s mind or feelings about a given culture (culture-specific understanding) through recognizing how one’s own culture affects acceptance of other cultures (culture-general understanding), learning to communicate appropriately in a second language/culture (competence), integrating oneself into another language and culture (adaptation), developing a distinct sense of self (identity), to taking action to transform a culture based on one’s own beliefs (social change). Ultimately, the individual learner decides how to respond and develops skills as a culture learner (personal competence) (p. 119)."

• Which of these outcomes resonate with you and the way you view yourself as a cultural educator?

• What beliefs about culture form part of your learning philosophy that guides your approach to teaching? CLICK HERE to add to the culture teaching manifesto!

Topic 2: Second Culture Acquisition (SCA)

This article, although highly technical and challenging to read, presents us with some important questions to consider:

• What is the goal(s) of cultural education?

• What is involved in culture learning?

• Is it truly possible to acquire a second culture as an adult?

• “Although it may be possible for people to develop an intellectual understanding and tolerance of other cultures, a more interesting question, perhaps, is if, and to what extent, it is possible for people to become cognitively like members of other cultures; that is, can adults learn to construct and see the world through culturally different eyes (Lantolf, 2000, p. 29)?”

Click the group link below to review some of topics covered in your study guide. We will come back to the main room to discuss some of the more challenging parts of this article together.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

• So what? We read all that to find out that it is only kind of sort of possible to change your conceptual system a little bit under some very specific circumstances and those circumstances do not involve classroom learning?

• Learners need to understand that cultures differ in their concepts. 
• Learning an L2 is not simply learning new words to express universal ideas.
• There may not be a word in the L2 to express a concept from your C1 and vice versa.

• ST: "Profe, how do you say pura vida in English?"
• T: "You don't."
• ST: "Yeah, but how would you say it though?"
• T: "You wouldn't say it."
• ST: "Yeah, I know you don't actually say pura vida. So what do you say instead?"

• It may not be possible or even desirable to change your cultural conceptual system. After all, your C1 is an integral part of your identity. However, as a long-term English learner and educator, have you found that your way of thinking and being has been influenced by your language and culture learning experiences? How?

Task 3: Film Analysis

Take some time to share the ideas you explored in your film analysis paper. If you want, you can use the following prompts to guide your discussion.

• Reactions: Film and Assignment
• What did you think of the film? Why?
• Do you have a favorite character or scene from the film?
• How did you feel completing the analysis in the format of a podcast? 
• What was easy? What was challenging? Why?

• Cultural Communities: Cultures in Conflict
• What distinct cultural groups were represented in the film?
• What are some of the primary differences between the groups in terms of their products, practices, and perspectives?
• A lot of the film's humor is based on misunderstandings between the different cultural groups. What examples of misunderstandings can you identify?
• Which dimensions from the Hofstede framework did you analyze?

• Going Deeper: Thinking More about the Assignment
• In this task you were asked to compare products, practices, and perspectives and describing two of Hofestede's dimensions, If you were the professor of this course, what additional or alternative ways of cultural analysis could you have added to this assignment?
• Imagine you could propose an alternative film to watch for the cultural analysis podcast assignment. What films would you recommend and why? How are they rich in cultural content?

References:

Lantolf, J. (2000). Second Culture Acquisition: Cognitive Considerations. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning (pp. 28-46). Cambridge University Press. 

Moran, P. (2001). Teaching Culture: Perspectices in Practice. Heinle, Cengage Learning.