Culture and SLA - Week 1 -  Ethnocentrism

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 1 of the course Culture and Second Language Acquisition for the master's in English teaching at ULACIT term IIIC0 2023. This week we will review the course syllabus, articulate our starting point ideas about culture, and discuss the ideas of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Today's Goals:

• Review the course syllabus, evaluation structure, and calendar of important dates.
• Articulate your starting point ideas and questions about the topics we will explore in the course.
• Discuss the phenomena of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Guiding Questions:

• How can I become sensitive to the invisible dynamics of culture?
• How does my own culture influence the way I view others?
• What do I hope to learn in this course?

Task 1: Reconstruct the Poem

Click your group link below and work with your partners to reconstruct the poem then discuss it's significance.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

Now let's read some quotes from the introduction to our main textbook, Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice. How do these quotes connect with the ideas we just discussed about the Nacirema?

• "Milton Bennett makes the point that ethnocentrism is the natural state for peoples of the world. Our instictive reaction is to assume that our culture, our way of life, is the right one, and that all others are not. Whether we simply tolerate these other ways of life or treat them as enemies, our attitude toward them is essentially the same - ethnocentric."

• "Overcoming these ingrained cultural perspectives, according to Bennett, has to be consciously learned. Developing sensitivity to cultural differences, in other words, does not come naturally (Moran, 2001, p. 7)."

Task 2: Articulating Our Starting Point Ideas and Questions

We are about to spend 15 weeks discussion the topic of culture. Let's finish today's class by articulating what you already know, believe, or wonder about the major questions we will explore in the course. On the last day of class you will disccuss these same questions to see how your thoughts have grown.

• What is culture?
• How can cultures be studied, described, analyzed, or compared?
• How do people learn culture (their 1st and additional ones)?
• How can I teach culture?
• Why is knowledge of culture important for language teachers? In other words, why are we taking a whole course about this?
• What questions do we have about culture, culture learning, and culture teaching?

• Transcription: CLICK HERE

References:

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