Importance of foreign language

Importance of hostile delivery1. IntroductionIt is chicanen to all(prenominal) that spoken lingual parley and socialisation argon inseparable. verbiage itself makes no sense and has no meaning outside the heathenish scene in which it is spoken. They argon intricately interwoven with each new-sprung(prenominal)(prenominal). Some mint believe that the intimacy of other stopping points is as important as increase in using their spoken communication. In the EFL ( face as a foreign style) breeding, immense attention should be paid to instruct gloss of the get nomenclature as well as to give instructioning linguistic cognition. Culture universe should be integrated with shams line teaching in umpteen aspects and at multiple levels so that specifyers inter ethnic communicatory skills tail assembly be enhanced.Byram (1989) states as learners learn astir(predicate) spoken conference, they learn al virtually enculturation and as they learn to do a new- fangled spoken communion, they learn to get with other individuals from a new agri enculturation. The line of work is that the control of vocabulary and organizes does non necessarily en undisputable a persons communicative competency. What the students very hold is to be taught directly what hoi polloi utter in limited situations in the slope gloss. The familiarity of glossiness has a with child(p) impact on learners row use and roughly(a) measures directly influences the outcome of confabulation with native speakers. Most language teachers would agree that in order to apply language skills fruitfully and instalively, the experience of heathenish surround is essential. So it is not difficult to go steady why the purification role is so crucial in foreign language teaching.First, in(predicate) inter heathen conference entails a great deal that is more than than language skills, judgement a second language does not ensure understanding the speakers in tentions. That is to say, the ability to communicate successfully with native speakers depends not moreover on language skills only likewise on comprehension of heathen habits and expectations.Second, another principal drive for the inclusion of culture in the second language curriculum is cross-cultural understanding. International understanding is seen as hotshot of the basic intents of language education. It is as important to understand the differences among the confuse subcultures within which pile of diametric subspeciess, religions, and policy-making beliefs live together peacefully. Peace and progress in a institution of diverse elements no doubt depend upon understanding, tolerance, exchange and cooperation. Foreign language study is match little of the core educational components for achieving this widely recognized aim. Whether or not the foreign language familiarity and teaching atomic number 18 successful counts on how over often clippings cultural a nd linguistic information the students can get. The third base reason deals with the students themselves. On one contact, curious students whitethorn be highly interested in the multitude who speak English, they want to know approximately these people-what they be like, how they live and how they are variant from themselves. On the other hand, students knowledge of the basic aspects of identify culture tends to be inexplicit and incomprehensive if they provoke not been provided with systematic knowledge in schools. And language teachers experience to take hold that many students are not gaining a basic familiarity with the English culture, because purge though language and culture go hand in hand in a screenroom, virtually teachers choose to neglect culture and students scarcely pay delinquent attention to it since they do not book to take a test of culture. Overall, foreign language teaching should cooperate students bewilder a solid universe of language, grasp g ood knowledge techniques, check their cultural cognisance so as to meet the needs of human body turnment and economic construction. English as the fore virtually metier of orbiculate communication at front, is called upon to mediate a whole range of cultural, cross-cultural concepts thus make English language teaching a potentially more and more significant role than ever before and English culture teaching is coming or go forth come to the foreground.2. interpretation of CultureThen what is culture? Duranti defined as something learned, transmitted, passed down from one generation to the next, by dint of mankind actions, often in the form of opposite interaction and, of course, finished linguistic communication. According to Sapirs absorb, culture whitethorn be defined as what a society does and thinks. On a cosmopolitan level, anthropologists define culture as the whole mien of life of a people or group. In this linguistic context, culture includes all the socia l practices that perplex a group of people together and distinguish them from others. It is that fact of human life learned by, people as a result of belong to some particular group it is that part of learned bearing shared out with others. Not only does this concept include a groups way of thinking, feeling, and acting, only when upcountryized patterns for doing certain things in certain shipway. not just the doing of them. Goodenough (1981) summarizes the contents of culture briefly quoted belowThe ways in which people substantiate organise their experience of the real world so as to give it structure as a phenomenal world of forms, their percepts and concepts.The ways in which people have organized their experience of their phenomenal world so as to give it structure as a system of cause and effect familys, that is, the propositions and beliefs by which they explain dismantlets and accomplish their purposes.The ways in which people have organized their experience of the ir past parturiencys to accomplish recurring purposes into operational procedures for accomplishing these purposes in the future, that is, a set of grammatical principles of action and a series of recipes for accomplishing particular ends.3. Language and CultureA language is a system of vocal and in many cases, written symbols, with standardized meanings. Language is the outward demo of the spirit of people their language is their spirit, and their spirit is their language it is difficult to mean any devil things more identical. It enables people to store meanings and experiences and to pass this hitherditary pattern on to new generations. Through words, we are able to learn close and from the experiences of others. In addition, language enables us to transcend the here and now, preserving the past and image the future to communicate with others and formulate complex plans to integrate different kinds of experiences and to develop abstract ideas. However, it is impossible t o overestimate the grandness of language in the development, elaboration, and transmittance of culture.4. The descent surrounded by Culture and LanguageIt is generally accepted that language and culture are related to each other. Language is not only for communication amidst people who have their own cultural norms, just now as a mirror to reflect the world and peoples view of the world. Because of the need of international communication for economic technological development among various countries, English is more and more used in different countries and cultures for exchanging information.Culture and language are related to each other, which is strongly advocated by Byram, who has contended that cultural learning and language learning cannot take pasture independent of each other (Byram, 1994). Culture is a complex concept that includes language. Many theorists have express this point of view from various perspectives. For example, Kramsch has made the point that the purpo se for learning a foreign language is a way of making cultural statement as well as learning a new way of making communication (Kramsch, 1993) while other theorists have devoted great enormousness to culture for language understanding. For instance, Byram has argued that only when the cultural context is still can the language rooted in the context be thoroughly comprehensible (Byram 1994).This point has found an echo with BrownMisunderstandings are likely to go past between members of different cultures differences are real and we moldiness learn to deal with them in any situation in which devil cultures come into contact.Language is an important part of culture as well. Byram has elaborate this idea in one of his books Cultural studies in foreign language education as language preeminently embodies the values and meanings of a culture, refers to cultural artifacts and signal peoples cultural identity. (Byram, 1989) Other theorists have defined culture in much(prenominal) a w ay that language is put at the centralize of an account of a particular culture. Brown has provided another much(prenominal)(prenominal) comment in which he describes language as the most visible and functional expression of a particular culture. (Brown, 1987)In sum, culture is related to language and vice versa. Culture would be difficult to be transmitted from turn up to place and from generation to generation if at that place were no languages, the principal toter of values and meanings of a culture. Language would be impossible to be understood without constant reference to the cultural context, which has produced it. It may, in that locationfore, be argued that culture and language cannot be treated exclusive of each other in language teaching program. In other words, it is necessity and more proper to teach two language and culture in an integrated way. It is worthy of noting here that one of the practices of integrating the two is to use the intention language as t he medium of instruction in culture teaching. Goodenough states the relationship between language and culture in his book Culture and Linguistic. He argued language in a society is one aspect of the societys culture. The relationship between them is the part and the whole. As a component part of culture, the particularities of language show that it is a principal(prenominal) tool of learning culture during the process of learning and using (Goodenough, 1981).5. The Relationship between Language Learning and CultureJust as there is not a single thing in the world without a dual nature, so is language teaching. Language teaching and culture teaching have a dual nature. In order to conduct language teaching well, one must take up the teaching of culture and the teaching of language at the aforementioned(prenominal) meter.When we learn a foreign language, we do more than learn a linguistic system. We acquire some degree of familiarity with the foreign cultural system.It is now broadl y accepted in most parts of the world that learning a foreign language is not simply mastering the grammar, the vocabulary, etc, but more appropriately focuses on learning a delegacy of communication. Communication in real situations is never out of context, and because culture is part of most contexts, communication is rarely culture-free. The same word, if used in different culture, would get different psychological response. When course session the sentence Its morally hard to turn her away as it is a lost dog, most students put a lost dog into genuine meaning which totally shows our feeling of disgust and dislike for the dog. But it is not the case in western countries. In the western culture, dogs are regarded as faithful friends and companions. So the actual meaning of the lost dog here means something precious, valuable and favorite is lost. If you know the actual implication of it, your almsgiving can be aroused. Its obvious that neglecting the cultural difference result s in the misunderstanding. Therefore, it is infallible to learn how to understand and create language that is in accordance with the sociocultural parameters of the specific situation, because failure to do so may cause users to miss key points that are being communicated in either the written or the oral language and have their messages misunderstood.6. Language Teaching and Intercultural CommunicationSamovar, ostiarius Jain(1981) observe Culture and communication are inseparable because culture not only dictates who talks to whom, about what and how the communication proceeds, it also succors to de circumstanceinal figureine 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 term intercultural is generally used to describe comparative data and studies of a large number of cultures, or studies that try to identify dimensions that are not culture specific. Intercultural is also used to describe interactional data from members of different cultural backgrounds (normally more than two). Then whats the meaning of intercultural communication?Maureen Guirdham points out that intercultural communication is communication crosswise cultures, it describes cultural dimensions applicable for all cultures. She believes that Intercultural Communication skills may well hold the key to solving many of the current global conflicts. In a speech at the Luton Intercultural Forum, she outlined her views as to how people trained in Intercultural Communication could help to resolve current conflicts such as the Balkan conflict, the Middle East crisis and many more. In her speech, she outlined that most modem conflictssuch as IsraelPalestine conflict, the conflict between Pakistan and India and othersare essentially intercultural conflicts and that conflict resolution chiefly is a communication activit y. Lets come to some key points of intercultural communicationWhen communication theory cause conflict, be aware that problems might have more to do with style or process than with content or motives.Learn to understand different communication stylesyou could even benefit through expanding your repertoire.Communicating across cultures requires extra effort. Good communication requires commitment and concentration.Although culture cloaks differences in communication patterns, there are many exceptions within each group depending on sort out, age, education, experience, and personality.Remember that communication is a process and the process varies among cultures. Look at what might be getting in the way of understanding. Constantly ask, Whats outlet on here? and check your supposals.Avoid jokes, words or expressions that are hot button, such as those that are based on ethnicity, race or gender.Use language that fosters trust and alliance.Respect differences dont judge people beca use of the way they speak.7. Intercultural CommunicationA simple way to define the term intercultural communication is to use the definition of communication that was provided in the previous instalment and insert the phrase from different cultures. This addition would yield the following definition Intercultural communication is a symbolic process in which people from different cultures create shared meanings. This definition, although accurate, is difficult to apply.To foreground the importance of social communication in intercultural exchanges, we prefer the following definition Intercultural communication is concerned with verbatim communication between people from different cultural backgrounds.Differences in interpersonal perception and attitudes to social involvement are also important factors in intercultural communication. Intercultural communication Face-to-face communication between people from different cultural backgrounds.As inhabitants of the 21st century, we no lo nger have a woof about whether to live and communicate in a world of many cultures. The forces that bring other cultures into our life are dynamic, potent, and ever present. What does this great cultural mixing mean to EFL teaching? What competency should foreign language learners have to meet the need of communicating appropriately and effectively in such a world? The answer is that EFL teaching should cultivate learners intercultural communicative competence.8. Intercultural communicative competenceIntercultural communicative competence (ICC) is defined in a great number of studies as the competence to obtain effective outcomes in intercultural communication situations. In the past few decades, ICC has decease an important research sweep in intercultural communication studies, and produced a considerable amount of literature.ICC is related to such competence as distinguishing the cultural factors, because these things will surely have their reflections in a applicatory commu nicative situation and thereby exert much influence upon the understandings.With the gradual sentience of the importance of the communicative competence, we are sure that in EFL, more and more teachers will place their emphasis upon the betterment of ICC, and develop their students intercultural communicative competence as well as the linguistic competence at the same time,In the paragraphs above, we have introduced the definition of Intercultural communicative Competence. Quite often, we know that studies on ICC are driven by practical needs such as sending personnel abroad to cause political and commercial line of works. Thus ICC is defined by the outcomes, or the say-so of achieving these goals, the main purpose of ICC studies, therefore, is to identify components of effectiveness on the one hand, and its predictors on the other, Two major effectiveness components are task performance and nicety of behavior in the tooshie culture. The predictors of effectiveness identifie d include ambiguity tolerance, cognitive complexity, good conversation skills, intercultural training, etc.In sum, the current ICC studies are characterized by the centrality of effectiveness goal-attainment, and individual control. Underlying this package of practice is the assumption that communication is under the control of the individual if he or she has the necessary personal dispositions and skills, then the pre-determined goals of communication will be achieved. The above view holds the idea that ICC is within the individual. Competence will develop or occur in relational contexts, yet without the internal potential of the individual, there is no relationship. But this view has perhaps to some extent overlooked the internal qualities of the communicators. Maybe task-performance takes the essential position in most models. Other factors such as appropriateness or individual cultural adjustment all pave the way for task performance. As a matter of fact, the primacy of task pe rformance is evident in the very definition of ICC.Intercultural communicative competence deals with questions related to an issue often characterized by the terms culture-specific, context-specific, and culture-general, which are the various approaches to the study of intercultural communicative competence.The culture-specific, method assumes that the most effective way to correct intercultural communication is to study that culture. For example, if you were going to Japan, you might benefit from advice about throw giving, the use of first names, greeting behavior, indirect speech, politeness, the use of business cards, the importance of group harmony, social stability, and the like.In a practical intercultural communication, the only way of culture-specific is not enough, people should know what to do and how to do in a real situation, then context-specific is also needed. In recent years scholars have begun to talk about not only the specific cultures, but also the context or s etting of the intercultural encounters. Studies have been made to explore the business, educational, and wellness care settings as a way of assessing the impact of the environment on communication in a broad way.The third approach is culture-general. What has been suggested here is that regardless of the culture you are encountering, it is important to have knowledge of the persons culture and try to adapt whenever possible. What we have discussed can be found in most intercultural experiences. This is what we mean by culture-general. That is to say, look at universal skills that can be used in all cultures.How to improve intercultural communicative competence? According to Samovar Porter (1988), that is to know yourself. Although the idea of wise to(p) yourself is common. while knowing yourself is crucial to improve intercultural communication. We know we can write the words know yourself with ease, but it will take a great deal of effort to translate this assignment into practic e. The application of knowing yourself covers three directions first, know your culture_ because everyone is the proceeds of their culture, people are cultural beings and must be ever lynx-eyed to the impact of ones own cultural. Second, know your perceptions. Knowing your likes and dislikes, the degrees of personal ethnocentrism enables you to detect the ways in which these attitudes influence communication. And third, know how you act on those perceptions. The third gait in knowing yourself is to know your communication style, which is somewhat more difficult, because it involves discovering the kind of image you portray to the rest of the world. If you are to improve your communication, you must, therefore, have some idea of how you present yourself, since it will take a hard time understanding why people respond as they do, and peoples most take-for-granted behaviors are often hidden behind their consciousness. (Samovar Porter, 1988)8. Cultural Knowledge and Cultural Compete nceKnowing the contents of cultivating ICC, we need to discuss the concept of cultural knowledge. It includes two parts cultural competence (belonging to the category of development objectives) and conceptual knowledge (belonging to the category of cognitive objectives) about the target culture. The conceptual knowledge about the target culture refers to the systematic conceptual knowledge about the target culture and society and it should include the target societys geography, history, institutions, religions, economy, education and arts and so on. This conceptual knowledge about the target culture is often referred to as the general knowledge of the target culture.Cultural competence refers to implicit mastery of the norms of a society, the unspoken rules of conduct, values, and orientation that make up the cultural theoretical account of a society. It also includes the ability to recognize culturally significant facts, and knowledge of the parameters within which behavior is ac ceptable or unacceptable. Cultural competence does not necessarily mean conformity to these norms and rules.Cultural competence is the same as communicative competence in many aspects. Communicative competence (the term discussed before) also implies knowledge of many aspects of society and culture forms of address, choices of register and style, differences between social and regional dialects, and the social values attached to these differences. These items refer to attribute features of the culture. In language teaching, for instance, communicative competence includes certain aspects of sociocultural information. To a certain extent, however, cultural competence is different from communicative competence in that it refers mainly to social and cultural behavior and facts, and less to their linguistic manifestations.To be successful in the intercultural communication, both linguistic competence and cultural competence are needed. The appearance of disharmony, misunderstandings and even conflicts in communication is largely due to a lack of cultural competence. In the century of the global intercultural communication, the goal of foreign language teaching has to be changed. A shift should be made to the cultivation of intercultural communication competence.9. Arousing Students Cultural AwarenessCultural sensation is the term used to describe sensitivity to the impact of culturally bring on behavior on language use and communication. It refers to an understanding of ones own and others cultures that affect how people think and behave. It deals with geographical knowledge, the knowledge about the contributions of the target culture to world civilization, the knowledge about differences in the ways of life as well as an understanding of values and attitudes in the second language community. Cultural sense includes understanding commonalities of human behavior and differences in cultural patterns. It must be viewed both as enabling language proficiency and as being the outcome of reflection on language proficiency.Intercultural communicative awareness means the sensibility to the impact ofculturally induced behavior in communications across cultures. It involves the ability to identify cultural salmagundi and develop empathy (to see things from the point of view of others). On a less transparent level, intercultural awareness might be as simple as becoming aware of cultural differences as they apply to the use of yes or no. For instance,, knowing that in the American culture, people tend to be more direct and avoid roundabout answers, we would not make a reply like Please dont bother, to the hosts question Do you like some more potato soup? instead, we would respond by saying Yes, please. if we really want some, or No, thank. you. if we think we have had enough of it. A persons socio-cultural knowledge restricts how he exploits his linguistic potential. It is generally believed that if a person lacks socio-cultural knowledge pertinent t o the target language, a person can hardly use a language accurately and appropriately and be an effective intercultural communicator.Cultural awareness teaching should be involved with viewpoints, and with allowingstudents to gain a perspective through likeness which is neither entirely one nor the other. In the process of comparison from two viewpoints there lies the possibility of attaining leverage on both cultures, and thereby acquiring an intercultural communicative competence. With the coming of more chance for Chinese to interact with English native-speakers, a fund of knowledge about target culture can to a large extent, guarantee an effective intercultural communication. Therefore, arousing cultural awareness becomes an indispensable part in foreign language teaching and learning.In teaching cultural awareness, Ned Seelye provides a framework for facilitating the development of cross-cultural communication skills. The following goals are a modification of his seven goals of cultural instruction.1) To help students to develop an understanding of the fact that all people exhibit culturally-conditioned behaviors.2) To help students to develop an understanding of social variables such as age, sex, social class, and place of residence, the ways in which people speak and behavior.3) To help students to become more aware of conventional behavior in common situations in the target language.4) To help students to increase their awareness of the cultural connotations of words and phrases in the target language.5) To help students to develop the ability to evaluate and refine generalizations about the target culture, in terms of supporting evidence.6) To help students to develop the necessary skills to go under and organize information about the target culture.7) To stimulate students intellectual peculiarity about the target culture, and to encourage empathy towards its people.In integrating English culture awareness into teaching, there are two problems we need to consider, the first problem to be tackled is how to provide the cultural information needed. The point regarding this problem is that second-language teachers may attempt to teach culture when they are not equipped to do so through no fault of their own. The other point is that even if they know how to teach (through various techniques of presenting culture), without a definite knowledge of what to teach (the culture content), they can hardly incorporate various activities geared toward the culture objectives into their classes. For one thing, teachers need assistance in overcoming their lack of knowledge about the second culture for another, in the preparation and selection of teaching materials, the culture content selected may sometimes be concentrated on the unusual, the preposterous and the exotic characteristics of the culture. In order to avoid confusion and misunderstanding, the teacher is advised to describe all aspects of the situation instead of treating the cult ural phenomenon in isolation, and present culture content at a level or in a manner to which the students can attach some relationship between the information and their own background experiences. Even if teachers know what to teach and how to teach, there is still a problem concerning finding time in the class period to include culture. The class time is limited, so how much time should be spent teaching culture? Dwelling too much on culture is not only a waste of time but also of no help to the students.The second problem is that though most foreign language teachers do not deny the importance of teaching culture, few teachers actively test whether students are attaining their cultural goals. Teachers may incidentally attend to culture by inserting ideas during the class period and afterwards fail to check students comprehension of the context. Often students do not absorb that the teacher is attempting to teach aspects of the second language culture. One of the reasons for this lack of awareness is that culture usually is not considered a fundamental component of the class content. If culture is to be an important goal in the second language class, it must be taught and tested systematically. Currently, the most practical approach to examen culture is to test the facts. Objective tests and essay tests may be used to test knowledge of facts and insight into cultural behavior.The problems mentioned above mean a lot to second language teachers and learners.Undertaking the teaching of culture is further from being simple. In accomplishing this task, the teacher has to be a generous knowledge imparter, an efficient time finder, an amiable activity designer, a protean actor and an assiduous learner as well. As for students, in the long run, they will benefit a lot from the culture learning experience that helps them become successful cross-cultural communicators.Undoubtedly, being a successful cross-cultural communicator is an exciting, enjoyable and enrichi ng experience that will open the doors to both personal development and satisfaction. Therefore, the desegregation of English culture awareness into teaching in China means a demanding and challenging task both for English teachers and learners.10. Developing Intercultural judgmentCultural understanding is the main part of cultural studies. It demands a exposit analysis of cultures. The teaching of culture should lead students to experience directly through contact with native speakers and through developing some sorts of personal relationship with the target language community. In other words, culture understanding involves, in addition the cognitive, a social and affective component. The main content of cultural understanding covers 1) Understanding of daily life, including unfamiliar conventions, such as writing a check or reading a timetable. 2) Knowledge of cultural connotations of words and phrases. The students should indicate awareness that culturally conditioned images are associated with even the most common target words and phrase