The Effects of Cultural Instruction on Foreign Language Learning

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The Effects of Cultural Instruction on Foreign Language Learning

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[RELC 36.1 (2005) 39-57]

DOI: 10.1177/0033688205053481

© 2005 SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks CA and New Delhi)

THE EFFECTS OF CULTURAL INSTRUCTION

ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Wenli Tsou

National University of Tainan, Taiwan R.O.C.

[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Many elementary EFL teachers in Taiwan have concerns in inte-

grating target culture teaching into their language classrooms for

reasons such as teachers’ limited knowledge of the target culture, lack

of time, lack of methods and materials. In order to persuade more

language teachers to teach target language culture, guidelines about

designing an applicable cultural instruction and evidence about its

effects on language learning are needed. In the study, the combination

of an anthropology process and task-oriented approach were applied

to conduct the culture lessons. Culture instruction was implemented

within two elementary EFL classrooms for one semester to see the

effects of culture instruction on foreign language learning. When cul-

ture lessons were integrated into EFL instruction, students’ language

proficiency was significantly improved. In addition, they had better

interests in language learning.

Background of the Study

Research on language learning has recognized the close relationship

between language and culture (Ando 1997; Brown 1994). ‘Language

competence may be attempted directly without prior immersion in the

culture. But in the absence of culture experience, a dearth of motivation,

achievement, and enjoyment is probable in the arduous task of language

learning’ (Carpenter and Torney 1973: 11). ‘Without cultural insight and

skills, even fluent speakers can seriously misinterpret the messages they

hear or read, and the messages they intend to communicate can be mis-

at Afyon Kocatepe Universitesi on May 4, 2014rel.sagepub.comDownloaded from


40 Regional Language Centre Journal 36.1 (2005)

understood’ (Pesola 1991: 331). In fact, when learners learn about lan-

guage they learn about culture (Byram 1989). While the significance of

culture has been constantly mentioned, the specific contents and tech-

niques about culture teaching within the foreign language (FL) curriculum

still remain unclear to the FL educators. Many FL classrooms still view

culture learning as an addendum to language study and deal mostly with

food, festivals, buildings and other cultural institutions. Without know-

ing how and what to teach about culture in the FL classroom, most FL

teachers are uncomfortable in providing culture teaching (Bragaw 1991;

Hadley 1993; Arries 1994). Consequently, FL teachers either do not talk

about the target culture in their classrooms or only mention parts of the

target culture that has been included in the textbook. Culture still stands

for a small percentage in the foreign language-teaching curriculum.

The government of Taiwan decided to implement English as a required

foreign language for all fifth and sixth graders in the primary schools at

the beginning of the fall of 2001. In order to recruit enough EFL teachers,

the Ministry of Education held examinations (for language skills only) for

the potential EFL teachers. Those who passed the exams could participate

in the one-year teacher-training program to improve their EFL teaching

skills. Research has been conducted to evaluate the effects of training

programs (Chen 1999; Wu 2000). The results indicated that around 80%

of the trainees claimed that culture learning should be included in their

training program. Most EFL teachers recognized the importance of

culture in their teaching but they also realized that they were not well

equipped with the skills and knowledge for culture teaching. Some teach-

ers were still skeptical about the necessity and significance of teaching

culture in their language classrooms. If guidelines for culture teaching

and empirical evidences about positive effects of culture lessons on lan-

guage learning can be provided, teachers may be more willing to teach

culture.

The driving forces behind this study, which inspired the researcher to

focus on the population of elementary school children in Taiwan, came

from two directions. First, ‘elementary school foreign language programs

have the potential for preparing citizens to be functionally bicultural as

well as bilingual’, (Pesola 1991: 331). In addition, children demonstrate

greater ease in learning about culture. Some research indicated that the

age period before ten is the most promising for learning a foreign culture

because after age ten or eleven, children have developed a large number

of preconceptions about other cultures, including many rigid stereotypes



TSOU The Effects of Cultural Instruction 41

(Carpenter and Torney 1973). After the age of ten, people are less open to

modification and are more rigid in attitudes and behaviors (Cooper 1965;

Lambert and Klineberg 1967). Curtain and Pesola (1994) also believed

that fourth or fifth graders were more open-minded toward people with

different languages as well as cultures and it was the best time to conduct

instruction in world culture.

Second, the government of Taiwan decided to implement EFL in all

primary schools starting from the third grade in the fall of 2005. The

importance of both foreign language and culture instruction became

salient to all language educators in Taiwan. Therefore, good guidelines

for culture instruction and evidence of the advantages of culture teaching

in the language classroom are a critical need for these elementary school

language learners and practitioners in Taiwan.

Review of the Literature

For the past 50 years, culture has increased in importance in the language

classroom, especially in the FL classroom. In the 1950s and early 1960s,

the attention to culture in the language classroom tended to reflect the ‘big

C’ philosophy of culture (Social Science Education Consortium 1999)—

history, geography, institutions, literature, art and music, which were used

to help students in their reading of literature in the target language. In the

late 1960s, because of the influence from the audiolingual movement,

knowledge about the ‘small c’—everyday culture or behavior culture—

was seen as a necessary factor in building vocabulary (Grittner 1996).

Whether considering big C or small c, these approaches viewed culture as

some kind of a supplement to the language study (Grittner 1996).

Recent focus of culture teaching generally views culture as a social

process.

As such, culture is recognized as a changing variable rather than a

static entity. In turn, culture learning is seen not as the acquisition of

facts, but as a constructivist process…as a systematic and integral part

of language learning, rather than an add on (Social Science Education

Consortium 1999: 10).

Researchers advocate that culture should be clearly defined and system-

atically treated as a regular feature of the language classroom. The focus

is placed more on the learner’s side. The process of learners’ cultural

awareness or acculturation as well as the language materials being studied

becomes the center for culture learning (Grittner 1996).




Theoretically, incorporating culture study in the language classroom

can be understood as important and necessary; practically, however, many

problems arise when implementing culture teaching in the foreign lan-

guage classroom. For instance, teachers’ limited foreign experiences,

limited knowledge of the target culture, lack of methods and materials,

lack of time, and fear of controversy over teaching values and attitudes

(Arries 1994; Bragaw 1991; Damen 1987; Hadley 1993; Mantle-Bromley

1993). With the intent of reducing language teachers’ fear and providing

supports for the culture teaching, the researcher found two important

approaches through the literature to teaching culture: task-oriented and

anthropology-process approaches. The task-oriented approach is charac-

terized by cooperative learning tasks in which students work together in

pairs or in small groups for activities such as culture box, mini-dramas,

field trips, and utilizing authentic materials (Brooks 1969; Hadley 1993;

Mantle-Bromley 1992; Strassheim 1981). On the other hand, those who

advocate an anthropology-process approach believe that ‘an exclusive

focus on material and activities reflects a misconception about the nature

of culture’ and leads people to ‘regard language learning and culture

learning as distinct components’ (Arries 1994: 523). Instead of presenting

selected target cultural topics to be studied in class, teachers should first

ask how much students already know about either their home culture or

the second culture. In other words, the focus of this approach is for learn-

ers to use their target language and anthropological techniques to test

hypotheses about the target language culture (Crawford-Lange and Lange

1984; Damen 1987; Grittner 1977; Kramsch 1983; Mantle-Bromley 1992).

Both approaches were successful in language classrooms; however, they

had not been implemented simultaneously into the FL language class-

room (Arries 1994; Seelye 1994). Since the participants of this study were

elementary children, a pure anthropology approach might appear to be

demanding for them. Nonetheless, different activities or tasks can be

introduced to carry out the anthropological process to obtain better learner

engagement. For instance, mini-drama (Hendon 1978), fantasy experience

(Curtain and Pesola 1994), culture box (Zlokas-Cavage 1995/1996), cul-

ture bump (Archer 1986). Therefore an integration of the anthropology-

process and task-oriented approaches was used to create the culture

lessons of the current study.

As for the content of culture instruction, various suggestions were

made from researchers and organizations. Pesola (1991) divided culture

into culture symbols, culture product and culture practice. Instead of divid-




ing culture into groups, Chastain (1988) listed important topics for culture

teaching. He believed topics concerning human behaviors around family;

personal needs, food, education, weddings, and money should be included

in culture instruction. It is difficult, however, to include everything in

culture instruction all at one time. The orders of different topics and the

amount of content for each topic should be planned systematically.

Chastain (1988) suggested that daily culture should go first and within

the small c category, and topics such as greetings, facial expressions,

and kinesics should be presented earlier. In addition, Posthofen (1994)

believed that in foreign language instruction, popular culture and not

formal culture should be emphasized.

Considering the language (one year of English learning) and cognitive

(ten-years old) developments of pupils being studied in this article, the

content for elementary EFL culture instruction should relate to children’s

life experiences. In addition, Curtain and Pesola (1994) explained that

incorporating children’s literature (fairy tales, stories, songs and chants)

within elementary foreign language instruction can not only provide

cultural knowledge to learners but can also promote their motivation in

language learning. The importance of the story can never be de-empha-

sized in children’s learning. Pesola suggested that the story of a single

character experiencing a dramatic event in the target culture, including

significant information about and emotional understanding of the target

culture itself, can better present the culture materials (1991: 341). There-

fore, integrating the above studies, the researcher laid the foundation of

culture instruction for the current study.

Purpose of the Study

In previous studies, culture was treated mostly as an addendum to lan-

guage teaching or to provide relief from the routine in the language class-

rooms (Moore 1996); therefore, it was difficult to study the effects of

culture on language learning. Differing from previous studies, the current

study intended to treat culture instruction as an organized focus of the

language classroom, rather than a fragment or an add on.

The Culture Instruction (See Appendix I)

The current culture instruction combined task-oriented and anthropology-

process approaches discussed in the literature review section. From an

anthropological orientation, the current study defined culture instruction




as the processes of comparing and contrasting cultures through seeking

similarities first and then differences between learners’ native and target

cultures. According to Pesola,

Similar symbolic associations with new culture can assist children in

feeling a personal connectedness with an additional culture group. By

contrast, emphasis on exotic differences between groups of people

encouraged the tendency to develop negative stereotypes about those

perceived as different from the child’s group (1991: 332).

Thus, in order to reduce stereotyping and enhance the positive feeling

about learning a different culture, similarities between cultures were often

presented first. Drawing upon tasks/activities utilizing examples from

students’ daily lives, the target culture was gradually introduced to the

learners. When students compared and contrasted the target culture and

their native culture, they were aware of the existing differences, and could

further understand the target culture as well as their own culture. This

anthropology process of comparing and contrasting was carried out in

activities discussed in the task-oriented approach such as use of culture

assimilators, mini-dramas, and authentic materials. Specifically speaking,

culture instruction refers to an instruction that views culture learning as a

process. The target culture (American culture) was introduced around the

topics of students’ daily life through the anthropological techniques of

comparing and contrasting.

For each culture class, students were asked to discuss, in their native

language, what they already knew about the topics to be studied in both

their home culture and the target culture. After presenting each lesson,

additional information about the topic was often provided as supplemen-

tary materials for students to use in formulating or testing their hypothe-

ses about the culture being studied. There were a total of ten 20-minute

lessons of culture instruction provided to the experimental groups. For

each class, the teacher asked students to first think about what the topic

meant in relation to students’ own culture: to what extent did they under-

stand the topic in the target culture framework? This was followed by the

presentation and discussion of pictures, real objects or authentic materials

from native or target cultures associated with the topics being studied.

Through activities such as mini-drama, fantasy experience, and compar-

ing/contrasting processes, the target culture was introduced. Through these

practices, students could construct their own concepts about the specific

aspects of the target culture. In order to obtain gains in both language




skills and culture understanding, when presenting the target culture mate-

rials, the culture instructor spoke English primarily; while, in whole class

discussions and some discussion-related activities (e.g. culture bump),

Chinese was used mostly to facilitate comprehension. Cultural discus-

sions of this sort can facilitate language learning even if the discussions

are conducted in learners’ native language (Heidi 1990).

The lessons of the culture instruction were clustered around the

overseas-studying experiences of a ten-year-old boy named Joe. Joe was

an exchange student from Taiwan attending an elementary school in San

Francisco. He was living with an American family during his stay. Stu-

dents were vicariously experiencing what Joe was experiencing in the

target culture. The topics of the culture instruction and the orders of the

topics were actually a reflection of Joe’s life in the US. These topics

included: Home, Sweet Home; School Days; Meals and Table Manners;

Social Manners (conceptions of time, receiving gifts); Halloween; A Visit

to the Doctor; Thanksgiving; Shopping in the Mall; Christmas; and Say-

ing Good-bye. All the materials used in the cultural instruction were

created together by the researcher and the cultural instructor.

Methodology

Culture instruction was integrated to elementary EFL classes for one

semester. A total of 109 Grade 5 pupils from the region of Tainan County

in southern Taiwan participated in this study. Virtually all participants

came from suburban areas. The participants’ length of English learning

experience ranged from one–two years, with the majority having one

year of experience (80%). The four classes were chosen because the stu-

dents’ language learning background and proficiency level (low interme-

diate) were alike. There were two experimental groups (54 students in

total) and two control groups (55 students in total). The same English

instructor taught all four classes. The EFL teacher was willing to team-

teach with the culture instructor for ten weeks. The culture instructor

provided culture instruction to the experimental groups and regular EFL

instruction to the control groups. Furthermore, she worked with the

researcher and the English teacher to design the activities of the class

and also materials/activities for the culture instruction. Before the actual

administration, the culture instruction was piloted in classrooms that had

similar backgrounds as classes being studied to gather more information

for necessary modification.




Before the treatment, each class was assessed on two different meas-

ures: English proficiency test (STYLE, Saxoncourt Tests for Young Learn-

ers of English, Level 1 and culture knowledge questionnaire (Appendix

II). STYLE (published by Norman House, London, UK, 1994) is a series

of listening and reading-based comprehension tests for children between

the ages of six and thirteen. There are six levels in this series. It was de-

signed for young learners who have minimum English learning experience

for at least nine months. Only language ability is tested in STYLE and not

culture knowledge. Different from the STYLE, the culture knowledge

questionnaire wanted to see to what extent students absorbed information

about certain topics of culture. Therefore, only background knowledge

were examined, not students’ recall of the topics. The items for this

questionnaire were multiple choices and true/false questions written in

Chinese. At the end of the semester, STYLE and the culture knowledge

questionnaire were applied again to see whether there were any changes in

both groups after the treatment. Interviews with students and instructors

in their native language were also conducted at the beginning (only the

English instructor) and at the end of the semester. Finally, t-tests and

ANCOVA were utilized to analyze the data collected.

Results of the study

The results from both qualitative data (t-test and ANCOVA) and qualita-

tive data (interviews) of the study will be discussed in the following

section.

Results from t-Tests and ANCOVA

The results in Table 1 indicate that before the experiment, although the

experimental groups did score a bit higher than the control groups, the

difference between groups in term of students’ language proficiency was

not significant, t (107) = -1.43. However, after the experiment, even

thought both groups significantly improved their language proficiency,

the difference between groups became significant, t (107) = -2.09*.

Students in the experimental groups did significantly better than students

in the control groups in the post language proficiency test (25.43 vs.

21.36, full score 30).




Table 1. t-Test Results for the Culture Questionnaire and English Proficiency Test

Pre-questionnaire

Mean (SD)

Post-questionnaire

Mean (SD)

Within group

t-test

Culture Knowledge

Control (55)

Experimental (54)

9.87 (1.96)

9.96 (1.88)

9.55 (2.00)

12.39 (1.52)

t(54)=1.19

t(53)=-10.04***

Between groups

t-test t(107 )=-.245 t(107)=-8.35***

Pre-test

Mean (SD)

Post-test

Mean (SD)

Within group

t-test

English Proficiency

Control (55)

Experimental (54)

19.45 (11.89)

22.28 (8.49)

21.36 (11.91)

25.43 (8.01)

t(54)=-3.34**

t(53)=-5.68***

Between groups

t-test t(107)=-1.43 t(107)=-2.09*

Note. *: p < .05 **: p < .01 ***: p < .001

When conducting correlation tests, the researcher found a strong correla-

tion (-.2175*) between the pre-test and students’ language improvement

(post-test–pre-test). This result indicated that pre-test could be an impor-

tant factor to language improvement and its effect should be controlled in

order to ensure that there were no biasing influences on the subsequently

measured criterion variable and the two groups were essentially alike.

Therefore, ANCOVA was then applied to exam the language improve-

ment between groups. In ANCOVA, the means of the groups were ad-

justed according to the covariant, pre-test. As indicated in Table 2, when

entering pre-test as a covariant, the increases between groups were sig-

nificantly different (F= 3.74*). Students in the experimental groups signi-

ficantly increased more (3.29 vs. 1.78) in their language ability after the

treatment.

Table 2. ANCOVA Results for the Improvement in English Proficiency

Source SS df MS F

Between groups 1761.32 771 61.32 3.74*

Within groups 1738.58 106 16.40

Total 1799.90 107

Note. *: p < .05 **: p < .01 ***: p < .001




A similar result appeared, in relation to the culture knowledge factor.

After the experiment, the difference between groups changed from insig-

nificant, t (107) = -.245, to significant, t (107) = -8.35***. Before the

experiment, students’ target cultural knowledge in both groups did not

differ significantly, while after the experiment, there was a significant

difference in cultural knowledge between groups. Furthermore, in Table

3, using culture pre-test as a covariant, the students in the experimental

groups still significantly increased (2.45 vs. -.39) more culture knowledge

than students in the control groups (F= 85.13***, p< .001). One could

argue that since the experimental groups had been introduced to certain

topics about the target culture, of course they knew more about the cul-

ture. It was expected that there would be a significant difference between

the control and experimental groups in terms of the culture knowledge

because of the culture instruction. However, what is worth mentioning is

that not only did the 2 groups differ significantly in this matter; but also

the control groups did not increase in their knowledge about the target

culture (9.87 to 9.55). In light of these results, it is important to recall two

important factors characterizing typical elementary EFL instruction in

Taiwan: first, the regular EFL instruction in the elementary school often

does not deal with culture learning. Second, culture is not an automatic

outcome of language instruction.

Table 3. ANCOVA Results for the Improvement in Culture Knowledge

Source SS df MS F

Between groups 220.08 771 220.08 85.13***

Within groups 274.03 106 002.59

Total 494.11 107

Note. *: p < .05 **: p < .01 ***: p < .001

Results from Interviews

In addition to the quantitative data, the current study also gathered quali-

tative data through teacher and student interviews (in Chinese). The inter-

views with the EFL teacher were conducted both before and after the

experiment for the purpose of comparisons, each lasting about 30 minutes,

whereas the interviews with the culture instructor and selected students

were conducted after the experiment. Five students (one fifth) from each

class were randomly selected (20 in total). The interviews with students




were fairly short, mostly with questions about their opinions toward the

class (e.g. How do you feel about this semester’s English class? Is it dif-

ferent from your English class before? What is the most interesting part

about the class?), plus some follow-up questions. Since the purpose was

simply to elicit additional data to complement the statistical findings, the

interviews were all conducted under an informal format in a comfortable

setting.

Response from the EFL Teacher

Before the experiment, the EFL teacher believed that the students in the

control groups were more active, even though she thought that students in

both groups had about the same level of language proficiency. One thing

she did point out was that compared with other academic subjects being

studied at school, English was not at all their favorite subject. Since the

EFL teacher was also present when the culture instruction was conducted,

she was able to observe closely students’ reactions toward the instruc-

tion. She concluded that she could see that students became increasingly

involved in the lessons about culture, as such information accumulated

over time. She described her observations in the interview:

Before, students usually got ready to leave the classroom minutes before

the bell rang. They were very impatient. However, with the culture

instruction, students often were not aware that the class was over. They

were still chatting or asking questions to the teacher or to each other…

Students in the culture groups were more willing to stay in the class.

They came to the classroom on time and were more manageable in the

class.

According to the English teacher, the students in the experimental groups

became more interested in English and utilized more English words and

sentences than were taught in class in their talking with one another. She

felt that by the end of the study, the students in the experimental groups

were already more active in class than students in the control groups.

Responses from the Culture Instructor

The culture instructor expressed concerns about the effects of culture

instruction at the beginning since she expected students to be more

engaged by the language activities and not be as active in the discussions

about cultures. Much to her surprise, students loved the discussions and

comparisons about cultures. As she described in her interview:




Students in the culture groups became more motivated, participative

and cooperative. I could save more energy in teaching culture because

students were more manageable in the experimental groups.

She also mentioned the obvious improvement in students’ understanding

not only in the target culture but also in their native culture. Students

showed as much interest in their own culture as well. For example, they

had more questions and discussions about Chinese ways of celebration,

school life, shopping or seeing doctors. She believed that students in the

experimental groups also improved in their English ability since they

often asked the teacher to repeat certain words and phrases in the culture

instruction and then practiced them voluntarily with other classmates. As

for the students in the control groups, there were not many changes in

terms of students’ interests and involvement.

Responses from Students

All students from the experimental groups expressed the feelings that

English classes were interesting and they liked learning English and about

differences in cultures.

E1: It was interesting to see how similar and different people could

be in different cultures.

E2: It was ‘very cool’ to learn how to say things, such as ‘soybean’,

‘milk’, and ‘moon festival’ in English.

On the other hand, only six of the students from the control groups

agreed that English classes were interesting.

C1: I like English songs and chants. They make English easy to

learn. Others said the English class was boring sometimes.

C2: Why should I learn English? It is not interesting.

C3: English is boring. I don’t want to learn English.

The interview data from students show that students in the experimen-

tal groups tend to have better learning experiences than students in the

control groups. They were more motivated in language learning.

Discussions

The results of this study suggest that the effect of culture instruction on

language learning was positive. Although students in both groups signi-

ficantly increased their language proficiency after one semester of EFL




instruction, students with the culture instruction increased more than the

students in the control groups. In addition, the results of the interviews

indicated that including culture instruction in the language classroom

could help increase students’ motivation toward language learning. There-

fore the hypothesis of this study was supported both quantitatively (t-tests

and ANCOVA) and qualitatively (interviews).

Culture Instruction is Beneficial to Foreign Language Learning

The EFL learning situations of the control groups in the current study

could represent the learning condition of most elementary EFL class-

rooms in Taiwan. EFL learners in Taiwan often are not provided with

culture input in the language classroom due to many reasons mentioned

above in the background section. According to the results of the study,

deprivation of the target culture input can significantly affect language

learning. EFL educators are encouraged to promote culture teaching in

the language classroom, especially EFL language classroom. Culture

lessons in this study are easily implemented into regular FL classrooms.

Since reading, writing, listening and speaking are also practiced in the cul-

ture lessons, students can continue to develop their four language skills.

Therefore, teachers do not need to worry about finding extra time for the

culture instruction. In addition, part of the culture instruction can also

deal with students’ native culture; it is not difficult to find topics common

to both the target culture and the pupils’ daily lives. With the popularity

of network systems, researching via the Internet can provide teachers with

abundant information about topics in the daily culture of the target

language. Teachers need not have to worry about lacking overseas experi-

ences or knowledge of the target culture. The researcher wishes to see

that the motivation, achievement, and enjoyment of language learning

would be attempted in the presence of culture instruction.

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APPENDIX I

Sample Culture Lesson

A ten-year-old boy, Joe, was flying to San Francisco. He was going to

attend the local elementary school. On the way to San Francisco, he was

excited and worried.

*From: http://www2.seeder.net.tw/mba/travel.htm

From: http://peacock.tnit.edu.tw/NEW/ADM/TAIWAN.HTML

Unit One: Greeting After a long trip, Joe arrived at the airport in San Francisco. Nervously

waiting in the terminal, Joe saw a couple coming toward him.

John: Hi, are you Joe Chang from Taiwan?

Joe: Yes, I am.

John: Welcome to San Francisco. We’re your home-stay parents. I’m

John (point to his wife).This is my wife, Alice.

Alice: Hi, Joe, nice to meet you (giving Joe a big hug). Joe felt very

strange. ‘Why did she hug me I just met her’. At the same time,

he noticed that people around him also hugging and kissing.

‘Maybe it’s the way to greet people in the U.S.’ Joe thought.

How do Americans say hello

Americans are friendly people. They often say hello to people whom they

have eye contact with, even with strangers. When meeting friends or

relatives, they often hug or kiss them on the cheeks.

*The original text for this section was in Chinese.*

Compare and Contrast

Americans and Taiwanese.

Americans Taiwanese

Expression ‘Hello’ ‘What’s up?’ ‘How are you?’ ‘Did you eat’

Gesture Hand-shaking hands, hugging or

kissing.

Hand-shaking and head-

nodding.




Word Bank

1. airport

2. couple

3. hug

4. greet

5. terminal

Beginning the lesson 1. Ask students if they have the experience of staying in the US. If

they do, share the experience with the class. (5 min)

2. Introduce the main character, Joe. (2 min)

Teaching1. Teacher uses props such as puppets to represent Joe, John and Alice.

Play the video clip* about the conversation. Do role-playing about

the main conversation with puppets. (6 minutes)

*The role-play about the conversation in each lesson was video re-

corded in advance.

2. Explain the vocabulary. (5 minutes)

3. Activity 1: Think and Act. (10 minutes)

1. Discuss with your group what the people in the picture do and

what relationship they are. Present four pictures about Ameri-

cans greeting each other: hugging, kissing, hand shaking, nod-

ding)

2. Act out: What do you do when you encounter the similar situa-

tion in Taiwan? Discuss with your classmates and act out the

situation.

4. Lead students to read and discuss the ‘comparison and contrast’ ses-

sion. (7 minutes)

Ending the class 1. Review what have been taught in the class today. Let students guess what problems Joe may encounter later in the states. (5 minutes)




APPENDIX II

Culture Questionnaire

I. Multiple Choices

1. What would American students do when they have a question about

something the teacher has just said in class?

(a) look confused

(b) raise your hand and ask the teacher to explain

(c) wait and ask the teacher to explain after class

2. When introducing yourself to someone you don’t know at a party,

what do you usually say first?

(a) Hello, I am…

(b) Your name please?

(c) It’s nice to meet you.

3. How do most American children get to school every day?

(a) by train

(b) parents provide rides

(c) by school bus

4. Santa is for which festival?

(a) Easter

(b) Halloween

(c) Christmas

5. What is Americans’ traditional food for Thanksgiving?

(a) moon cake

(b) turkey

(c) steaks

6. Which of the following food is common to American meals?

(a) carrot rice-cake, fried egg

(b) hamburger, French fries

(c) soybean milk, rice




7. When invited to a dinner party, Americans usually arrive

(a) within 15 minutes of the appointed time

(b) 30 minutes later than the appointed time

(c) 30 minutes earlier than the appointed time

8. You’ve just been introduced to an American friend’s parents. What

would you do?

(a) say ‘hello’, and bow

(b) say nothing and shake hands

(c) say ‘nice to meet you’, and shake hands

9. In the US, shopping for groceries is usually done by going to

(a) a supermarket once a week

(b) a night market every evening

(c) a convenience store once a week

10. Which of the following also means goodbye?

(a) see you later

(b) talk to you

(c) walk slowly

II. True or False

1. Americans often live with their grandparents.

2. American children often call their teachers ‘Teacher’ and not by

their names.

3. Most houses in the United States do not have high fences and

iron-bar window.

4. Americans usually open gifts in front of the gift provider.

5. Americans and Chinese eat their meals with chopsticks.

6. Americans and Chinese always go to hospitals if they catch

colds.



Documents

The Effects of Cultural Instruction on Foreign Language Learning