English 311,"Introduction
to Linguistics"
Integrating Culture When Teaching
English as a Second language
The number of students with Limited English Proficiency and the number of
students of English as a Second language is rapidly growing in the state of
California. According to the California Department of Education (CDE), "The
current California population of language minority students with limited English
proficient is 1,151,800" (Recruiting and Retaining p4), which means that
our local schools have a high number of language minority students that have
limitation with English; these students need help learning how to speak, how to
read, and how to write English. As a consequence, the state of California needs
to hire more teachers. These teachers need to be prepared to teach English to
Limited English Proficient students who are the ones that have just arrived
without any knowledge of English. In addition, teachers should also be able to
teach to English as second language students, who are the ones that have been in
this country for a while, but they still need to improve their English.
Therefore, teaching English to these students may be a challenge, and teachers
need to be prepared to face this challenge. In my paper, I will focus on how
culture influences the learning of language, and I will provide examples of how
the use of culture as a tool can more effectively motivate children to learn.
Moreover, I will present examples of how culture and motivation are
interrelated. I will also provide some teaching strategies that teachers can use
when teaching English to Limited English Proficient and English as second
language students.
Influence of Culture and Language
What is culture? "Culture is a social system that represents an
accumulation of beliefs, attitudes, habits, values, and practices that serves as
a filter through which a group of people view and respond to the world in which
they live." This is the definition of Culture given by Nobles in one of his
textbooks in 1990. In the book Creating Culturally Responsive Classrooms,
written by Shade, Kelly, and Oberg, they use the definition of Culture given by
Nobles to demonstrate that culture plays an important role in the classrooms. In
California’s classrooms, students come from different areas of the world, some
of which are Latin America, Europe, and Asia; students who come from these areas
have different cultures and languages, and for most of these students English is
not their first language. As a result, these students are placed in Limited
English Proficient and English as second language classrooms. The argument is
that even though these students do not have English speaking, reading, and
writing proficiency, they still have culture, which means that they have the
capacity to learn language and other subjects overall. The main point that
Shade, Kelly, and Oberg are trying to make is that culture can be used to teach
students to learn. As they explain, "the teacher of culturally diverse
students become a cultural liaison and has the responsibility for developing a
connection between the culture of the students and the culture of the
school" (Creating Culturally p19). For example, consider the case of a
student who has just arrived from Mexico; he is starting to learn how to speak
English, and the teacher is trying to make him speak. Perhaps as a way to ease
the student into the new language environment, the teacher could ask him
something about his culture, so the student could retrieve something he already
knows about his culture. Hence, that the student does not know how to speak
English will not be so shocking to him. Rather he will be motivated to try to
speak English because he will feel that he needs to speak about something he
knows. The student will focus on how to produce words in English to tell the
teacher about what he already knows, rather than focusing in the fact that he is
not able to speak English.
Moreover, the culture of the students can be used in many ways. For instance,
in the Hispanic culture, the author of the book, Educating Hispanic Students
explains, "In general the family is much more important in the Hispanic
community" (Educating Hispanics p37). This means that the family plays an
important role in the Hispanic students’ lives. Therefore, teachers can use
this to their advantages to teach. For instance, the teacher can ask the
students to write down the names of family members. Even though students do not
how to write English, they will write their names in Spanish. Then, the teacher
can ask the students to translate some of their names in English. For example,
if a student has a family member named Maria, the student may be able (with the
help of the teacher and other students) to make the connection between Maria and
Mary. As Shade, Kelly, and Oberg state in their book, "Children coming to
our classroom are members of different cultures." Implying that students do
not arrive in the classroom as "blank slates" (Creating Culturally
p19). These authors argue that the students have already learned other things
such language and customs. Consequently, teachers need to learn how to work with
these students because these students can learn in our classrooms. In many
cases, some teachers lack the necessary skills to work with students from
different cultural backgrounds, thus causing the students to suffer. Case in
point, if a teacher asks a Hispanic student (who is learning English) to talk
about sports, the student more likely will not be able to talk about it. This
student is not only focusing on the fact that he does not how to speak English,
but he is also focusing on the fact that he does not know about American sports
like American Football. In this case, the teacher may assume that the student is
not learning. As a result, because limited English proficient students have a
limited understanding of cultural type class discussions, they are mislabeled
and placed in special education classes. As Grossman explains, "Hispanic
students should not be mislabeled as learning disabled, etc" (Educating
Hispanic p 186). The author is saying that teachers need to recognize the
importance of culture in the acquisition of language.
Culture and Motivation
The authors of the book "Creating Culturally Responsive
Classrooms" explain that using culture to teach language would lead to a
high level of motivation, and that the relationship between culture and
motivation is guided by teachers. Therefore, teachers play an important role. As
the authors state "Teachers are important to the success of students"
(Creating Culturally p 41). Shade, Kelly, and Oberg also provide examples of how
motivation plays an important role in teaching language. For example, culture
has different styles: communication style, social interaction style, personality
or response style, and linguistic style. Shade, Kelly, and Oberg suggest that
teachers can use culture as a tool to teach students. Also, teachers can use
these styles in various ways in that it "Provides you [them] with an idea
of what might be in the minds and the backgrounds of the young people who arrive
at school from these various communities" (Creating Culturally p 34). These
authors present examples of each style in connection to leaning: especially for
Hispanic students.
Communication style:
Hispanic students tend to use jokes as verbal communication (Creating
Culturally p30). For example, teachers may ask Hispanic students; "Did you
take a shower today?"
Students may respond," Yes, we did. Did you?
Social interaction style:
Since hispanic students are used to "working together, participating in
cooperative or collective efforts" (Creating Culturally p30),
the teacher may group the students to work together by selecting students
coming from the same town or city in Mexico. The teacher can give the students
an assignment to talk about the traditions in their own towns or cities that
they come from.
Personality or response style:
Hispanic students tend to "seek rewards and self satisfaction, and feel
great deal with emotional involvement with people, ideas, and events"
(Creating Culturally p30-31). For example, the teacher may give points for each
correct answer and reward students when they accumulate 100 points. Rewards can
be things like leaving class five minutes early.
Linguistic style: Language is a "vehicle for socialization and
learning" (Creating Culturally p 31). Thus, the teacher can have the
students write down their names, place of birth, favorite foods, and sports.
Then, the teacher can ask the students to talk to the student next to them and
exchange their personal information.
To focus on the importance of using culture as a tool when teaching English,
Shade, Kelly, and Oberg state, "The primary goal of schools for children
whose first language is not English is to help students become bi-literate,
bicultural, self-directed learners" (Creating Culturally p 31). Further,
the use of the different styles within the culture may facilitate leaning for
Limited English Proficient and English as a second language students. In the
same way, Grossman agrees with the fact that teachers need to understand the
importance of cultural influence when teaching English. He explains in his book
that Hispanic students in America do not receive the cultural education that
will help them to succeed learning English, which will lead them to succeed in
this country. To illustrate this point, he explains that "The American
educational system was not developed for Hispanic students" (Educating
Hispanic p 7). The author contends that the system was not created to teach
Hispanic students to begin with. Therefore, teachers need to understand that
using Culture as a tool to teach can be helpful. All the authors agree that the
influence of culture on language is vital and that culture must be integrated in
the curriculum in our classrooms.
Teaching Strategies
According to Shade, Kelly, and Oberg, creating classrooms in which culture
plays a role is important. Integrating culture in our classroom can be helpful
to the students. For example, teachers can decorate their classrooms with
students’ artwork, posters of heroes, posters of cultural role models, flags,
and maps from different countries. As shade, Kelly and Oberg state in their
textbook, these decorations "help students to identify their heritage and
expand their visions of career opportunities for their futures"(Creating
Culturally p 2). This means that students can come to a classroom at which they
feel like their own culture is appreciated. That way they will feel value to
being Mexican, Latino, or Hispanic; they will not feel that the Latino culture
is being ignored by the teacher. The physical appearance of the classroom can
also help the teacher to understand their students as the textbook explains,
"Designing my classroom has enabled me to focus on student academic goals,
gain deeper understanding of students, and gain appreciation for different ways
of learning" (Creating Culturally p 2). That is to say that once teachers
understand that the integration of culture into the curriculum is important,
their level of motivation to teach will increase. Likewise, once the students
understand that their culture is being appreciated, their level of motivation to
learn will increase as well. As we already know, motivation plays an important
role in learning, so students must be motivated to learn. In addition, teaching
strategies play an important role in motivating the student as well. We cannot
separate motivation from teaching strategies because both factors play an
important role in the teaching and learning of language. One of the teaching
strategies that can be used in the classroom is the use of the students’ own
language. For example, teachers can ask the students to write down the name of
animals in their native country. Students that speak only Spanish more likely
will write the names in Spanish, and the students that speak English more likely
will write the names in English. Then, the teacher can have the students to
gather in-groups of four, mixed the groups with students that know English and
with students that do not know English. This will help the students to
interchange language: the students that do not know English will be able to
learn the names of the animals in English, and the students that know English
will be able to maintain their own native language. Another teaching strategy is
the writing of daily journals in the classroom, in which the teacher have the
students writing for about fifteen minutes. Students can write about anything
they want, and they can use the dictionary. Once they have finished writing
their journals, the teacher can ask for volunteers to read aloud their journals.
This teaching strategy helps the students with writing and reading skills. One
more teaching strategy is the use of students’ previous cultural experiences
to create the meaning of new experiences. For example, the teacher can ask the
students to perform an activity or to create a project in which the students
demonstrate a talent or demonstrate something that they used to do when they
were in their native country (Information and examples taken from the textbook
"Creating Culturally Responsive Classrooms"). As the textbook
explains, "These are effective ways to integrate cultural activities into
your curriculum so that students can demonstrate their knowledge, talents, and
skills" (Creating Culturally p 111). The book explains the importance of
using teaching strategies to teach language, and it has also provided examples
of how these teaching strategies can be effective when integrated with culture.
In conclusion, the number of students with Limited English Proficiency and
the number of students of English as a second language keeps growing in
California, and the need to hire more teachers is growing proportionately. These
students are faced with learning a new language, the challenge of which teachers
have to help these learners to overcome. Therefore, teachers need to be prepared
to face this challenge, and they need to understand the importance of
integrating culture when teaching English to these students. This research paper
demonstrates that culture influences the learning of language, using culture as
a tool can motivate students to learn, and culture and motivation are
interrelated. This paper also has presented teaching strategies that teachers
can use when teaching language, some being proven effective when using culture
as a tool because the students feel like their culture is being recognized. As a
result, the students’ level of motivation is high, a fact which will
undoubtedly facilitate the acquisition of a second language for these learners.
Therefore, integrating culture into the curriculum is a vital pedagogical
element.
