LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies

5. Intercultural Communication and Methods of Teaching a Foreign Language

Zhang Meiqi, Zhang Xu, Aroyan Oleg

Moscow

2019
Introduction 3

Notion of culture 4

Cultural representation in different Methods of Foreign Language Teaching 6

Confucius Institute 9

Conclusion 11
 Introduction
Students all over the world no longer require a reason for studying intercultural
communication, as the need for skills in this area is part of conventional wisdom. The first
decade of the 21st century has witnessed changes in the scope and range of global educational
mobility, and currently there are over 5 million students studying abroad.

Learning a language in isolation from its cultural roots prevents one from becoming
socialized into its contextual use. The knowledge of linguistic structure alone does not carry
with it any special insight into the political, social, religious, or economic system. Thus, a culture
should be seen as a fifth language skill besides the usual four skills of listening, speaking,
reading, and writing.

At present, one of the main goals of language pedagogy is to build an effective model of
teaching a foreign language in the context of intercultural communication. This model should
be able to successfully cope with forming intercultural competence (in addition to linguistic
and communicative competencies).

In this study we will try to define what kind of methods and approaches of teaching a
foreign language are suitable for that purpose.
 Notion of culture
Culture has always been part of foreign language teaching. In fact, only during a very
short period of time after the Second World War, it was common belief shared among foreign
language scholars that cultural topics should not be covered in the language classroom.
However, for most of the time modern languages have been taught, if and how culture should
be part of language teaching has been discussed by many theorists and many perspectives and
approaches have influenced the general argument. There are two main reasons as to why the
role of culture has changed often in foreign language teaching. The debate was influenced by
changes within the general objectives of foreign language teaching at the respective time,
which were strongly shaped by political objectives of education and language teaching.
Additionally, changes in the understanding of culture and its definition had an impact on how it
was taught in foreign language education.

To define culture has always been difficult for scientists and there is still no consensus
on a definition. Two reasons can explain that. Firstly, culture is relevant to many scientific and
academic disciplines. Therefore, many perspectives and theories can be implemented in its
definition. Secondly, culture is a dynamic construct, changing all the time. A definition,
therefore, can only grasp its basic outlines. Thus, many definitions have been suggested, and for
a long time, culture has been understood as the products of a country, such as music,
architecture, literature, paintings, clothes, etc.

However, in 1976, Edward T. Hall developed the iceberg analogy of culture. Hall
reasoned that while there are some cultural aspects visible such as mentioned above, there is
also a larger portion hidden beneath the surface. Hence the iceberg analogy.

This means that the external or conscious part of culture is what we can see and it is
the tip of the iceberg. The internal or subconscious part of culture is below the surface of a
society and includes some beliefs, values and thoughts and patterns that underlie behavior. The
visible part is usually referred to as Culture with a capital C, the invisible part represents the
notion of culture with a small c.
 An intercultural approach to foreign language teaching recognizes the relevance of
both notions of culture and the relationship of the two. Just like the invisible part of an iceberg,
the invisible part of culture is the foundation of cultural representations. Thus, certain values,
attitudes, and beliefs of a group of people are displayed in their music, traditions, and
literature.

Foreign language teaching today is not satisfied with a display of a culture’s visible
representations, but also wants to tackle its foundation. Culture can only be explained and
understood if the connection between visible and invisible is considered a unit . With a
concentration on the visible representations of culture only, clichés and stereotypes are
reinforced. Students would only experience the otherness of a foreign culture , but not
understand its motivations.
Cultural representation in different Methods
of Foreign Language Teaching

Throughout the history of language teaching and learning, different approaches to

teaching culture have come into vogue and gained importance. Among these approaches some
have lost popularity; some others had been and remained dominant. These approaches can be
classified in different ways. Today there are four approaches to the teaching of culture, namely,
the intercultural approach, the multicultural approach, the trans-cultural approach, and the
foreign-cultural approach.

The intercultural approach draws upon the idea that culture is best learned through
comparison of the target and the learners’ own culture. Though the main focus is on the target
culture, the intercultural approach pinpoints the relations between the learners' own culture.
This approach is aimed at developing learners' understanding of intercultural and
communicative competences, enabling them to act as mediators between the two cultures.
However, some consider this approach inadequate as it is "blind to the actual multicultural
character of almost all existing countries or states" and suggests that teachers should use the
multicultural approach.

The multicultural approach is based on the idea that in every country a number of sub-
cultures exist within one culture. This approach not only includes a focus on the ethnic and
linguistic diversity of the target country, but also on the learners' own culture. Similar to the
intercultural approach, comparison is an important factor here. This approach emphasizes the
principle that cultures are not monolithic.

The third approach is called the trans-cultural approach. The fundamental principle
behind this is that due to mass communication, World Wide Web, globalization, and the
ensuing phenomena, the modern world cultures are intricately interwoven. Since a large
number of people use the foreign languages as lingua-francas, this approach considers the
foreign language as an international language, so that it is not necessary at all to link the foreign
language to any specific culture. However, some scholars claim that although it is possible to
introduce topics which are of universal significance in all cultures, such an approach leaves
learners without topics which are characteristic of a particular country, that is the ones which
"characterize its uniqueness for the language learner".

Foreign-cultural approach is shaped upon the concept of a single culture. It solely

focuses on the target culture and neither takes the learners' own culture into consideration nor
does it compare the two cultures together. What is important here is to develop the target
language’s communicative competence and cultural understanding. However, this approach has
been criticized on the grounds that it does not focus on the relations between the two cultures.

Common techniques to teaching culture include:

- Creating an authentic classroom environment;

- Providing cultural information ( for example, culture capsule and culture cluster);
- Cultural problem solving (for example, culture assimilator);
- The role of literature and humanities (for example, literary reading and watching
films);
- Real-life exposure to the target culture (for example, visits to the class by native
speakers, pen-pals and visits to other countries);

If a language instructor desires to have an efficient integration of culture in language

teaching, he ought to pool a lot of resources to make this desire come true. These resources
include textbooks, surveys, songs, interviews, biographies, photos, literature, adverts, television
programs, histories, music, films, maps and the Internet.

Teachers of Russian as a Foreign Language, in order to familiarize foreign students with

the values, norms of Russian culture, should introduce readings of adapted texts by Russian and
Soviet writers, studying phraseological units, proverbs, sayings. The use of small texts from the
works of A. S. Pushkin, A. P. Chekhov, L. N. Tolstoy and other writers in the Russian language
classes is an effective means of understanding the country, people and its culture. Students
have an idea about the character of the Russian person, about traditions and customs, about
the system of social, moral and aesthetic values accepted in this society.
 A comparative analysis of the corresponding sayings helps students identify the basic
concepts of national culture through the prism of their mentality. So, in the Russian language
there are many proverbs about bread, which appears as a symbol of prosperity. (in Chinese,
rice performs a similar function).

Mentality is manifested at all linguistic levels. Therefore, in the process of teaching a

foreign language, the teacher should draw the attention of students to the features of the
language system that reflect the specifics of a national character. For example, when teaching
Russian as a foreign language, it is necessary to emphasize the presence of a large number of
suffixes in it, representing expressive and emotional meaning, as well as synonyms, which is an
indicator of the expressiveness of the Russian national character.

Even simple words can be studied semantically and etymologically during FL classes. For
instance Who is babushka? This is the mother of the father or mother. In English, babushka is
grandmother, grandma or granny. In russian the meaning of the word "babushka" is much
broader. Babushka in Russian colloquial speech is an elderly woman who can have grandchildren
by age. She usually behaves very actively: gives advice, makes comments even to strangers. But
no one is offended by the grandmother for this. Usually people respect her age and experience.
Maybe a little irony over her.
Confucius Institute
It is natural for countries to promote their own culture and language. The European
countries for instance have the Goethe-Institut, Instituto Cervantes and Alliance Francaise
programs worldwide. In China there is Confucius Institute.

The first Confucius Institute (CI) opened in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in June 2004. As of
2019, there are 530 Confucius Institutes in dozens of countries on six continents. Universities
hosting Confucius Institutes, typically offer Chinese language courses. The instructors consist of
volunteers or public school teachers, who are not only fluent in native language and Mandarin,
but also familiar with local culture and Chinese culture.

The reasons an individual is motivated to learn Chinese are rooted in cultural as well as
economic background, it has to do with much more than mere curiosity about what is foreign
and distant, or even academic pursuit. “When a country is on the rise, a virtuous circle of
expanding influence tends to develop. As China grows more powerful, more and more people
want to know about it, read about it, watch television programmes about it and go there as
tourists.”

The Confucius Institute is a non-profit social welfare institution whose main task is to
promote Chinese language and spread Chinese culture, to enhance the understanding of
Chinese people's language and culture, to promote multicultural development, and to build a
harmonious world.

The idea of building a “harmonious world” is essentially a Confucian concept that is

now written into the mission statement of Hanban (the headquarters of CI), to remind the
world that China is not so much “rising” as reasserting its status while reinforcing the peaceful
nature of its resurgence.
 Ever since they were initially set up, Confucius Institutes emphasized the idea of
partnership, not only at managerial level, but also in terms of mutual learning and
understanding, creating a platform for educational and cultural exchange.

Confucius Institute at Lomonosov Moscow State University (CIMSU) , which was

established in October 2007, has been particularly successful in that goal . It offers Chinese
language classes at all levels - from basic to professional business. In addition, CIMSU has free
calligraphy courses, as well as lecture courses on the history, culture and economy of China.

Besides, students of CIMSU have opportunity to go to Beijing Chinese summer school,

where students can learn Chinese on a daily basis, listen to lectures on the history of Chinese
culture. In 29 days they attend about 40 different cultural places. Students also visit the
theatrical performances, The Chinese State Circus and Beijing opera.

CI has been accused multiple times by Western media of serving as a political medium
of power and propaganda, but in fact, the Chinese teachers for foreigners focus solely on
culture and language, and intentionally avoid discussing political and ideological issues at the
institutes.

Cultural invasion, by definition, indicates intentional and systematic actions to replace

one country's cultural habits with those of another. Yet what Confucius Institutes are doing is
simply opening a window through which foreigners can catch a glimpse of traditional Chinese
culture if they so desire.
Conclusion

The recognition of intercultural competence as a key component was one of the most
significant changes in language learning and teaching over the past two decades. This change
has transformed the nature of the experience of teaching and learning languages to a great
extent. The objective of language learning is no longer defined in terms of the acquisition of
communicative competence in a foreign language, which refers to a person’s ability to act in a
foreign language in linguistically, socio-linguistically and pragmatically appropriate ways. Rather,
it is defined in terms of intercultural competence. Linguistic competence alone is not enough
for learners of a language to be competent in that language.

As mentioned above, culture should be an indispensable component of every single

language curriculum. To do so, the teacher should set clear and realistic goals and consider an
appropriate approach as well as suitable techniques and activities for teaching culture.

Although the importance of culture in language classes is known to any teacher and
anyone who has something to do with language teaching, teaching of culture is somewhat
limited and is not optimally fulfilled. The primary reason behind this is some practical issues
including lack of time, the issues of designing a cultural syllabus and choosing appropriate
techniques and, finally, the presentation of culture-related topics and activities in teaching
materials.