article 2

             Article 2

Socio-cultural Competence in ESL Education

 

Cultural Factors

     Most of the people who have been raised in the United States or who have lived there for a long time share a common knowledge base of American history, culture, and beliefs (Long & Spiegel-Podnecky, 1998). Various aspects of this common knowledge are often referenced in speech, literature, television, movies, and other media. Some cultural references are so common that people who were raised in the United States do not have to think very much about them and can instantly comprehend and follow along with what is being discussed. Incorporating cultural factors into ESL education will provide students with knowledge of important or common cultural aspects of the United States which will in turn enable them to understand conversations and text more easily (ERIC Clearinghouse on Language and Linguistics, 2000).

     There are many aspects of the history and culture of the United States which are often referenced in speech or text. For example, in the last four years the phrase "9-11" has been heard and used quite often by English speakers in the United States. The phrase refers to the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. This date is very significant in American history and culture and Americans can easily understand what is being referred to when someone speaks about "9-11." People who have just moved to the United States and are learning to speak English will probably not understand this reference right away (Leung, 2005). Similarly, a person who has moved to Spain and is learning Spanish might not comprehend that "11-M" is the phrase used to refer to the terrorist attacks that occurred in Madrid on March 11, 2004.

     Other cultural references which might come up in text or conversation would be things like Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Sesame Street, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and other aspects. The teaching of such cultural factors is not intended to be a means of promoting mainstream American culture and values. In fact, there are many Americans who are uninformed about American history and culture and would therefore be unable to understand references to some cultural factors. Its purpose is to provide information that would enable ESL students to understand references that they may hear in conversation or in other situations (Celce-Marcia, Dorneyi & Thurred, 1995). ESL teachers could compile a list of cultural factors which are commonly found in speech or text and provide students with brief descriptions of these factors and their significance in American society.

     Another cultural factor of the United States which should be incorporated into ESL education is regional accents of English. Depending on which part of the country they live in, ESL students will hear English being spoken with a particular accent. They may become accustomed to hearing this accent and could even model their pronunciation of the English language after that accent. However, the accents of English speakers vary across the United States, and communicating with people who have different accents could cause comprehension problems for ESL students (Handford, 2002). For example, if an ESL student lived in Georgia or another southern state, he would most likely become familiar with southern accents and learn to understand people who spoke English with that accent. If this same person were to move to Massachusetts, where people tend to speak English in a much different accent than the south, he would probably experience some difficulty in comprehension and communication. A good way for ESL teachers to remedy this problem is to let students listen to recordings of people speaking English with different regional accents from the United States (Auerbach, 1992). Teachers could ask students to repeat what has been said on the recording or try to respond to the recording as if they were in a conversation with that person. Incorporating this cultural factor into ESL classes could help eliminate comprehension problems that ESL students might encounter in the future, or at least make it easier for them to deal with those problems.