Linguistic and Cultural Knowledge in Teaching English  

Oleh:

Aryawibawa, I. Nyoman ; Udayana, I. Nyoman

Jenis: Article from Proceeding
Dalam koleksi: The 62st TEFLIN International Conference: Teaching and Assessing L2 Learners in the 21st Century, Denpasar, 14-16th September 2015, Book 1, page 380-385.
Topik: relative; absolute; linguistic knowledge; cultural knowledge
Fulltext: hal 380.pdf (16.58MB)

Isi artikel

In teaching a foreign language, e.g. English, while its linguistic knowledge, e.g. grammar, vocabulary, discourse, is certainly crucial to teach, cultural knowledge of the language should not be neglected. The main objective of this paper is to argue why both linguistic and cultural knowledge should be equally italicised by English teachers by referring to some spatial relation evidence in English and Balinese. Employing monolingual Balinese speakers and using linguistic and nonlinguistic tasks, Aryawibawa (2010, 2012) showed that Balinese subjects used absolute systems dominantly in responding the two tasks, e.g. The manisnorth/south/east/west of the car. Given the similar tasks, unlike Balinese subjects, English speakers used relative systems, e.g. The man is to the right/leftof the car as pointed out by Herskovits (1982) and Levinson (2003). The results suggest that language reflects cultural values of people speaking it. Specifically, while English emphasises the importance of ego in describing the tasks, Balinese highlights that of local landmarks, e.g. mountains, for their religious values. Provided with such evidence, English teachers should pay equal attention to both linguistic and cultural aspects in teaching the language with (at least) two advantages: (1) learners will understand thoroughly how English works, (2) learners can avoid linguistic and cultural conflicts in using the language. To conclude, referring to the findings, it is suggested that English teachers should put equal emphasis on both linguistic and cultural knowledge in teaching the language.

Opini Anda

Klik untuk menuliskan opini Anda tentang koleksi ini!

Kembali