26.241, Review: Applied Linguistics: Szende (2014)

[The LINGUIST List via LINGUIST]

LINGUIST List: Vol-26-241. Thu Jan 15 2015. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 26.241, Review: Applied Linguistics: Szende (2014)

Moderators: Damir Cavar, Indiana U <damir at linguistlist.org>
            Malgorzata E. Cavar, Indiana U <gosia at linguistlist.org>

Reviews: reviews at linguistlist.org
Anthony Aristar <aristar at linguistlist.org>
Helen Aristar-Dry <hdry at linguistlist.org>
Sara Couture, Indiana U <sara at linguistlist.org>

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Do you want to donate to LINGUIST without spending an extra penny? Bookmark
the Amazon link for your country below; then use it whenever you buy from
Amazon!

USA: http://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-20
Britain: http://www.amazon.co.uk/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-21
Germany: http://www.amazon.de/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistd-21
Japan: http://www.amazon.co.jp/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-22
Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistc-20
France: http://www.amazon.fr/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistf-21

For more information on the LINGUIST Amazon store please visit our
FAQ at http://linguistlist.org/amazon-faq.cfm.

Editor for this issue: Sara  Couture <sara at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 16:53:59
From: Valeria Buttini-Bailey [valeria.buttini at unibas.ch]
Subject: Second Culture Teaching and Learning

E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=26-241.html&submissionid=35949597&topicid=9&msgnumber=1
 
Discuss this message: 
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=35949597

Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/25/25-1526.html

AUTHOR: Thomas  Szende
TITLE: Second Culture Teaching and Learning
SUBTITLE: An Introduction
PUBLISHER: Peter Lang AG
YEAR: 2014

REVIEWER: Valeria Buttini-Bailey, Universität Basel

Review's Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

INTRODUCTION

The monograph by Thomas Szende aims to offer an incisive analysis of how the
second language learner can achieve cultural proficiency. As a matter of fact,
''acting in a foreign language is not possible if one has not previously
acquired a certain amount of the knowledge that is shared within the target
society, and which linguistic practice stricto sensu cannot guarantee'' (p.
15). 

The book's main purpose, therefore, is ''[...] to orient the practice of L2
teaching-learning by offering to the passionate reader, whether he is a
teacher, researcher or student, keys allowing him to reflect on how all
languages, in even the most ordinary communicative exchanges, [...] testify to
the culture (indeed, cultures) which they originate from, and in which they
are profoundly steeped, with privileged zones where images of the collective
“real” are concentrated. For, theoretically, all words and all language
elements may carry culture. In pedagogical practice, however, certain language
elements, more than others, appear as reference points that summon culture.
This is what we will endeavor to illustrate here through numerous examples''
(p. 41-42).
  
The volume is organized into seven chapters, a foreword and an afterword; it
also includes a list of tables, references, and an index. Below I will briefly
describe each chapter before turning to a critical commentary.

SUMMARY

Chapter One serves as an introduction to outline the purpose and intended
audience of the volume. The conditions of teaching-learning of languages and
cultures in a non-natural context will be investigated, according to the
postulate that ''linguistic and cultural knowledge can be transmitted to
various learner audiences'' and that ''the appropriation of a second language
and culture can be facilitated and guided through teaching programs based on
choices (needs, objectives and content, teaching material and evaluation,
articulation between various levels)'' (p. 29). 

A few questions that the book promises to handle are raised: what kind(s) of
theoretical model(s) should be exploited to allow cultural facts to be
identified? What are the rules of second language use that the foreign speaker
needs to gain access to in order to communicate in a manner that is culturally
appropriate within a linguistic community? How can such a skill [...] be
implemented? Is it possible to define a common cultural knowledge basis that
is representative [...] and necessary [...]? Can cultural knowledge be
prioritized? Is it possible to distinguish levels of cultural competence?
Would it be necessary to envisage a close link between linguistic progression
and cultural progression? Amongst the choices of teaching material and
evaluation systems, how can the cultural dimension be taken into account? (pp.
36-37). 

The author also explains how, and why, he collected the data used to
illustrate his thesis : ''[...] we requested of a number of colleagues [...]
to reproduce communication situations, and to identify the precise course of a
certain number of language events within their culture which, as native
speakers, they have intimate knowledge of (English, French, Hungarian,
Russian, Egyptian Arabic and Chinese). The competence reflected by the mastery
of identified expressions, the capacity to evaluate their representativeness,
their authenticity, and their conformity to rules of usage is an integral part
of the linguistic competence of our informers. Comparing linguistic sequences
produced in identical situations sheds light on particularities that are
barely perceptible in a monolingual context. Objects that appear definable may
not be linguistically distinguished in other languages while elements common
to two languages may function according to a different distribution'' (p. 42).

Chapter Two is aimed at defining the key term “culture” and at showing to what
extent this term can be considered a synonym of other terms such as, for
instance, ''civilization''. Culture is seen here as ''[...] a dynamic system
of values, beliefs, customs and behaviors, i.e., an ensemble of elements,
considered as given and shared (Hall, 1990), that are not simply passed down
from generation to generation, but that allow the members of a community to
establish relationships with one another (Abdallah-Pretceille, 1986: 76)'' (p.
54). Besides, culture is defined as ''the hypothetical repertoire of explicit
and implicit rules that govern exchanges within a community'' and ''of all
references that are acquired and memorized, experienced and expressed
collectively, and which, be they shared or not by other cultures, constitute,
to the members of the group, nature itself at a given moment of its
evolution'' (p. 54). 

The author also points out that ''Despite the planetary uniformization, our
cultures remain essentially national and regional with representational
backdrops of specific beliefs and attitudes. [...] Cultural identity is the
result of the combination of values which are part of specific historical
filiations (continuity) and values which tend to erase the cultural
differences (universality). The task of the teacher is to reveal the
complementarity of these values, to point out the manner in which the local is
transformed under the impact of global transformations and the manner in which
the latter are enhanced through the contribution of local elements'' (p. 68).

In Chapter Three the procedures of L1 and L2 languages and cultures
acquisition, which ''hardly resemble one another'' and ''constitute specific
teaching and learning situations'' (p. 88), are compared and other questions
are raised: can foreign language teachers hope to reproduce all that an
individual learns in and through his first language? Can they hope to
reproduce all the moments in a native’s existence that have contributed to
constructing his cultural capital? (p. 86) What coherent and efficient
language teaching and learning theory should be implemented? How can one get a
cultural field that has already been developed to coexist with a new cultural
matrix? (pp. 90-91). 

Chapter Four deals with the lexicon as a complex inventory of all ideas,
interests and preoccupations that retain the attention of a community (Sapir,
1968: 75) and with ''the social sensitivity of words'' (p. 100). As a matter
of fact, ''The words of two languages, bearers of a specific logic and vision
of the world, almost never have the same content – hence the cases of
quasi-coincidences, of non-coincidences and of absence of equivalents. All
experiences, sometimes linked to an “insufficiency”, other times to an
“overabundance” of foreign vocabulary, can constitute difficulties for the
learner. The capacity of a community to oppose concepts which in other
communities are not distinguished and, conversely, the incapacity of a
language to establish a separation where another language is capable of it,
are potential sources of confusion'' (p. 93). Words can be connoted and
permeated with particular suggestive or emotive values (p. 101); they can
carry the traces of events that have marked the history of a community (p.
105); they can be representative of the current values of a society (p. 112);
they can obviously reflect the speaker’s geographical, social and ideological
position (p. 118). Teachers need to address the phenomenon of polysemy with
their learners; learners need to deal with the problems imposed by metaphors,
onomatopoeias, idiomatic expressions, proverbs and collocations that may vary
from one language to another.
 
Chapter Five reflects on the way the discursive organization of linguistic
elements differs from one cultural community to another. A few suggestions to
teachers are made, such as the recourse to media, writing, audio-visuals and
electronics, in order to develop ''in the learner a critical and ethical sense
regarding the language being conveyed'', and raise ''awareness on an ongoing
basis as to the process of information handling'' (p. 189). Other suggested
pedagogical material includes advertising documents and past and contemporary
literature (especially popular folk tales, tales, science-fiction literature,
police novels, and comics). The chapter also deals with problems posed by
irony, humor, allusions and citations, implicit content, verbal and non-verbal
communication.

Chapter Six explores the role played by social representations, stereotypes
and clichés. The author underlines how, in a foreign culture, ''we have a
tendency to select its most salient features, without being preoccupied to
know if they are really pertinent''. In courses, this makes the teachers tend
''to reduce the cultural dimensions to a simple decorative function for the
purpose of linguistic structures'' (p. 275). 

Chapter Seven firstly deals with a few pedagogical challenges related to the
classroom (e.g. What is the role played by code-switching?), to the instructor
(e.g. Should he/she be native or not?), to the textbook (e.g. Should they
promote the native’s cultural experience as well?), to the learner (e.g. What
role is played by motivation?). The issue of progression in the foreign
culture competence is raised: is it possible to choose an appropriate
itinerary, and develop a logical organization of pedagogical practices on the
subject of cultural competence? Is there a beam of imperative social
interactions, a minimum of knowledge of a culture without which communication
would be impossible? (p. 319). The author states that ''cultural competence
does not have any permanent constituents'' (p. 319) and that ''we do not
progress in a linear fashion but rather through repetition, from angles that
are different throughout language learning (Diaz, 1998: 26)''. 

The limits of CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning, Teaching, Assessment) are also underlined in this chapter: ''The
CEFR does not seem to have truly renewed the debate around the status of
culture in foreign language teaching-learning. Indeed, the major categories of
the framework that are developed in levels are essentially of
linguistic/communicative character'' (p. 326) and a few suggestions of
activities are made. The author supports for instance the recourse to
translation, defined as ''an activity that in a paradoxical way confirms that
all languages resemble one another and that they are all different'' (p. 357).

EVALUATION

In terms of layout and structure, the volume is well organized. It is also
remarkably rich in in-text citations and brings together a wealth of
information from several fields beyond linguistics, such as semiotics,
sociology, ethnology, anthropology, and philosophy. This represents at the
same time both a weak and a strong point of the book. Some chapters are very
dense, but enjoyable, while others tend to become somewhat tedious and the
reader may have the impression that no further information is being added, and
that the book could have easily been some fifty pages shorter. 

The intended audience of the book is precisely as the author states in Chapter
One, i.e. teachers, researchers and students. It would work  particularly well
as a theoretic textbook in teacher training courses. Teachers in need of a
more practical approach would probably be disappointed though, as it does not
offer an example of a proper didactic unit. Moreover, some of the
methodological questions raised throughout the chapters remain unanswered,
probably because they are unanswerable or there is no univocal answer. The
volume is therefore a good guide to relevant research literature, and a very
powerful instrument to spark a reflection in language educators, but fails to
provide ''effective teaching strategies'' as stated (only) on the back cover
of the book. 

This volume does however represent a very good introduction to the discipline
and it offers a good discussion of its state of the art, functioning as a good
preparation for further research. 

REFERENCES

Abdallah-Pretceille, M. 1986. Approche interculturelle de l’enseignement des
civilisations. In L. Porcher (Ed.), La civilisation. Paris: Clé International.
71-87.

CEFR. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning,
Teaching, Assessment. 2001. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/CADRE1_EN.asp.

Diaz, V. 1998. Allemand et enseignement de la civilisation. Les langues
moderne 4. 26-27.

Hall, G. 1990. Exploring English Language Teaching. Language in Action. New
York: Routledge.

Sapir, E. 1968. Linguistique. Paris: Gallimard.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Valeria Buttini-Bailey holds a PhD in Italian Linguistics by the University of
Basel and the University of Turin. She is currently lecturer and postdoc at
the University of Basel. Her research interests include applied linguistics,
sociolinguistics, language teacher education, and syntax.



----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-26-241	
----------------------------------------------------------