McKay Chapter 4

McKay Chapter 4: Culture in Teaching English as an International Language.
This chapter explores the roles of culture in EIL teaching in terms of the cultural content of teaching materials and in reference to the use of EIL in specific discourse communities. When it comes to teaching materials, Mckay focuses on what cultural information is taught in EIL classrooms. In the case of discourse communities, the focus is on the way in which sociocultural practices influence how texts are developed and used.
In order to understand cultural content, the chapter argues that it is important to understand it in terms of the problematic assumptions that were made in Chapter 1. These assumptions are:
1) As it is an international language, the use of English is no longer connected to the culture of Inner Circle countries
2) One of the primary functions of English, as is the case with any international language, is to enable speakers to share their ideas and cultures.
McKay includes information on the role of culture in language teaching. Traditionally, this involves providing cultural information that includes things like literature, film, and music. One of the problems with this approach is that, if one of the goals of using culture in EIl teaching is to help individuals interact in cross-cultural encounters, then merely knowing about a culture will not be sufficient to gain insight into how to interact in these encounters.
According to Spradley, as cited in the chapter, culture involves what people do, what people know, and what things people make and use. Culture is ‘the knowledge that people have learned as members of a group.’ It is suggested that for a classroom to become culturally extensive, there are a few goals that should be considered:
1) Establishing a ‘sphere of interculturality’
2) Teaching culture as difference; within each culture exists a variety of national characteristics.
There is a question concerning whether to include the source culture, the target culture, or an international culture in EIL materials. It is argued that there are advantages to each of these, depending on how ‘the materials are approached.’ The materials should be used in a way that students are encouraged to reflect on their own culture in relation to others. Also, the diversity that exists in all cultures should be emphasized. I was especially drawn to the emphasis that was put on diversity in this chapter. I’m glad that she is suggesting that in EIL teaching it is important to show the students that there is diversity in every culture and that it is important to understand this when learning a second language.