Effects of Culture in Teaching and Learning

Effects of Culture in Teaching and instructionTeaching English in Saudi Arabia The Cultural mise en sceneIntroductionIn this essay, I aim to examine the ethnic scope pre overabundant in the magnatedom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in so far as it might dissemble effective teach and amazement panaches and strategies in the EFL classroom.My interest in this topic is grounded in the reality of the post-9/11 world where the Western world has been pitted against the Arabic world as if there is a great fond, ethnic and unearthly divide that might never be bridged or so the message in the media goes. This poses a great ch totallyenge and temptation for EFL teachers working in or curious about the region.The KSA makes for a particularly interesting study into how the local ethnic and religious context might impact on successful English teaching and reading, beca enforce of the nations politically sensitive geography (Marcinkiewicz, 1995). The holy cities of Mekkah and Madinah ato mic number 18 situated good inwardly its borders and the KSA has thus undertaken a protectoral role in religion.It follows then that the Islamic religion is not just the most pervasive aspect of local culture, impacting straight off on teaching method and content, it is in addition a signifi houset motivating force for KSA learners who are intensely religious, Islam having a strong influence on their minds and hearts. (Al Haq and Smadi, 1996). It can thus be expected then that the religious dynamics in the KSA will cause friction in the classroom (Traynham, 2006). With Islam being the strongest denominator of students in the KSA (Kniffka, 1996), pagan awareness must inform any teaching methodology in order to achieve successful outcomes.Outline of essayI will barge in the cultural context underpinning effective linguistic communication teaching and learning and give a brief background of the history of English instruction in the KSA as a way of introducing the larger histor ical and cultural context in which English-language instruction occurs. I will next consider some of the specific sociocultural and sociolinguistic issues that impact on the learning styles and strategies preferred by students and teachers in the KSA. Referring to the relevant literature, I will suggest connections between the local cultural context and the effectiveness of learning and teaching methods and strategies employed. Finally, I will conclude that maculation the local culture affects both students and teachers and teachers must respond to this at the practical and suppositional levels teachers must, at the same time, avoid overgeneralizing about cultural and religious factors and understand that each and every classroom demos a unique dynamic between a given set of individual students and their teacher and that, in fact, in many cases a universal education culture exists in all EFL classrooms regardless of cordial and cultural geography and context.The cultural conte xt underpinning effective language teaching and learningIn the past decade the concepts of context and culture have receive increasingly to a greater extent key in the literature on language teaching (Byram and Grundy, 2003). This is due to the increased acknowledgement of the significance of socio-political factors in teaching and learning and of the perception of learners as social beings who respond to learning a new language with feelings and identities (p. 1). In language teaching, cultural context is usually defined as a/the culture associated with a language being learnt (p. 1).As far as the English language is concerned, English has been taught in the KSA ever since the big businessmandom was established, in 1932 (Al-Seghayer, 2005). The explosion of economic activity within the oil industry resulted in rapid development of English language programs in the 1970s, so that Saudis could successfully eliminate in English with imported manpower and outside interests. Today, E nglish is used as the major medium of instruction in universities where science, medicine, engineering and technology subjects are taught. English instruction begins in elementary school and is centralized and controlled by the Ministry of Education. Despite the ever-increasing importance of English in Saudi Arabia as an essential vehicle for personal and national growth, (Al-Seghayer, 2005, pp129), the system still fails to produce a satisfactory level of English language proficiency in Saudi learners.This seems to be an inappropriate result, considering that the socio-cultural motivations for learning English are quite significant. Al Haq and Smadi (1996) find that a good knowledge of English rewards with social prestige and is considered to be a loving of duty to help Saudi Arabia advance economically, culturally and religiously at both the Islamic and international levels. With English being the lingua franca, in so far as technology and the sciences are concerned, Saudi citi zens see English as a vital tool in advancing in this novel world.But this might be part of the problem. The English language as the bearer of the goods of technology and science necessarily comes with Western culture. speech communications are expressions of national, historical and cultural identities. spoken languages are in any case ideological because they are associated with aspirations of unity, loyalty and patriotism, and social because they are perceived as symbols of status, power, group identity, and belonging, (Wesche, 2004, p. 279). As such, there is a fear in the KSA that the use of English entails Westernization, detachment to the country, and a source of corruption to religious commitment. (Al Haq and Samdi, 1996, p. 308).The sociolinguistic features of the English language the grammar, phonetics and vocabulary necessarily impact socio-affectively on the high society of EFL learners (Khuwaileh, 2000, p. 287) wherever they might be situated in the world. In the case of Saudi Arabia, English language instruction very much relies on Western cultural content that conflicts with Islamic culture and ideals. For example, Traynham (2006) explains how many EFL textbooks contain vocabulary dating, alcohol, music, dance that is offensive to Saudi students and to the Islamic faith.Khuwaileh (2000) also name similar sociolinguistic obstacles and cultural barriers when learners in an English for Science and Technology class refused to write on topics that included taboo vocabulary such as, AIDS, sexual diseases and contraception (p. 286), because for one student, at least, religion, honor and politeness were more important than gaining the certificate in English. Khuwaileh concluded that, unless modified, course material rich in taboo content can importantly hinder the learning process. (p. 287) Moreover, in a study of EFL textbooks largely those written by non-Saudis and non-Muslims used to teach freshman English in Saudi Arabia, Alhaidari ( 2003) found that they contained images and vocabulary that clashed without delay with Islamic and Saudi cultures.These issues might seem easily solved, if common sense prevails unconstipated before theoretical and pragmatic considerations are examined. sickening material should be avoided by designing unique material adapted to the socio-cultural reality of the student group. Even so, the pervasive presence of the textbook as the dominant tool in teaching holds a powerful influence over both cognitive and affective factors in individual students (Alhaidari, 2003, p. 3). Cultural revulsion towards a given text might impact on a students attitude to authority (in this case, the English language and English teacher) and on a students attitude to how important a text might be. A negative response, which is likely to be expected, will surely result in learning difficulties, probably lost teaching objectives and, consequently, useless curricula. (Khuwaileh, 2000, p. 287).Cultural issue s in Saudi Arabia affecting effective language learning strategiesFor all of these reasons, awareness of cultural issues is not only beneficial, but a necessity, and Kniffka (1992) stresses that EFL instructors need to increase their level of expertise in cultural awareness and teaching language within a cultural context. Cultural awareness begins with the concord that culture is a concept that concerns the role of the individual in the unending kaleidoscope of life situations of every kind and the rules or models for attitudes and conduct in them Oxford (1996, p ix). Context includes the beliefs, perceptions and assumptions that directly influence two things language learning styles (the general approaches that guide learning) and language learning strategies (the specific steps or techniques used by learners).Of the half a dozen types of learning strategies cognitive, metacognitive, memory, compensatory, affective and social outlined by Oxford (2003, pp. 12-15), studies (intro duced below) find that Arabic students tend to use cognitive and metacognitive strategies with greater frequency, and socio-affective strategies with lesser frequency, though students also exhibit an optimistic tractableness toward using a wide range of learning strategies.Abu-Ghararah (1996) found that a wide variety of learning strategies were used even while the majority of the EFL students surveyed in three public schools in Madinah tended to use more cognitive strategies more than socio-affective strategies in acquiring English as a foreign language (p. 6). Abdan and Almuarik (1992) also found that students exhibited a preference for multiple learning styles. In fact, gender and subject major, in their study, made no difference at all to their preferences. Riazi and Rahimi (2005) similarly found that while their Iranian student subjects used metacognitive strategies at a high frequency, overall they were medium strategy users. This can be increase to Saudi Arabia, because b oth Arab countries have a similar history, culture and language (p. 282).These studies show that students regularly combine all the learning orientations. Riazi and Rahimi (2005, p. 110) suggest that this openness and flexibility results from a specific philosophy of life where a human being can only be perfect, when he studies all of the sciences and arts.Reasons pointing to more frequent use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies might be that these strategies offer students direct ways to control learning and are strategies that can be employed in private study, preferably than in group situations, which seem to be less preferred. Another factor suggested was that these students might not have much exposure to English in social situations so as to pick up the target language unconsciously. Reasons pointing to the minimal use of other strategies might be, apart from cultural background, improper teaching, and again overleap of exposure to English in a native environment with native speakers.For Riazi and Rahimi, at least, it is up to the English instructors to introduce other strategies by discussing them with their students and providing appropriate opportunities to develop and use those neglected strategies (p. 123). To this end, Zaid (1996) evaluated the methodological preferences of teachers in an English department at a major KSA university and found that the overall preference was for a communicative style of teaching. This is interesting when considered against the findings of Riazi and Rahimi (2005, p. 103) where social learning strategies were the least frequently used strategies of EFL students. In fact, Khuwaileh (2005, p. 282) also concluded that social strategies, such as group work and openly expressing opinions in the classroom are culturally bound practices which seem to hinder English language learning. Zaid (1996) warns against teachers developing personalized theories of teaching when it might result in a methodological gap between wh at they are doing in the classroom and what program administrators working within the socio-cultural framework of the KSA expect. Personalized teaching might also result in a preferential gap between how the teacher prefers to teach and how the students prefer to learn.Good practice then is clearly a collaborationism between program administration, teacher preference, and the expectations of students as a group and as individuals. Individual is stressed here because, as Oxford (2003, p. 16) emphasizes, a teacher needs fitting knowledge about their individual students style preferences in order to provide the most effective classroom instruction. The literature examined in this essay, while clearly suggesting learning trends and preferences based on cultural background, also suggest an openness and flexibility in the learning strategy preferences of Saudi, and other Arab, students. In fact, the impact of culture is often found to be influenced by other factors, such as individual personality traits (Oxford, 2003), gender, as well as motivation (Kaylani, 1996, p75). Individual learners who are more motivated regardless of cultural background will use a wider range of learning strategies thus ensuring greater success in their learning (Oxford, 1996a, p118). This whitethorn further imply that students may successfully adjust preference and expectation if a teacher introduces new activities on trial (Tomlinson, 2005), in the first instance, and only incorporate lesser used strategies should students find them useful and enjoyable.In fact, Tomlinson (2005) suggests that while learners may well have expectations based on cultural norms and experiences, the level of debut introduced by any given individual teacher into the EFL classroom may have the effect of creating a new and unique to the classroom temporary culture. Tomlinson finds that even in significantly different cultural contexts, educational cultures seem to be remarkably similar (p. 139), what he re fers to as a universal education culture. He calls it a Tomlinson seeks to stress the teachers attitude in response to the perceived cultural context in which they work and warns against the dangers of cultural overgeneralization. He concludes that teachers should remember that in a classroom teachers teach to a class of diverging individuals rather than to a convergent group of cultural stereotypes.ConclusionIn conclusion then, the sociocultural and religious context in the KSA clearly influences teaching and learning. Teachers should not only be aware of the cultural context in which they teach and but this context should directly inform their choices of method and materials. However, teachers should avoid, on the one hand, making methodological choices based on overgeneralizations and preconceived ideas about how cultural issues influence their students, and on the other hand, should also avoid personalizing their methodology to suit their preferences and ideology. Methods and st rategies employed in EFL instruction should always be negotiated anew between the teacher and the group of individual students. And all of this, of course, within the general framework of the sociocultural and religious dynamic prevalent in the KSA.ReferencesAbdan, A.A., and Almuarik, S.A., 1992. The Learning Style Preference of Saudi EFL University Students. In Journal of King Saud University. educational Sciences Islamic Studies. online Vol. 4, No. 1, Abstract from King Saud University Journal Digital Library, getable from http//digital.library.ksu.edu.sa/paper2214.html. Accessed 15 November 2008.Abu-Ghararah, A.H., 1996. The Learning Strategy Uses of EFL Students. online In Educational Journal, Faculty of Education, Kuwait University. Vol. 10, No, 38, pp. 15-32,Available from http//abughararah.com/App_content/File/Researches/07.pdfAccessed 16 November 2008.Alhaidari, A.O., 2003. The Compatibility of Freshman EFL Textbooks Used by Saudi Universities with Islamic Culture. online I n Journal of King Saud University. Educational Sciences Islamic Studies. 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