Cultural mirrors – Television drama
in the EFL classroom
by Dr Richard Kiely
- 5

5. Culture in the EFL curriculum

There are four identifiable approaches to pedagogic constructions of culture in ELT, and the various elements in the six lessons reflect these in different ways. These four approaches relate to culture as a dimension of language learning, and cut across the conventional distinction between high culture (aspects of group identity of which the group is especially proud such as the arts) and low culture (the way life is lived in a community). This section sets out these approaches and discusses how the six lessons relate to them.

i) Life and institutions

This is the traditional approach to linking culture and language learning in higher education. It is linked to concepts of nation and/or state – courses are often labelled ‘British Studies’ or ‘American Studies’. The focus is on difference, with topics such as the political constitution, education, and the arts (especially literature and film) explored in terms of how they differ from the students’ national group. This approach, especially in universities, involves complex subject matter, and specialised constructions of knowledge (within fields of literature, sociology, economics, political science, etc). A number of published course have developed this approach for lower level students, e.g. Harvey and Jones (1992). Learning activities typically revolve around texts, and include reading and listening comprehension, discussion and writing. Atkinson (1999: 627) described this approach as a ‘received view’ of culture, a packaged body of knowledge about target language users which focuses on difference from other language groups, but with little attention to intra-group variation. Life and institutions issues addressed in this segment from The Royle Family include the socio-economic aspects of Britain, and the role of the BBC, and institutional perspectives on potentially offensive language in the media, for example the British notion of watershed: the boundary (usually 21.00) before which programme unsuitable for children should not be broadcast.

ii) Culture as implicit knowledge

While this approach is also knowledge-based, its focus is the knowledge which is taken for granted, inherited shared wealth (Bowers 1992:31) as opposed to structured, taught knowledge. Bowers sets out four categories – memories, metaphors, maxims and myths – which constitute a broad umbrella for a language community. Within this, individuals share a range of other, perhaps specialist interests – religious affiliations, occupations and sports interests. The Bowers model is exemplified by a series of quizzes, and these probably represent the basis for learning activities in many classrooms: I have adapted and used these as classroom quizzes and as research projects, involving library and Internet research as well as ‘Find out from a native speaker’ activities. This again works with Atkinson’s ‘received view’ (op. cit.): while there is potential for attention to variation within the target language group, the approach to culture is essentialist in that there is an implicit association between group characteristics and behaviours.

In this piece of television, the implicit knowledge view can be explored through the ways gender roles are dealt with – who answers the door; whose habitat is the kitchen. Students can understand why things are like this from their own knowledge of life. More specific instances of language use, such as the meaning and offensiveness of taboo words can be explored with native-speakers so that an appropriate sensitivity to such words is developed.

iii) Culture through reflection

Whereas the implicit knowledge approach outlined above deals with groups – both in terms of the groups sharing inherited wealth, and the learning activities for the classroom, this approach views culture as individual positioning in relation to these groups. Kramsch sets out the notion of ‘third place’ (Kramsch 1993: 233) a cultural space between the ‘home’ and ‘target’ language identities for each individual foreign language learner to occupy. Thus, the cultural dimension of language learning is a form of intercultural learning, realised primarily through a reflective process where new ways of viewing self and others are developed. Within this paradigm also a range of broad curricular goals for foreign language learning might be located, for example, the Gestalte approach to FLL in a European context (Legutke and Thomas 1991). Since this approach focusses on the individual learner, and his or her response to texts and experiences, classroom activities tend to be awareness-raising, and guidance for reflecting and viewing. The central role of the individual’s response to their learning about other groups, and the possibility of his/her developing an identity and position in relation to these different cultural groups, provides an opportunity for teaching which corresponds to what Atkinson describes as a ‘critical view’ of culture (Atkinson 1999:628). However, the focus on the individual may mean insufficient attention to dominant discourses about cultural groups and resources, a point addressed in Kubota (1999) in relation to constructions of Japanese culture in TESOL, and in Kiely (2003) in relation students’ mutual stereotyping in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classroom. The Royle Family segment facilitated a critical perspective in two ways. First, it challenged pre-conceived notions of what the English are like, notions often informed by the other Royal Family or the social life depicted in the novels of Agatha Christie. Second, it stimulated reflection on how the social group presented in The Royle Family corresponds to social groups in the students’ own society.

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