Elt as a Tool to Bridge Cross-Cultural Gaps

Elt as a Tool to Bridge Cross-Cultural Gaps

OZTURK, Omer Serdar

Key words: inter-cultural gap, cultural awareness, cross-cultural barriers, ELT and culture, sociolinguistics ABSTRACT This paper is a part of an ongoing research, namely “AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFL LEARNERS IN A MULTICULTURAL ELT ENVIRONMENT: THE CASE OF A PRIVATE SCHOOL IN MACEDONIA”. In this part of the study I tried to answer the question, “Can we use ELT to bridge cross-cultural gaps?” My premises are; -Language and culture are reciprocally inextricable. Language is the biggest conveyor of culture. Learning a language is learning that culture. This can be evidenced that members of similar cultures learn each other’s language more easily than members of remote cultures. -English has long been a lingua franca in many parts of the world. The status English language gained today makes it unavoidable in school curricula worldwide. -Our virtually shrinking world faces problems among its various ethnic groups. Misconceptions, prejudices, or stereotypes are prevalent in today’s multicultural world. -One aspect of school education is to help solve the problems of society. Following this thought sequence I asked the research question: Can ELT be used to facilitate its learners to overcome cultural barriers? Can we use ELT to bridge cross-cultural gaps? To explore the question, in the beginning of the academic year 2012-2013, I first added an extra line into the aims section of my annual plan as; “to develop better cross cultural understanding among students.” To achieve this, I planned to use various cross-cultural materials in my classes. Our course-book “Solutions” has been a great help as it has a lot of direct culture related topics. As the implementation of the plan, we studied culture, its aspects and elements like music, food, clothes, reactions and gestures in various instances. As a final stage I conducted a questionnaire to test the change in their perception of the “other.” The analysis of the questionnaire gave encouraging results. Students developed more acceptance towards other cultures.

Article
PeerReviewed

IBU Publishing

2013-05-03

1918