The relationship between culture and language

Jiang, Wenying

doi:10.1093/elt/54.4.328

Cited by 251 publications

(148 citation statements)

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“…As for many people, language and culture cannot be seen as two different elements rather they should be viewed as two combined and integrated bodies feeding each other (Kay and Kempton, 1984;Matalene, 1985;Jiang, 2000). Therefore, there is need to look at the place of culture in the language classrooms, especially in the textbooks since they are regarded as the main sources of language teaching process, which makes them also the source for the culture of the target language.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, there is need to look at the place of culture in the language classrooms, especially in the textbooks since they are regarded as the main sources of language teaching process, which makes them also the source for the culture of the target language. For instance, Jiang (2000) states that "language and culture make a living organism; language is flesh and culture is blood. Without culture, the language would be dead; without language, culture would have no shape" (p. 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tracing the local culture in a reading book

Durmaz¹

2017

J. Lang. Cult.

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There is a strong relationship between language and culture, both carries the DNA samples of one another, which makes it hard to imagine English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in classrooms and textbooks without any reference to target culture(s). Therefore, teaching a language cannot be thought only as teaching grammatical structures of the target language, but also teaching the culture(s) of the target language or society. However, considering intercultural communicative competence, along with the target culture(s), the local culture should also be included in the textbooks. This study aimed to trace the local culture (Turkish) in a book used in a Turkish higher education institution. In order to do this, an in-house published reading book was evaluated through thematic content-based analysis and item frequency analysis. The results showed that in spite of the fact that the evaluated reading book is dominated by the target culture, and there is an inadequacy in terms of providing elements from the local culture, it was revealed that the book does not favor any specific culture(s), and it exhibits an increased awareness about intercultural communicative competence.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracing the local culture in a reading book

Durmaz¹

2017

J. Lang. Cult.

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“…Culture influences and shapes Language, and language always reflects culture, thus language also represents people and people's approach to their ways of living and thinking since they are parts of culture (Jiang, 2000).…”

Section: China English Can Reflects Chinese Culture Wellmentioning

confidence: 99%

China English, a Developing Variety of English

Yun¹

2013

ELLS

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Nowadays, English can be seen or heard almost everywhere in many countries including China. With the arising of the English varieties, besides British and American ones, China English is argued by some scholars that it should be regarded as a variety of English, since it takes Standard English as its core, and can be used to express certain unique things relating to the Chinese society and culture (Li, 1993). China English is different from Chenglish or Chinese English, and it carries certain culture and society characters in many aspects and hardly can be replaced. China English has some syntactic and grammatical distinctions due to the influence of the Chinese language culture (Hu, 2004).Keywords: China English, English variety, international language, culture Introduction English Becomes the International LanguageThe English language has been spreading all over the world due to the British political imperialism in the nineteen century and the American economic hegemony in the twentieth century (Crystal, 1997). English is now spoken in nearly every country and not only as a language of international diplomacy, science, business and education but also as an international language of communication in common life.Nowadays the English language is no longer the language peculiar to native speakers but a language potentially belongs to the whole of humanity (Hu, 2004). The varieties of English are increasing with the wide spreading of English in the world. British English and American English, the two major standard varieties have become two of the many varieties (Kachru, 1997); however, other varieties begin giving full play to their role with their own features of vocabulary, sentence structure and grammatical logic (Hu, 2004), such as Canadian Variety, Indian Variety, Philippine Variety etc. Just as Brutt-Griffler (2002, p. ix) suggests, "the proliferation of varieties of English is a necessary result of the development of world English". The Arise of China EnglishWith the emerging of so many more varieties of English, "China English" has been being debated more than 20 years. It was first raised in 1980 by Ge (1983), a famous Chinese linguist and lexicographer (Cui, 2006;Kirkpatrick & Xu, 2002). Ge (1983) argues that China English holds its own ground being a developing variety since China is engaged in more international issues and English is being generalized in China.Being an English lecturer in China, in this paper, I intend to discuss the inevitability and necessity of the existence of China English based on the factors pertaining to the status of English, the characteristics of China English, its contribution to English, as well as the Chinese culture and contemporary Chinese society. English in China TodayAccording to Kachru's (1997) famous three categories, presently China English belongs to the Expanding Circle, where English is learnt and used as a foreign language and is used for international communication rather than internal communication.At present, the rise of English in China is phenome...

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“…Many scholars share Mithcell and Myles' ideas (e.g. Brown, 2000;Hedge, 2004;Jiang, 2000;Kramsch, 1993;Seelye, 1997;Swiderski, 1993). In this sense, teaching a foreign language, by not being aware of its close and intertwined relationship with culture, would be a frivolous effort.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Although being linguistically competent in a foreign language helps to establish good communication; without cultural competence, there will always be a fundamental flaw in that communication (Bada, 2000). According to Jiang (2000), people from different cultures can mean different things while using similar language. Moreover, learners having an interest in learning the culture of target language are typically perform better than other students in that language (Ellis, 1985).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of Cultural Elements in Coursebooks Developed for Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language

Başal¹,

Aytan²

2014

IOJES

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Learning a foreign language involves more than mastering the language in question linguistically. Since culture and language are inseparable in their essence, any coursebook developed for foreign language teaching should take into consideration the cultural aspects of the language to be taught. The current study aims to investigate two language coursebooks used for teaching Turkish as a foreign language in terms of cultural elements. Descriptive content analysis method was used to determine the cultural elements used in these books and inferences were drawn based on this analysis. The analysis demonstrated that both target and international cultural elements were used all throughout the coursebooks, the former with an overwhelming majority. However, it was concluded that despite the high frequency of cultural elements, they were not presented in depth. Moreover, the coursebooks neglected to present cultural elements with a comparative approach that may have a contributing effect on raising the cultural awareness of the students. The results were discussed and some suggestions were made to overcome the drawbacks in these coursebooks.

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The relationship between culture and language

Cited by 251 publications

References 0 publications

Tracing the local culture in a reading book

Tracing the local culture in a reading book

China English, a Developing Variety of English

Investigation of Cultural Elements in Coursebooks Developed for Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language

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