Babenko, O. V.

Electronic Repository Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design

Babenko O. V., PhD in Philology, Associate ProfessorKyiv National University of Technologies and Design (Kyiv, Ukraine)INTEGRATING LANGUAGE AND CULTURE THROUGH ESLEXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIESIntroduction.  The  role  of  culture  in  language  teaching  is  constantlyreviewed and argued by many educators and professionals.  They discuss thisissue  in  terms  of  infeasibility  to  teach  language  without  teaching  culture.Nowadays  the  role  of  the  language  teacher  has  been  described  as  that  of  a«professional  mediator  between  foreign  languages  and  culture»  [1,  p.58].  S.Vernier and like-minded scholars consider the teaching of culture as a fifth skillfor language learners that «enhances students’ overall learning experience» [4,p.268]. C. Kramsch argues that the role of culture in language teaching is evenmore central, calling it not just a fifth skill, but rather something that is «alwaysin the background, right from day one» [2, p.1].The purpose of  the paper  is  to highlight  the importance  of  integratinglanguage and culture through ESL extracurricular activities.  Results.  In  Vygotsky's  theory  of  zone  of  actual  development,  learningoriginates in the socialization process through interactions, group-activities, andcommunication. Student-centered learning environment offers opportunities forstudents to learn the values of teamwork, individual and group responsibility,competition, diversity, and a sense of culture and community. There are different  interpretations of target concepts such as «culture»,«language»,  «cultural  interaction»,  «extracurricular  activity» in  the  academicpieces of research. We focus on some of them.Thus,  we can conclude,  that  an extracurricular  activity  (ECA) or  extraacademic activity (EAA) is an activity, performed by students, that falls outsidethe realm of the normal curriculum of school, college or university education.A culture is a way of life of a group of people, their behaviors, beliefs,values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and57that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation tothe next.Language is a system of conventional spoken, manual, or written symbolsby means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participantsin  its  culture  express  themselves.  The  functions  of  a  language  includecommunication,  the expression of  identity,  play,  imaginative  expression,  andemotional release.Cultural  interaction  is  a  complex  process.  Thus,  students  should  beinvolved in the process of cultural communication at the level of using foreignlanguages.  Therefore,  linguistic  development  of  students  should  have  acommunicative and cognitive orientation. Communicative approach to learningforeign languages pays much more attention to the use of language in certainsocial and cultural situations. There are two main factors affecting the success of cultural teaching inlanguage classroom, teachers and textbook. Teachers should understand what«culture» to teach and what methods to use. They should understand that theirtask  is  to  make  the  students  aware  of  the  cultural  differences  and  help  thestudents  to  become  communicatively  competent.  The  second  factor  is  thelanguage used in the textbook. Extracurricular activities in ESL classrooms are of great importance. Theybrush  up  linguistic  skills,  broaden  students’  cultural  outlook,  develop  theircreativity,  aesthetic  taste  and critical  thinking.  What  is  more  important  theyincrease  students’  intrinsic  motivation  and  self-esteem.  One  of  the  mosteffective ways to assist students in mastering English fluency is to encouragethem to speak English outside the classroom. Extracurricular activities are thebest tool to realize this objective. However, many ESL students live in a non-English speaking environment and socialize with friends in a mother tongue.Therefore, teachers should provide them with the opportunities to use English inan engaging and meaningful way involving students to take part in a number ofoutside activities. ESL learners are naturally more motivated to take risks and58explore the language because it is relevant to their personal experience [3]. As arule, teachers’ community emphasizes four ways to help ESL students expandtheir classroom learning into real-world settings: groups and clubs, social media,parent  involvement, field  trips.Teachers  tend  to  approbate  some  successfultechniques  to  realize  all  the  goals  in  the  foreign  language  classroom.  Wesystematized  them  on  the  basis  of  contemporary  general  educator  blogs intable1.Тable 1.Techniques for teaching culture and language in ESL and FL classroomsTechnique Advantages of a Technique1 Presentation  of  authenticresources  to  students  (GoogleImages,  Youtube,  FluentU,British  Council,  BBC,  CBC,https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources,https://www.cambridgeenglish.org, etc.).An  opportunity  to  introducestudents into an unparalleled look toillustrate  how  the  language  issounded and used by native speakersin a daily routine2 Comparison  of  students’own  culture  with  that  of  thetarget language.It’s  a  good  way  to  developcritical and creative thinking throughthe  comparison  of  customs  andtradition  in  both  cultures.  The  bestidea  is  food.There’s  a  saying aboutthe fastest way to a man’s heart: It’sthrough his stomach. The same goesfor teaching culture.3 Invitation  and  interactionwith Native Speakers. Native speakers are  able  tospeak English clearly,  confidentlyand  with  excellent  pronunciation.They  may  have  their  own  localaccent  (British,  Australian,59American). Native  speakers  understandhow  to  use  different  words  indifferent  meanings  in  differentcontexts. They  understand  sarcasm,irony and subtle jokes and can reactnaturally. Conclusion. Learning a language in isolation of its cultural roots can leadto wrong or no communication. English teachers should be willing to introduceEnglish culture when teaching the language so that  the students get the ideawhere, when, and how the linguistic patterns that they learn in the classroom areused in real communication. Our belief is that efficiency in a foreign languageclassroom is achieved both by formal and informal measures. It could even bethe case that in some institutions the latter are more important than the former,in the sense that while formal measures may be followed as a matter of routine,informal measures may be more powerful and effective in ensuring quality, in aparticular ESL and culture teaching context.REFERENCES1. Byram, M., and K. Risager. Language teachers, politics and cultures.Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 1999.2. Kramsch, C. Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press, 1993.3.  Four  Ways  to  Get  ESL  Learners  to  Speak  English  outside  theClassroom.  URL:.https://busyteacher.org/15709-get-esl-learners-speak-english-outside-classroom.html (April, 30, 2020)4.  Vernier,  S.,  S.  Barbuzza,  S.  D.  Giusti,  and  G.  D.  Moral.  The  fivelanguage skills in the EFL classroom. Nueva Revista de Lenguas Extranjeras.2008. 10: 263–91.60

Integrating language and culture through ESL extracurricular activities

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Integrating language and culture through ESL extracurricular activities

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