Culture, Identity and Foreign Language Teaching And Learning

Culture, Identity and Foreign Language Teaching And Learning

Dumitrašković, Tatjana A.

Language, culture and identity are essentially connected. But, it often happens that in foreign language classrooms teachers give little attention to the identity of the student. A student enters the classroom with his own identity and culture. When learning a foreign language, it is necessary for the student to learn and understand the culture of the foreign language, too. This is where the problem arises of culture and identity influencing teaching and learning foreign languages. In general, students are representatives of the identity and culture of their first language and where they come from. In order for the student to learn the foreign language he must feel that he can express himself freely in the classroom. However, the students are likely to become confused when they are faced with the new culture of the foreign language. They now have to understand and adjust this to their sense of identity and their culture, and this can often lead to uncertainty. It can result in the student feeling unsure as to where they belong in the community. The teacher needs to be aware of this issue and should include it to the method of teaching and resources used. The paper deals with the question of how the process of teaching and learning a foreign language affects the students’ identity and sense of belonging to a community. Keywords: foreign language, culture, identity

Article
PeerReviewed

2015-04-15

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