The Seventh Posting

Realia and Culture Content-Based English for Young Learners

Universities and high schools throughout Asia hire foreigners to teach the languages and the cultures of their home countries in content-based English courses. Many of those teachers complain that commercially produced language textbooks, especially those for culture content-based English language classes, are problematic. Common problems include inappropriate levels for the target group, insufficient focus on active language skills development, out-of-date information, and cultural topics that do not match the interests of the both students and teachers. Thus, teachers often end up creating their own teaching materials, but these materials may also have shortcomings due to the inexperience of the materials designer, a lack of other enthusiastic teachers to help with editing, and in particular a shortage of useful “realia” to use with or to be adapted for teaching materials.

However, the literature suffers from a serious lack of discussion regarding the connection between realia and culture and how best to use realia for teaching culture in content-based courses. In the culture content- based language classroom, realia can be utilized for a valuable teaching purpose that has not received enough attention in the ESL/EFL field. The realia can be considered to be a cultural object that is very useful for “cross-cultural analysis,” a way of studying similarities and differences among cultures. (Corsaro, 1992).

Culture includes “language, ideas, beliefs, customs, codes, institutions, tools, techniques, and works of art, rituals, and ceremonies, among other elements” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2004, culture section, para. 1). Language is obviously an essential aspect of culture, but it is rarely taught or examined from a cultural perspective. Language is usually studied in isolation, yet teaching language points in the context of their cultural environment is optimal.

Source: http://yogiwardhani.blogspot.com/2011/10/teaching-english-for-young-learners.html

 

Glossary:

            Commercially              : menguntugkan

            Inappropriate               : tidak tepat

            Insufficient                 : tidak cukup

            Shortcomings              : kelemahan

            Shortage                      : kekurangan

            Obviously                    : dengan jelas

Exercise:

1.        What the common issues that complained by the teacher in English language books that have been produced commercially?

2.       What is involved in this type of culture?

3.       What are the benefits of realia?