I've recently used chapters from two books to get my EAP students (I'm teaching content-based EAP classes: American History and Sociocultural traditions; Sociology of American Cities) talking about differences between academics in Korea and America. America because my university sends exchange students to America, but not other English speaking countries. And because I'm American and know about academics in America.
I use is "Conversational Ball Games" from Lee and Gunderson (2001). This article talks about the author's experience with Japanese conversational styles and how they differ drastically from Western styles.
I always ask the question about Korean conversational styles, and I always get different answers. It seems that younger students use Western styles more while older students come closer to Japanese style conversations.
At least, that's what they say. Before doing this article, I notice that students are very conscious of whose turn it is to speak, and that they take pretty long turns. We talk about how turns in English are usually quite short and that anyone can take a turn at any time (as long as they have something to say).
Another one of the things I'm focusing on is the ability to listen to lectures and take effective notes. To get students thinking about lectures in American colleges and how they differ from lectures in Korea, I put together a handout based on chapter 4 of Lewis and Reinders (2003).
It talks about what professors think the point of giving lecture is. We discuss in class differences and similarities in lecturing styles and aims. There's also practical advice about how lectures are organized and that sort of thing.
Both of these chapters are ways to broach cultural differences and how they affect language use. I've been reading a ton of stuff about sociolinguistics for my masters, and they say how cultural differences are so important. What I haven't found much of is practical advice for teachers to introduce students to cultural differences that affect language use.
Certainly this would be easier with homogenous class with a teacher who knows the students' culture pretty well, but instead of talking so much about the importance of socilinguistic competence, why don't sociolinguists spend more time researching how to develop this competence?
Lee, L. & Gundersen, E. (2001) Select Readings: Intermediate. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lewis, M. & Reinders, H. (2003). Study Skills for Speakers of English as a Second Language. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Posted by James Trotta at April 5, 2004 3:12 PMESL blog is one of many Blogs for learning English & teaching English. Translation services information.