Teaching English in Korea - ESL blog

Cultural misunderstandings: theory and lesson idea

The theory is at the beginning. The lesson idea is at the end.

Nishida (1999) cites Gudykunst who stated that:

Effective (intercultural) communication is moderated by our ability to mindfully manage our anxiety and reduce our uncertainty about ourselves and the people with whom we are communicating. (1993, p.38).

People generally learn English as a second language in order to use English to speak to people from different cultures. However, intercultural communication can be difficult because:

(a) Interactants in intercultural communication may not share the PSI schemas of each other's cultures;
(b) uncertainty and anxiety may be the resultant psychological states when strangers (both sojourners and immigrants) do not have appropriate schemas of the host culture; and
(c) information-seeking behavior of strangers is not limited to gaining data about the other interactant, but can be found in the situations where they try to acquire the PSI schemas of the host culture... (p.769).

It seems to me that teaching English requires teaching strategies to bridge gaps in understanding that may arise due to interactants from various cultures having different PSI schemas. I think one way this could be done is through watching videos. There are several Hollywood movies in which Americans go abroad and encounter cultural differences. Kim (2002) uses a scene from Mr. Baseball in a lesson designed to raise students' awareness of cultural misunderstandings. The movie is about an American baseball player who goes to Japan to play baseball.

Another movie involving Japan is Japanese Story about an Australian geologist and a Japanese business person; their cultural misunderstandings impede romance for a time but are overcome (at least until it is revealed that the business person is married). Books and articles are an even richer source of information. "Conversational Ball Games" in Select Readings is a chapter about cultural issues involved in participating in conversation and my students always find discussing differences between Eastern and Western style conversations interesting.

A relevant web site is www2.andrews.edu/~tidwell/pubs/culture.htm which includes an intersting story:

An American friend of mine lived for many years in the Philippines before moving to Japan. When he returned to the Philippines for a visit, a close friend remarked that he had become cold and unfriendly. Why? When he greeted his Filipino friends, he briefly bowed and then shook hands, in keeping with the customs of Japan. But they expected him to embrace them and chat with his arm around their shoulders, as was customary in their culture. Since he didn't, he was labeled as unfriendly!

This provides a nice example of how different cultural expectations impede understanding even when communication is possible through a common language like English. Teachers ahve to help learners be ready to resolve these types of situations. For example, after reading this story about how Japanese customs can be considered rude in the Philippines, learners could be put in groups to discuss possible ways to solve this misunderstanding. Following the group discussion, the teacher could elicit strategies from the class and put them on the board. The class could discuss benefits and potential problems with each strategy. Finally, why not have learners form pairs and use the strategies themselves in a roleplay. A follow up to the roleplay could be to ask pairs of learners if the misunderstanding was resolved and which strategies were used to resolve it. If it was unresolved, which strategies failed? Why?

In conclusion, by showing learners how cultural misunderstandings arise and how they can be dealt with, teachers prepare students to use English as an international language.

Kim, J. (2002). Teaching Culture in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom. The Korea TESOL Journal (5) 1. 27-39.

Nishida, H. (1999). A cognitive approach to intercultural communication based on schema theory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 23 (5), 753-777.

Posted by James Trotta at June 11, 2004 8:48 AM