PROBLEM OF CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN LEARNING FOREIGN
LANGUAGES
Saule TANYBERGENOVA, MA
Korkyt Ata Kyzylorda State University, Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan
Резюме: В этой статье рассматриваются проблемы межкультурной коммуникации в
изучении иностранных языков. Автор акцентрировал внимание на некоторые важные
аспекты межкультурной коммуникации в изучении иностранных языков.
It is obvious that there is a single relationship between teaching of foreign languages and
cross-cultural communication. No matter where the lesson of foreign language is held, at school or
in higher educational institution, you have to face with foreign culture through the language. Each
foreign word reflects the foreign culture and each word expresses a subjective, peculiar idea about
the world.
In Kazakhstan foreign languages and their teaching are in great demand today, since there is
an urgent need to use such knowledge in everyday life. Of course, it has an impact on teaching
methods. The methods which were used previously have lost their practical significance now and
require a fundamental renovation and modernization. The increasing demand for foreign languages
makes changes in their teaching. Nowadays no one wants to learn the grammar rules, history and
theory of language. Modern living conditions require functional learning of foreign languages.
Learners do not want only to know the language, but to use it as a means of real communication
with native speakers of other cultures as well.
In this regard, it is necessary to change perspective on the teaching of a foreign language
paying great attention and emphasis on linguistics and cross-cultural communication.
The main task of teaching foreign languages in modern Kazakhstan is to teach a functional
aspect of the foreign language and its practical use. The solution of this pragmatic problem is
possible provided that strong fundamental theoretical base will be created. To do this, first of all, we
must use the results of theoretical works on philology in practice, as well as theoretically
comprehend and summarize the vast experience of foreign language teachers.
For many years, the main teaching method was reading texts in a foreign language. This
occurred not only in school but also at university. Thus, of the four language skills, i.e. reading,
speaking, writing and listening comprehension, the teachers focused on the most passive form –
reading. Such a passive teaching of foreign language based on the written texts resulted in only to
the fact that learners could understand rather than create their own linguistic experience.
Today, on the basis of higher education the teaching of foreign languages is perceived as a
means of everyday communication with native speakers of other cultures. The objective of higher
education is the formation of a highly educated, all-round developed man with fundamental training
not only in his own area of specialization. For example, technical specialists must know not only
technical English, but also they should know how to use it, especially with the same experts who
speak the other language. The development of communication skills is a promising but very
difficult task for teachers of foreign languages. In order to solve this problem it is necessary to
study new teaching methods, aimed at the development of all four language skills, and
fundamentally new training materials that can be used to teach people to communicate effectively.
Of course, it would be wrong to rush from one extreme to another, and to give up all the old
methods: the best and the most useful ones must be carefully selected.
The main solution of urgent problems of teaching foreign languages as a means of
communication between people of different nations and cultures consists in the fact that languages
should be taught in an indissoluble unity with the world and culture of the peoples who speak these
languages.
The main components of such foreign culture can include the elements that have the national
and specific coloring:
- traditions and rituals, which can be considered as a tradition;
- traditional and everyday culture;
- everyday behavior;
- national picture of the world that reflects the specific perception of the world;
- art culture, which can also be referred as the elements of ethnography and ethnology.
As it was mentioned above, the knowledge of the word meaning and grammatical rules is
not quite enough to assume that you know language. It is necessary to study the culture of the target
language as much as possible. In other words, the theoretical knowledge of the language should be
supplemented by practical skills, i.e. you must know when you should say, what to say, whom you
should say, as well as how you can use the meaning of a given word in a particular context. That is
why more and more attention is paid to the study of the world of language, i.e. the study of the
country where the target foreign language is spoken (Vyborova G.E., Melchina O.P., 1998).
The students can study communication more constructively if they keep in mind
assumptions as follows:
- Each person uses communication to reduce uncertainty. People communicate to learn what
they need and want to know to cope with their physical and social reality of this or that culture.
They tune into the news to get the weather report. They ask questions and share comments to learn
how to be social, to know what to say and when, to learn whether they fit in, and to know the basis
of the business in which they work. The knowledge of communication rules helps people to adapt to
their social and physical realities and to other cultures;
- Through communication people create and manage social knowledge, a view of reality that
reflects beliefs unique to each group. By sharing meaning with one another, humans can live
together with a degree of organization, coordination and predictability;
- As people are symbol users, they communicate to get pleasure from the act of
communicating. As you think about why you like to entertain and be entertained through
communication, you may realize that entertainment also helps us to reduce uncertainty.
- Since communication is inherent in the nature of the human being, considerations of ethics
must be central to the study of communication (Abdygapparova S.K., 2002)
Cross-cultural communication refers to the process of symbolic interaction involving
individuals from groups who possessed, recognized cultural differences in perception and behavior
that will significantly affect the manner, the form and the outcome of the communication.
Cross-cultural communication includes several components:
1. Communicative codes – verbal code (language), nonverbal code (mimics, movements,
eye contact, etc.)
2. Worldview is considered to be one of the most important cognitive mechanisms that
impact on communication. Worldview is the representation of the internal view of an individual or
a group which is organized according to cultural conceptions, reflecting basic values, beliefs and
attitudes.
3. Role relationship provides insights into the ways a culture maintains social order and
control among its members. Role relationships are organized according to age, gender, social status,
power, wealth, knowledge and experience.
4. Thought patterning refers to the processing of data from impressions and experiences in
one’s everyday life. It involves encoding and decoding information or reasoning. Thought
patterning indicates how individuals form fundamental concepts, organized ideas and defines
sources of knowledge.
5. Context can be divided into high (eastern countries) and low (western countries).
The study of cross-cultural communication should enhance your understanding of your own
culture in relation to other cultures. As a result you should be able to conceptualize areas of
potential misunderstanding and be better prepared to act when it occurs. You should be able to
convey respect for the way others behave and act positively towards actions that are dissimilar from
yours and when you are abroad you ought to recognize the communication variations across
cultures and respect value to the host nations.
Keywords: cross-cultural communication, foreign culture, real communication, native speakers,
linguistic experience, cultural concepts, cultural differences.
References
1. Abdygapparova S.K. Practical work in cross-cultural communication. Almaty, 2002
2. Vyborova G.E., Melchina O.P. 70 English topics (I and II levels). M.: AST-Press, 1998
3. Sue O’Conell English for advanced learning. Edinburgh, 1999