ANM-ANG-113 - ELTE BTK/PPK MA in ELT Methodology Lectures – Uwe Pohl
No Fluent Fools: The Role of Culture in ELT
1. A VIEW OF CULTURE (Moran 2001)
“To avoid becoming a fluent fool, we
need to understand more completely
the cultural dimension of language.
Language does serve as a tool for
communication, but in addition it is a
’system of representation’ for
perception and thinking”
(Bennett, 1997).
2. WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO COMMUNICATE SUCCESSFULLY ACROSS CULTURES?
Caught in our cultural background
 limited shared knowledge about
facts, people and places
 false expectations: taking things for
granted
 basic human concepts but
different meanings, values or
scope
 faulty inferences: from
behaviors to causes
 a deeply engrained disposition
to (over) generalise and judge
Neither here nor there
Learning a second culture also involves acculturation, the process of leading to adjustment to nonnative cultural patterns (Damen, 1987, pp. 140-141). depends on factors such as social background,
personality of the individual, perceived difference between home and target culture
3. BEYOND THE COMMUNICATIVE PARADIGM
Who’s a native speaker anyway?
English less used as a means of communication with speakers from ‘target culture’ and more with
large numbers of English speakers from a variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. “The rise of
English as an international language of research, business and industry has dissociated native
speakership of English from its traditional geographic locations. English has become the lingua
franca between people who don’t speak each other’s national languages” (Kramsch 1998).
Why communicative competence in EFL is not enough
 based on a description of how native speakers speak to each other
 does not take into account what is required for successful communication between people of
different cultural origins (Byram 1997)
mono-lingual/cultural
speaker
intercultural
speaker
language-as-culture learning continuum
The 'intercultural speaker' construct
Native/non-nativeness becomes less important if a learner's communicative competence is put into
the wider context of intercultural competence as the ultimate instructional goal in foreign language
learning. Requires a different construct of the communicatively and culturally competent language
user and a different pedagogy: Kramsch (1998) and Byram/ M. Fleming (1998:9) suggest a
pedagogy which would be based on the construct of the intercultural speaker:
"someone who has knowledge of one or, preferably, more cultures and social identities
and has the capacity to discover and relate to new people from other contexts for which
he has not been prepared directly."
ANM-ANG-113 - ELTE BTK/PPK MA in ELT Methodology Lectures – Uwe Pohl
No Fluent Fools: The Role of Culture in ELT
4. INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE = LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY PLUS…
IC viewed as an extension of communicative competence (Bennett/Bennett 2004; Beneke 2000;
Fantini 2005; CEF)


the ability to communicate effectively in cross-cultural situations and to relate appropriately in a variety
of cultural contexts
to a large extent the ability to cope with one’s own cultural background in interaction with others
The literature usually refers to four dimensions or ‘savoirs’ of intercultural competence:
KNOWLEDGE savoirs - SKILLS savoir-faire - ATTITUDES savoir-être - AWARENESS savoir s’engager
Language learners with an increasing intercultural communicative competence would
 aim to become proficient users of English
 develop an understanding of the identities and cultures they are interacting with
 become aware of their own identity and culture, and of how they are perceived by others
 learn to establish relationships between their own and other cultures by mediating and accepting
differences and recognizing similarities
4. THE CLASSROOM PRACTICE OF INTERCULTUALLY ORIENTED TEACHERS
Such teachers "will not expect to know and teach everything about a specific society and its
culture(s). They will place more emphasis on developing their learners’ and their own awareness of
the nature of intercultural interaction, and the skills and competences which allow them to relate to
cultural difference” (Byram/Fleming 1998:9; Kramsch 1998:7). In practice, this would mean:
 focus rather than ‘cover’ content
 create memorable cultural classroom experiences
 choose a coursebook that satisfies cultural criteria (cf. Byram 2007)
 practice transferable cultural skills (e.g. ‘limited inferencing’- Brown 1991)
 notice and grab ‘cultural moments’ (unplanned opportunities for cultural learning in class)
 encourage ‘ethnographic’ attitudes to culture
 use translation purposefully (‘language surfing’ to explore the cultural boundaries of language)
Compulsory reading
Brown, G. (1990) Cultural Values: the Interpretation of Discourse. In: ELT Journal, Vol. 44/11-17
Byram, M. (2007) How do I teach the intercultural dimension if I have never left my country?
In: Culture and Literature Special Issue, IATEFL Hungary, December, 2007, 8-11.
References
Bennett, M. J. (1997). How Not to Be a Fluent Fool: Understanding the Cultural Dimension of
Language. In A. E. Fantini (Ed.). New Ways in Teaching Culture (pp. 16-21).
Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Bennett, J. M. & Bennett, M. J. (2004). Developing Intercultural Sensitivity. In J. M. Bennett, M. J.
Bennett, & D. Landis (Eds.), Handbook of Intercultural Training (3rd edition) (pp.147-165).
Thousand Oaks, CA.
Byram, M./ Fleming, M. (eds.) (1998) Language Learning in Intercultural Perspective. Approaches
through drama and ethnography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence.
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Damen, L. (1987). Culture Learning: The fifth dimension in the language classroom.
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Papers/feil_appendix_e.pdf
Fantini, A.E. (2005) About Intercultural Communicative Competence: A Construct. VT: Brattleboro.
SIT. http://www.worldlearning.org/SITOccasionalPapers/feil_appendix_e.pdf
Kramsch, C. (1998) The Priviledge of the Intercultural Speaker. In: Byram/Fleming (1998).
Moran, P. (2001) Teaching Culture. Perspectives in Practice. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Pohl, U. (2010) The Best of Norwich: some images to make students think and talk. In:
Farago, L./ Szesztay, M. (2010) Teacher or Educator? Publication of IATEFL-H, Oct., 40-41.