Students' Perceptions about the Experiencia Educativa Fundamentos
De la Cultura Contemporánea
Tesis para obtener el grado de Licenciado en Lengua Inglesa
Presenta:
Zaira Anaid Soto Salas
Directora:
Paula M. Busseniers Elsen
Co-director:
José Fernando Alarcón González
Lectora:
Claudia Estela Buenfil Rodríguez.
Xalapa, Veracruz.
Julio de 2013
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Contents
Introduction
Chapter I: Literature Review
1. Defining culture
2. The relationship between culture and language
3. The importance of culture in L2
Chapter II: Methodology
1.Context and participants
2. Instruments
3. Procedure
Chapter III: Findings
1.Previous curriculum knowledge
2. Importance of culture subjects
3. Syllabus knowledge and opinion
4. Previous knowledge
5. Students Perceptions
Conclusions
Bibliography
Appendixes
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Introduction
This research focuses on the perceptions that English Language B.A. students have about
Fundamentos de la Cultura Contemporánea (FCC), which is one of the mandatory subjects
in the curriculum of the English Language B.A. at Universidad Veracruzana. The interest
of working with students’ opinions about subjects related to culture and more specifically
with the FCC subject is due to the fact that since I enrolled into the B.A. (curriculum 2008ModeloEducativo Integral Flexible, MEIF), I heard several students complain about the
usefulness of the FCC course. Certainly, a number of questions came to my mind, which
made me wonder why students had those strong opinions. Consequently, I began this
research to answer these questions.
The general objective of the B.A. is educating professionals with “a total comprehensive
profile, competent skills in their mother tongue and in English language, mainly in areas
such as teaching and translation” (General Objectives, B.A. in English). However, the way
to achieve this competence is through meaningful experiences such as the ones that derive
from the study of culture in the target language, which in this case is English.
The relationship between language and culture has been treated from several points of view
such as philosophical, historical, linguistic, anthropological, and sociological, among others
(Abella, 2004). Language and culture have been seen as a system that cannot be separated.
One of the main characteristics that support this statement is the fact that language is an
instrument which enables the interpretation of culture (Ávila, 1996). Hence, the importance
of both becomes obvious because one cannot exist without the other.
Culture is an important part of the language and from this comes the idea that when a
language is studied culture is as well. According to Luordes Miquel and Neus Sans (2004),
these two components (language and culture) cannot be disassociated. However, there are
programs, especially in higher education, which separate culture and language for
individual study. Kramsch (2013) mentions that despite the fact that it is necessary to teach
culture, there is a dilemma about what kind of culture is appropriate to teach: the culture
related to the aspects that involve the ways of behaving, eating, talking, customs, beliefs
and values, which she calls the “small c”, or the culture which deals with history, literature
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and art, which she calls “the big C”. In Mexico it is difficult to define if culture has been
studied in an everyday way or a historical one. Something that is clear is that particularly in
Mexico there is no abundant research about the relationship between language and culture
in second language (L2). There are some studies about this topic in higher education levels
but still this information is not extensive.
In the 2008 curriculum of the English Language B. A. the importance of culture in L2 is
acknowledged and consequently courses addressing culture are included. However, it is
important to mention that these courses are strongly associated with Culture (with capital
C; Kramsch, 2013). The study of culture in the B.A. is very relevant and the definition of
why it is relevant is explained in the objectives of each culture course program. For
instance, the FCC syllabus it is explains that the objective is to involve and raise the
student’s awareness through reflexion about the contemporary world. Nevertheless, it is
also noticeable that very little attention is given to culture with a small c, which is only
addressed in the students’ textbooks for their English language courses.
This study addresses the following research questions:
 What do freshman students from the English Language B.A. think about the
Fundamentos de la Cultura Contemporánea subject?
 Why do students have negative and strong opinions about this subject?
The first chapter or Literature Review deals with the conception that experts have about the
relation between culture and language. It handles the definition of the concepts and
problems that have occurred when defining both of them. It also embraces the importance
of culture-learning for a second language student.
The Methodology chapter explores the process of how this research was developed, step by
step. It describes the approach of the research, how the interviews were carried out, and the
participants’ profile and includes some particular issues that emerged during the
interviewing process.
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Findings and Discussion is the final chapter of the research. It deals with the results of the
analysis of the data collected through interviewing. It highlights particular and interesting
data that contributed to the conclusion of the research which means that it provides the final
perceptions of the students about the FCC course.
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Chapter I: Literature Review
1. Defining culture
Culture has been defined in many ways by different people and most of the definitions
include certain key aspects that identify individuals in their social groups. According to
philosopher Roger Scruton (2001), Johann Gottfried Herder developed the concept of
culture in the XVIII century. According to Herder, culture is “the soul of the people and the
stream of moral energy that gives perfect cohesion to a society” (2001:11). Scruton
analyses that from Herder’s definition, two points-of-view emerged: a romantic perspective
and a classical approach. The first one identifies culture as a sense of belonging to a certain
group of people through customs and beliefs similar to Herder’s idea. The second one
makes reference to a more literal approach of the latín word cultura, which means to
cultivate. This is supported by Wilhelm von Humboldt who, according to Scruton (2001),
establishes that culture is artificial knowledge acquired through experiences at a given time
within a group of people. It is interesting to see that Humboldt makes distinctions between
people that are cultivated, as he expresses that even among cultivated people there are some
that are more cultivated than others.
Philosopher Javier San Martín Sala (1999) shares the same idea as Humboldt´s by saying
that culture is not natural but inherited. He represents this as a process where humans go
from wild, barbaric, infertile to a more cultivated version of themselves. Hence, it is
inferred that people go from a primitive state to a cultured one. He also analyses that in the
Age of Enlightenment this was seen as a process from immaturity to maturity. It was then
considered that immature referred to human beings that were not in a state of natural purity
but in a state of childhood.
Another author that sees culture as unnatural is neurologist Sigmund Freud. “He points out
that culture is the combination of practices and institutions that separate human life from
animal life which emerges to satisfy two purposes: to protect man from nature and regulate
the relationships between men” (Costa, 2006).
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Two more general definitions of the concept of culture are those of Geertz and Tylor.
According to anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1973), culture is a complex set of control
mechanisms consisting of customs, usages and traditions that belong to a social group. On
the other hand, antropologist and linguist Edward Tylor (1871) suggests that culture is an
intricate plethora of beliefs, values, customs, any type of art and any other competences that
a person acquires by being part of a given social group.
As it is evident from the above-mentioned definitions, it has been established that culture is
an abstraction of ideas that identify, give a sense of belonging to a group and overall is
inherited within a delimited social group. However, it seems almost impossible to conceive
a concrete concept of culture due to the multiplicity of approaches and contexts where it
has been tried to be defined.
There are political, sociological, psychological, and other points of view about the concept
of culture but there is one that is strictly linked to the purpose of this investigation which is
the relation between culture and language and then the relation of these in L2 learning.
These matters are further dealt with in the next sections.
2. The relationship between culture and language
The definitions used to describe the word culture have some similarities and competences
that each individual acquires by being part of a social group. Among the competences are a
number of important characteristics; for example, how individuals act, dress and
communicate with other individuals. This particular last characteristic implies a strict
relation with language, which according to Claire Kramsch (1998) can be defined as the
primary way in which people exchange information with each other. This means that
language is an important tool to organize our world. Regarding these matters, Steven
Brown and Jodi Eisterhold (2004) suggest that culture is a way to classify. Consequently,
language is often the way to do it. Culture is certainly something that does not belong to a
human being because people inherit it from the moment they arrive in the world. Thereby,
people acquire language in an unnatural way as a result of being part of the culture of a
particular social group.
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Kramsch (1998) declares that language reflects cultural experiences that people from the
same community share. This is because the interaction that they have day by day influences
the way in which they see the world as well as the way they behave inside that social group.
It is important to illustrate that this is achieved through language. An example of this would
be a very popular idiom in Mexico which goes like this: “al que madruga Dios los ayuda”.
The literal translation is: “the one who wakes up early is helped by God”. In this case there
is an idiom in English that conveys a similar meaning and goes like this: “the early bird
catches the worm”. In both cases it is emphasised that it is beneficial to wake up early;
however, there is a difference in the cultural value that the idioms possess. The one in
Spanish declares that there is a deity involved in the process of being benefited which
grants a spiritual value. On the other hang the idiom in English is worldlier because it just
involves an animal. Hence, even though both idioms convey a similar meaning, they differ
in the cultural value. Kramsch (1998) explains that speakers of different languages do not
see and understand events in an equal way. Consequently, the same events carry a
dissimilar cultural value for speakers of different languages. This is also true for languages
that seem to have simple translations for a particular event, because the words with similar
meanings in both languages may still carry a different cultural value.
Language also generates culture depending on the manner that we use it to communicate
among us. Whether face-to-face, by letter or on the phone, language adapts to social
necessities (Kramsch, 1998). This is for the reason that our body language, the tone of our
voice or the selection of our words can be fitted to whatever situation we find ourselves in,
whether formal or informal.
Another very important aspect about the language is that it is intimately amalgamated with
the concept of culture, which helps culture to transcend. Kramsch (1998) suggests that it is
the written language that makes possible the perpetuation of culture. For instance, it is
possible to mention the Bible, which deals with a period of time, certain customs from that
period, a specific geographical area in which it happened and multiple stories of the people
who belonged to that time. In other words, the Bible is the written expression of culture in
that period of time and place.
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It is noticeable that language transmits culture and it is capable of demonstrating in which
context it develops. It is almost unthinkable to conceive the existence of culture without the
language and vice versa. This is why, when we learn a language that is not our mother
tongue, it is essential to take into account learning its culture at the same time. That is
known as second language (L2) acquisition which is going to be dealt with in the next
section.
3. The importance of culture in L2
There is very little to discuss about the fact that language is closely related to culture,
because there is no possibility of teaching language without culture (Qarmoudi, 2009). The
books and anthologies, videos and documentaries, music as well as pictures, are part of the
supporting material for teachers who teach languages and subsequently culture. It is
necessary to be aware of the fact that they are the connection between the two cultures.
Consequently, it is important to depend on the cultural aspects to teach language.
Additionally, it is necessary for the content and materials to be interesting and engaging for
the students.
Nevertheless, when people acquire another language besides their mother tongue, there are
different processes that vary from the way in which they learn the first language. This
process of acquiring a second language (L2) is called Second Language Acquisition (SLA)
or Second Language Learning (SLL). According to Rod Ellis (1992), SLA discusses the
conscious and subconscious processes in which a language other than the mother tongue is
learnt in a tutored or untutored situation. As Ellis suggests, there has been a distinction
between the terms Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning because
their processes of learning seem to be different. On the one hand, the term acquisition refers
to learning the language through exposure, and on the other hand, learning refers to the
conscious study of the language (Ellis, 1992). However, for the purposes of this research,
there is no distinction between the concepts of SLA and SLL because SLA embraces both
processes of learning.
Consequently, there has been an enormous amount of research regarding the inclusion of
culture in SLA. According to Genc and Erdogan (2005) the discussion about adding culture
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subjects into the curriculum of SLA has been changing during the last century. These
authors mention discussions in the 20’s about the inclusion of culture in L2 and again on
the 70’s the issue of the inclusion of culture with a multiplicity of approaches that would
have to be taken into account (Genc & Erdogan, 2005). However problematic the inclusion
may be, it has been highlighted that “without the study of culture teaching L2 is inaccurate
and incomplete” (Genc & Erdogan, 2005). Regarding this, Bada (2002) suggests that
students who have not been exposed to culture encounter difficulties when transmitting
meaning to native speakers. Once again, this may happen due to the cultural value that
words carry.
From the above, it is possible to say that learning the target culture is as important as SLA
itself. Then, this implies that the importance of learning the target culture for L2 students is
vital for a complete and accurate acquisition of the language. Regarding this, several
authors have positive opinions about the study of culture for second language students. For
instance, Cooke (1970) establishes that culture is a complement for L2 students because at
the same time that they at learning it, they also learn history, geography, science among
other subjects from the target culture. Stainer (1971) mentions that learning culture gives a
purpose to students so that they will be encouraged to learn the L2 language and it enables
them to understand better the meaning of the target language. Chastain (1971) suggests that
students sometimes have problems with textbooks because despite providing them with real
language examples, what is learnt might seem fictitious without a cultural background.
Therefore, what is obvious is the fact that culture is a tool that embellishes the language,
carries meaning, gives a purpose and provides real L2 experiences to the learner. All these
are incentives of the culture that make the student want to learn a language. However, there
is the possibility that these criteria are not met in cultural classes causing a negative effect
on the students.
Consequently, when students feel negatively about school subjects related to L2 culture,
this may be because of the absence of the afore-mentioned incentives. For instance,
students may feel discouraged to learn the foreign language when they have no clear idea of
the target culture. As a result, the students may not appreciate the language fully because
they believe that what they are learning is disconnected from reality (“fictitious”), as
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pointed out by Chastain (1971). Additionally, if the target culture is not addressed in the
language course, or if it is not well-taught, the students may feel that there is no real
purpose for learning the language and then the students may become discouraged to
continue learning the L2, as Stainer (1971) declares. The reaction of the students may also
be similar when some cultural aspects are not covered, which is what Cooke (1970)
proposes. In conclusion, for culture to achieve its goal in the foreign language learning
process, it is crucial to take into account what the experts suggest regarding the function of
culture in L2.
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Chapter II: Methodology
This research is based on a qualitative method because the participants gave information
about their perception of FCC, which is an Expericiancia Educativa (EE) that is part of the
English language B.A. curriculum at the Universidad Veracruzana. The qualitative method
is based on the collection and analysis of data in order to answer research questions that are
not measurable, in contrast to the quantitative method (Ortiz & Díaz, 2005). A very important
characteristic of this method is that it tries to understand the meaning that people give to
their ideas (Cook & Reichard, 2005). I decided to examine the perceptions of the students
in order to discover their thoughts and feelings about this EE. Consequently, it seems
logical to group this research in the qualitative area.
1. Context and participants
The research took place at the Department of Languages, Universidad Veracruzana. The
research was carried out with students of the English Language B.A. during October and
November in the year 2012. For the purpose of the investigation, a convenience sample of
fifteen freshman students was selected randomly. In order to gain access to the participants
I introduced myself and introduced the purpose of the interview. Since the motive of the
research was clear, most of the students that I addressed readily agreed to participate in it.
This process is also known as “gaining entry” which according to López Martínez (2012) is
the “process by which researchers are accepted into the context of the inquiry and are given
access to possible informants and key documents for the research study” (López Martínez,
2012)
For the students’ comfort it was established that the interviews were made under strict
confidentiality. This was done in order to encourage the students to talk freely without any
feeling of fear or threat of reprisal for giving their true opinions. Hence, the students
cooperated positively and made statements without any major problems. In order to achieve
this, I turned to a method of data collection which is described in the next section.
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2. Instruments
The research instrument of this data collection consisted of a semi-structured interview that
entails open and flexible questions in which the interviewer has the capacity to build an
answer (Garnzón, 2007). It consisted of seven open-ended questions that addressed how the
students thought and felt regarding their FCC course. Firstly, the interview started by
asking how well-informed the students were when they enrolled in the B.A. This was done
by questioning if they had seen the curriculum and if they had noticed the culture subjects
included. They were also asked if they believed that these culture subjects would be
relevant for them in the B.A. The interview continued by asking the students about the area
básica and more exactly about the FCC course. The purpose of asking about the FCC
course was addressed in order to find out if they had knowledge about the content of this
subject. Finally, due to the fact that this interview was carried out at the end of the
semester, the last section of it was intended to explore the perceptions of the students about
this course (see appendix 1). It is important to mention that for three participants (P2, P3
and P6), an extra question was added about their culture subjects in high school that could
have been relevant for the course FCC. The information was recorded with a mobile
telephone in order to have the information at hand for the transcription process.
As it is evident, the interviews were carried out in Spanish due to the students’ limited
language skills. Since the students were selected from freshmen groups, they did not have
the necessary skills to fully answer an entire interview in the English language they were
just learning.
3. Procedure
After deciding on the questions for the interview and the choice of participants, the next
step was to address the people in charge of giving the information about the schedules of
the participants. Firstly, I addressed the professor who was advising me in order to support
the authorization from the Academic Secretary to provide me with the information I
needed. Then, I turned to the Academic Secretary who asked for the proper authorization of
my request. Finally, the Academic Secretary agreed to deliver the schedules of the selected
students so that I would be able to locate them easily. When I had the schedules of the
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participants, the hard part began. I had to organize my schedule to be able to interview
fifteen students, preferably in one day, from morning to evening. After reviewing the
schedules of each of the individual students several times, I concluded that the easiest way
to find them would be to classify students by professor and subject, because some of their
schedules coincided. I thought it would be easier, but it did not work very well. To begin
with, I tried to locate them twenty or fifteen minutes before their classes began. However,
some of them were late or did not show up at all; besides, there were some students who
had actually dropped out of the classes, without me knowing about this. Another option that
also helped to attain my objective was trying to find them after the class was dismissed.
Once again, this method was not completely successful because some of the students had to
run to another class immediately. Finally, after locating the students before and after their
classes, day after day for almost three weeks, the results were beginning to show and
eventually I gathered enough interviews to proceed and transcribe the information.
At the beginning of the interview each student was informed of its purpose. I explained that
the interview was carried out to help me with my research project and I also told them not
to feel uneasy to express themselves freely due to the fact that this interview would be
totally confidential. After being informed, they were asked if they would agree to
participate, luckily all responded in a positive and friendly way. In order for the students to
feel more comfortable, I conducted for a guided interview which is often colloquial,
spontaneous and informal (Garnzón, 2007). Due to the participants’ lack of time, the halls
and empty classrooms were the place where the interview was carried out. As the time
available for each interview was short, each one lasted around 3-5 minutes depending on
whether the information provided by each participant was abundant or not, because some of
them responded more briefly than others.
Once the interviews had been carried out and recorded, the next step consisted of the
transcription process. It took me around a week to transcribe the information from oral to
written text due to the bad quality of the recordings. Since these were made with a mobile
telephone, the quality was far from optimum. It is important to highlight that the
transcriptions were translated from Spanish with the same speech mistakes that the
participants made due to the fact that the conversations were quite colloquial.
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After transcribing, the information had to be categorized (see appendix 2). In order to make
this process easier I made a table in which I classified participants, questions and answers.
The purpose of classifying the information in this way was to provide simpler and more
efficient access to it when the process of data analysis was executed. While working on the
categories, I realized that some of the answers appeared repeatedly. The reason for this lies
in the concept of a saturation point. According to Kvale (1996), in qualitative research it is
the point in which the information that is being gathered has nothing to contribute to a
certain theoretical category. In other words, there is nothing more to say about it. Thus,
after receiving the necessary information for the research, the saturation point was clear
since the participants began to provide similar data about their perceptions towards FCC by
declaring that the subject was unnecessary for several reasons showed in the data analysis
section.
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Chapter III: Findings
This chapter informs about the categories that were identified in the data obtained in the
interviews with the students of the B.A. in English. Five meaningful categories were
recognized: information about their previous knowledge of the B.A. curriculum, the
importance these students gave to the subjects of the culture area in the B.A., their
knowledge of and opinion about the culture syllabus, their knowledge of culture obtained in
previous courses, and their current perceptions of the culture course that was being
investigated, which is FCC.
1. Previous curriculum knowledge
This category focuses on finding out if the students had been informed about the subjects
offered in the English Language B.A. curriculum before they enrolled. It also focuses on
knowing if students had noticed the existence in the curriculum of subjects related to
culture, such as FCC, Cultura Británica and Cultura Estadounidense. Regarding this, only
8 students (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P8, P10 and P11) said that they had noticed that culture
subjects are included into the B.A. Hence, this might imply that they had felt confident
about enrrolling into the programme as this was what they had clearly wanted to study
because they were aware of the challenge ahead. Three students (P6, P7, and P14) reported
that they had only quickly skimmed the subjects of the curriculum before enrolling, but that
they had still noticed that the curriculum contained subjects related to culture. Student P13
mentioned that she had also skimmed the subjects before entering the B.A. but that she had
not been aware of culture subjects. Students P9, P12 and P15, on the contrary, explained
that they had not reviewed the curriculum at all. In conclusion, as some students had been
unaware of the importance of revising the curriculum, this makes me wonder how much
they actually knew about the B.A. in English before enrolment.
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1. Importance of culture subjects
In this category, I explore the points of view of the participants regarding the importance of
culture subjects within the B.A. in English in order to discover whether they were
important for them and why. The participants expressed diverse and interesting points of
view about the culture subjects. For example, participants P1, P4, P6, P7, P10, and P11
agreed on the importance of the culture subjects. They regarded culture as an important part
of language and also recognized the connection between language and culture. Students P1
and P10 shared similar opinions by establishing the importance of these subjects for them
as second language students. For instance, participant P1 expressed that
The subjects related to culture are relevant, because to learn culture is important at the time
of learning a language. This is, language is a characteristic of a culture; a feature very
particular of it. (P1)
This student seems to have established the particular, close connection between culture and
language. This connection has been made by experts in the field such as Claire Kramsch
(1998), who establishes that language and culture are tightly connected because language
perpetuates culture. Also, Bada (2002) suggests that students who are learning a language
and are not exposed to culture have problems with the meaning of the language itself.
Besides, when P1 states that language is an important feature of culture, he implies that
culture is bigger than language. In other words, he realizes that language is just a part of
culture and therefore learning the culture may provide a more comprehensive approach to
learning English.
In addition, participant P6 stated that culture is also important when becoming a
professional, or in her words, when obtaining a job.
Culture subjects are important because these are the basis for the time when we get a job on
the field. (P6)
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This may imply that she is looking forward to having a future in the area of languages. She
seems to see herself as a professional of the English language in the future and visualizes
the relationship that she will build with culture.
Although participants P7 and P11 both highlight the importance of culture subjects, they
consider these courses to be boring. This may be because of unfortunate experiences with
similar subjects. For instance, participant P11 explains that he is not very fond of the
culture subjects and also doubts about their usefulness in this B.A.
At the beginning, this kind of subjects (Fundamentos de la Cultura Contemporáne, Cultura
Británica and Cultura Estadounidense) made me doubtful about choosing this B.A.
(English Language) because I don’t like culture that much. My goal is learning English,
being capable of speaking it, understanding a video without subtitles or understanding a
song. Culture is not my strong area, but still I decided to enrol. In general, I suppose these
subjects are relevant because they help me to understand culture better. What I don’t get is
how by introducing our culture the professors are going to teach us culture from other
countries. Also, I wonder if this is going to allow us to communicate and interact more with
those cultures. (P11)
This student mentions that when he started his studies in the B.A., his goals were to be able
to develop his oral skills, both in speaking and understanding spoken English. Thus, this
might suggest that he sees the language as something isolated with no other characteristics.
In other words, he does not see culture as an important part of language. Also, he comments
that he had some doubts when enrolling in the B.A. because of the culture subjects, which
were a challenge for him due to his lack of interest. Even though he understands that these
subjects are vital for the B.A. because they help him to comprehend culture, he was still
wondering if this was his best choice.
On the contrary, students P2, P3, P8, P12 and P13 also recognize the importance of
learning culture. However, they make a clear distinction between the different culture
subjects, using interesting and strong opinions about the usefulness of culture for their own
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purposes. In this case, they do not seem to want to learn about any culture but only the one
which is directly related to the B.A. and to the acquisition of the English language.
Moreover, they mentioned that FCC, the subject that they were taking currently, does not
fit into the context of a B.A. in English. They explained that they were interested in
learning about the cultures of Britain and the US since this would be beneficial to them as
second language students.
As well as the previous participants, students P5 and P9 considered the subject FCC an
irrelevant subject, because it is studied from a broad perspective only. These participants
explained that they had not expected to encounter a subject like this in the curriculum
because they had drawn a relationship between FCC and other subjects that they had
previously taken in high school. For example, student P9 mentioned that this course helped
him to remember some historical events that he had learned previously.
I think culture subjects are kind of or not very important because when we are learning
another language it is possible to learn it without knowledge about the history of the
language. For example, Fundamentos de la Cultura Contemporánea is a good subject but it
is not important because the topics that I saw here (English Language B.A.) are things that I
learned in junior high and high school. Besides, reviewing them here in the B.A. helps me
to remember but I don’t feel that I learn culture from English speaking countries such as
England or USA. (P9)
What is interesting to notice is the fact that this participant considers FCC to be a repetitive
subject that, he believes, does not contribute in any way to his knowledge of Englishspeaking countries due to the fact that he studied a humanistic area in high school, where
culture is being studied as part of the curriculum. Student P5, presumably also a student
who took the same area in high school, also shares this opinion.
Students P14 and P15, on the other hand, expressed that they were surprised to find
subjects with cultural content in the syllabus of their B.A. as expressed by P14:
Finding subjects related to culture was quite odd, but at the same time it was logical. The
negative aspect is that as a language student you enrol to learn language, but then they add
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subjects associated with culture and this makes me think that they are not very suitable for
learning English. Besides when you learn a language, the culture is important but at the
same time culture could be a little boring. (P14)
The opinion of this student is rather contradictory because on the one hang he mentions that
culture subjects are not compatible with the B.A. and on the other hand he said that it is
logical that these subjects are in the B.A. curriculum. This may mean that this student
expected practical language learning in the English Language B.A. without any more
theoretical subjects. As a language student he seems to prefer only language subjects in his
B.A., possibly because he believes that culture is boring and contributes poorly to English
language learning.
In the same line with this perception, student P15 also shares some of the thoughts of the
previous one.
I don’t think that culture subjects are important because the objective is learning English.
By this I mean having the knowledge and knowing how to use it. (P15)
For this student the process of learning English is based on the knowledge and development
of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), which seems to mean that he
too sees English as a practical tool. This he does by saying that English is important if you
know how to use it.
3. Syllabus knowledge and opinion
It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of the course each professor has the obligation
to give the syllabus and review it with the students. The purpose of this is to provide
students with information about the topics of the course and the way in which they are
going to be graded. In relation to this, it is interesting to see how 10 of the participants (P1,
P4, P7, P8, P9, P13, P6, P10, P14 and P15) mentioned having reviewed the syllabus.
Students P4, P7 and P15 had a positive, but more general opinion, about the syllabus by
mentioning that “the syllabus was fine.” The meaning that they gave to the word “fine”
20
makes me wonder if they really believed that the course in general was pleasant or if they
lacked a critical viewpoint on the course. In addition, participant P4 said that being wellinformed about the syllabus provided him with a better understanding of the content of the
course:
The professor gave us the syllabus and we reviewed it with her/him. I thought it was fine,
understandable and quite comprehensive. (P4)
This may suggest that having reviewed the syllabus with his professor gave a feeling of
confidence to participant P4. Another aspect that could have contributed to this confidence
may be the knowledge that these students already have in the matters of general culture.
Continuing with this, students P1, P9 and P8 shared similar opinions by saying that they
had received the syllabus in their group, but that they had not understood the meaning of it
very well until the classes started. Regarding this, I quote student P1 in order to
complement the previous information:
Well, the professor gave us the syllabus, but unfortunately he didn’t check it with us. I read
it on my own, but I had to wait to take the classes to understand the content of the syllabus.
(P1)
Even though the syllabus had been delivered to participant P1 and he had reviewed it on his
own, he felt that it was not enough. As he suggested, he needed some guidance from the
professor. It is important to mention that this student had to go through the course in order
to understand what it was going to be about. Hence, this may imply that students do not
always obtain the information about a course or subject as they should, causing confusion
about the usefulness of the subject.
On the contrary, students P13 and P14 understood the content of the syllabus, but had
rather negative opinions about it. For instance, student P14 did not hesitate when
mentioning that this course was “boring”. Moreover, student P13 mentions that this course
21
FCC was only helpful for her personal growth, but that it was not going to be useful for her
future.
I simply thought that it was going to be a subject that I might not need. By this I mean it
would be useful for my personal growth but not for the future. I mean that I do not think I
will use it for the rest of the B.A. (P13)
The student points out that according to what she saw in the syllabus, this subject is only
something that she would appreciate as general knowledge, but that it does not seem useful
in the long term. This may suggest that she does not see the knowledge provided in this
subject as something that she would be using in the years after concluding the B.A.
However, she does seem to realize that learning about culture in this class is knowledge
that makes her a more knowledgeable person.
Along with these rather negative opinions, students P6 and P10 declare that they wanted to
see more content in the course. These students mention that the syllabus was unsatisfactory
to their expectations but do not really state the topics or themes that should be covered.
However, if they are learning English, maybe their expectations are focused on topics that
complement this knowledge. Thus, they might feel disappointed about this subject because
they realize that they would have liked to encounter content related to English-speaking
cultures. FCC only offered an introduction for them that did not seem to fully satisfy their
expectations.
4. Previous knowledge
In this category, I present how the students made a connection between the subject FCC
and other subjects that they took in junior high and high school. Six students (P4, P6, P7,
P10, P14, P15) related it with Historia, 4students (P2, P3, P8 and P12) made a connection
with Historia Universal, while only 1 students (P5) linked it with Historia Universal or
Mundo Contemporáneo, and another student (P13) related it with Cultura y Sociedad. Only
students P1 and P11 mentioned that they did not relate this subject with any other subject.
P11 explained that he went to a CBTIS school, which is a technical area unrelated with the
22
Humanities, in which no culture courses are being taught.
All those who made a
connection between the first culture course in the B.A. and subjects in their previous
studies (presumably a Humanities area) answered that this previous knowledge had helped
them during the course of FCC. For instance, student P3 and P2 said that it had given them
the opportunity to review topics, which had helped them during the course of FCC. Student
P2 made reference to two specific historical events: World War One and The Cold War,
which were dealt with in previous courses in high school.
Student P6 raised some issues about the purpose of her final work:
However, at the end of it I didn’t understand the purpose of the final work. This was about
subcultures and if I have to be honest I don’t get the purpose of knowing about Mexican
subcultures and its relation with English Culture. That is why I consider that in this aspect
the subject hasn’t contributed to my knowledge in any way. (P6)
It is evident that student P6 had some expectations about the course that clearly were not
covered. In her opinion, Mexican subcultures had nothing to do with English Culture,
which was clearly what she expected to be taught about in her first culture course in the
B.A. Participant 11, already mentioned previously, also said that before enrolling in the
B.A. he had not had any humanistic subjects because the kind of high school he went to
focuses on other areas, such as math, physics or chemistry. It is important to say that
participant 11 is also the one who mentioned that at the moment of choosing the English
Language B.A., he had had some doubts because he does not enjoy culture very much.
Maybe, it is because he did not have the opportunity to take subjects related to culture
before.
5. Students Perceptions
In this category, I present the participants’ perceptions about the way they felt while taking
the subject FCC. On the one hand, students P4, P10 and P15 expressed positive comments,
such as the course being useful, interesting and helpful to learn new things about culture.
On the other hand, students P1, P3 and P5 agreed that it had been useful only to a certain
degree but that their expectations to learn more about British and USA culture had not been
23
fulfilled. For instance, student P1 suggested that this course was only a starting point that
would help them to understand better the following culture courses:
This EE Fundamentos de la Cultura Contemporánea, it´s a starting point and I think it´s a
little incomplete, though I think you can complement it with other classes such as Cultura
Británica or Cultura Estadounidense which are more focused on the language that we are
learning. (P1)
In the perception of this student, it is possible to see that he understands the need for this
course, which might seem incomplete for him, but still necessary. This he does by
establishing that it can be complemented with other subjects as the ones he mentions. Then,
it may be implied that in his perspective, he sees this subject as an introduction to the study
of English-speaking cultures.
Student P3 also considers this course to be useful even though she would have preferred to
learn about the culture of English-speaking countries.
I think this EE (Fundamentos de la Cultura Contemporánea) was useful in some aspects
but not entirely. I would have really appreciated learning about culture of English-speaking
countries. (P3)
The student pointed to a geographical feature to indicate that she is fond of learning not
only about the culture of people in England but also about the culture of other countries
where English is spoken. Another aspect to take into account is that she does not consider
the USA or the UK as the only countries in which English is spoken, but additionally
realizes that there are other countries that speak this language. Students P2, P5, P6, P7, P9,
P11 and P12 also say that the course was useful, but they consider it was a little boring. In
addition, student P11 indicates that he became so bored that he even fell asleep in one of
the classes.
24
Student P5 and P6 made the observation that the students’ interest in the class depends on
how the teacher plans the classes and performs in them. What these students suggest is that
the professor must be prepared for every class due to the difficulty of the subject itself,
which can easily become boring if not addressed properly. P6 mentioned that she liked the
classes when slide presentations were included in them. Additionally, student P5 labels this
course as a course on history and not on culture, an opinion which is also shared by student
P11. On the one hand, this may happen because of the association that these students (P5
and P11) made with some of their previous courses that dealt with similar historical events.
On the other hand, this may also happen because of what students P7, P9, and P12 stated.
They declared that they had formerly seen the contents of the subject FCC in high school.
Also, they said that this course helped as a reminder of the contents but did not make any
great contribution to what they had previously learned. Consequently, they concluded that
the culture class was boring because it was repetitive.
Continuing with the students who expressed not very positive opinions about the course but
still found it somehow useful, student P8 said that he was not very interested in learning
about historical events.
I think this EE wasn’t bad but I would be more interested in learning about cultural tips on
how the people over there are and stuff like that rather than historical events. (P8)
It is interesting how this student established that his interests were focused on learning
about current events rather than historical events. He may have wanted to compare his
culture with that of English-speaking countries. It is interesting to point out the fact that this
student seems to have a desire to learn practical information about the culture, without
knowing where this comes from. It seems that he is not interested in the culture as a whole,
how it has evolved, but seems satisfied with only knowing how to act in the culture.
Different from all the previous opinions, students P13 and P14 had a completely negative
perspective about the course by establishing that it was unhelpful for their future or simply
because it was completely unnecessary for their professional formation. Regarding these
25
aspects, I wonder about the concept of language learning of these students. Furthermore,
they practically suggest that it is possible to learn a language without knowing about the
context. Hence, this may imply that these students did not understand the purpose of the
English Language B.A. because they believe that it only aims at teaching the language to
the student rather than the entire context that learning a language implies. Besides,
professional formation in this field also includes knowing about culture, which is without
any doubt very important for a professional in the language.
26
Conclusions
This qualitative study was carried out in the Language Department of Universidad
Veracruzana in the city of Xalapa, Mexico. It aimed at finding out about the perceptions of
students of the English Language B.A. concerning the course of FCC. In order to do this,
the study gathered information from fifteen freshmen participants selected randomly from
the various groups in the B.A. The research instruments were semi-structured interviews
which allowed me to obtain the data with an audio-recording device.
The data obtained from the participants showed interesting findings about their perceptions
regarding the subject FCC. They concluded that this culture subject was unnecessary, but if
we take into account different aspects, such as the knowledge they had about the B.A.
before enrolling in it, the knowledge they had of this particular subject before taking it,
what they thought is an important culture subject in the B. A., it can be concluded that if
students are well-informed about the subjects they are going to take, this may contribute to
a more positive response when experiencing it.
Seeing the curriculum before enrolling in a B.A. is there is possibility of every student. The
purpose of doing it is that when students enrol, they should be aware of what they want for
their future. Regarding this, it is interesting to see that only eight out of the fifteen students
had completely reviewed the curriculum before enrolment, which implies that the rest of
the students had not fully reviewed it or had not reviewed it at all. Hence, this might
suggest that these students were not well informed and based their decision of enrolling in
the English Language B.A. on erroneous or unreal expectations. Believing that English
language learning does not include information about the target culture or historical context
is a clear example of a wrong idea.
Not all the participants considered the culture subjects important. According to them, this
happens due to the fact that they related English learning only with the idea of developing
the four communicative skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing). They do not seem
to take into account that learning a language involves more than that. Experts (see the
Literature Review) point out that learning a language means learning a plethora of
information such as the culture of the target language.
27
The data also informed that when the students started studying the B.A., they were not
properly informed about the subjects that they were going to take. One third of the
participants had had no access to the FCC syllabus at all. Of the other two-thirds who had
received a copy of the syllabus at the beginning of their culture course, very few students (3
out of a total of 15) had reviewed it with their professors, while the others had reviewed it
on their own, without the help of their professors, and therefore their doubts had not been
clarified. Despite their expectations based on a review of the syllabus, the majority of these
students felt de-motivated and were disappointed by the course, which they thought boring
or repetitive.
Having in mind that students considered FCC a repetitive subject, it is interesting to see
how thirteen students related this culture subject to previous ones taken in high school.
Something important to highlight is that most of the participants made the connection
directly with subjects in history and other subjects. Then, they perhaps saw FCC as a mere
history subject rather than one addressing culture. However, there were also a few students
who were unable to make connections with previous subjects. The different education
programmes in high school cover different subjects and content, which can result in a
knowledge gap when students enter the B.A. Subjects such as FCC may be very useful for
students who come from CBTIS, a programme that addresses technical areas, leaving aside
subjects related to the Humanities. Regarding FCC, participants pointed out that professors
who are well-prepared and interactive classes are crucial for successful learning. They
report these as key factors to keep them motivated and interested in “boring” or “tedious”
subjects such as FCC.
Regarding FCC, participants pointed out their disappointment about the course. The
reasons they gave were related to teacher behaviour, content of the classes, repetition of
topics, and lack of motivation. Their perceptions about the course suggest that professors
should prepare their lessons well, present them in a clear way and include relevant
interactive materials. They report these as key factors to be successful in their learning, as
well as to keep them motivated and interested in what they call “boring” or “tedious”
subjects such as FCC. It is vital that professors emphasize the importance of culture for
28
learners of English as a Second Language and especially in the B.A. in English, where FCC
is a starting point to involve the students in the context of the language.
29
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31
Appendixes
Appendix 1: Interview questions
Interview
1. Cuándo te inscribiste a la licenciatura ¿revisaste el plan de estudios?
*Sí (continúa 2)
*No (pase a la 3)
2. ¿Qué te pareció el hecho de haber encontrado materias sobre el conocimiento y el
estudio de la cultura?
3. ¿Consideras que las experiencias educativas sobre la cultura en la licenciatura en
lengua inglesa son importantes? ¿Porqué?
4. ¿El profesor de Fundamentos de la Cultura Contemporánea te entrego y juntos
hicieron revisión del programa?
5. ¿Qué pensaste del contenido del programa?
6. ¿Con cuáles materias de las que cursaste en el bachillerato o prepa relacionas la
experiencia educativa de fundamentos de la cultura contemporánea?
7. Ahora que estas por concluir el semestre, ¿Cuál es tu percepción de esta
experiencia educativa?
32
Appendix 2: Summary of findings
Previous
curriculu
m
Participan
ts
knowledg
Importance of
culture subjects
Syllabus
knowledge
and opinion
Previous
Students
knowledge
Perceptions
e
P1
P2
“Yes”
“Yes”
“I think the
subjects related
to culture are
relevant,
because to learn
culture
is
important at the
time of learning
a language. This
is, language is a
characteristic of
a culture; a
feature
very
particular of it”
“Well,
the
professor
gave us the
syllabus, but
s/he
didn’t
check it with
us
unfortunately.
I read it on
my own, but I
had to wait to
take
the
classes
to
understand
the content of
the syllabus”
“I don’t think
that the subject
Fundamentos de
la
Cultura
Contemporánea, *DID NOT
which is the REVIEW IT
current subject
that I am taking,
is as useful as
Cultura
“This
Experiencia
Educativa de
Fundamentos
de la Cultura
Contemporáne
a,
It´s
a
starting point
and I think it´s
a
little
incomplete.
*DID NOT
Though,
I
REATED IT
think you can
WITH ANY
complemented
PREVIOUS
it with another
COURSE.
classes such as
Cultura
Británica
or
Cultura
Estadounidens
e which are
more focused
on
language
that we are
learning”
“Those
previous
subjects that I
took in high
school were
very
useful
because
of
topics such as
World
War
One or The
“I found this
course
(Fundamentos
de la Cultura
Contemporáne
a) interesting,
quite
boring
but interesting
because I see
that now in
33
Británicaor
Cultura
Estadounidense.
I think the last
two are more
attached to the
B. A.”.
P3
P4
“Yes”
“Yes”
“I consider that
some
culture
subjects
are
important
for
example,
Cultura
Británicaor
Cultura
Estadounidense
*DID NOT
because I am
REVIEW IT
studying English
language.
I
believe
that
these
subjects
are the basis for
learning about
an
English
speaking
culture”.
“I
supposed
culture subjects
are
important
when you are
learning
a
language,
in
order
to
understand
better
the
Cold
War
which I had
already seen”
*Historia
universal
higher
education
culture is more
comprehensive
. This subject
was a little
repetitive, but
there are some
things that I
didn’t know or
even
things
that I had
almost
forgotten”.
“The subjects
that I took in
high school
definitely
helped
me
because some
topics that I
previously
saw
in
Historia
Mundial
course,
are
reviewed
again in this
Experiancia
Educativa”
*Historia
mundial
“I think this
Experiencia
Educativa
(Fundamentos
de la Cultura
Contemporáne
a) was useful
in
some
aspects but not
entirely.
I
would
have
really
appreciated
learning about
culture
of
Englishspeaking
countries”.
“The
professor
gave us the
syllabus and
* Historia
we reviewed
it
with
her/him
I
thought it was
fine,
“I think the
subject
was
very
useful,
overall
to
understand
how to manage
international
relationships
and in general,
34
language
when
translating.
P5
P6
“Yes”
or understandabl
e and quite
comprehensiv
e”
“Culture
subjects are fine
because it is
essential
that
everybody
knows
about
culture,
but
sincerely I did
not expect to see
this
subject
(Fundamentos
de la Cultura
Contemporánea)
in the English *DID NOT
Language B. A. REVIEW IT
I also think this
subject is quite
repetitive
because I had
already
taken
courses as this in
previous years
such as Historia
Universal. It is
knowledge that I
believe
that
everybody
is
aware of”
“I think culture
subjects
are
important
because
these
“Caught a
are the basis for
glimpse”
the time when
we get a job on
the field”
“The
professor
gave us the
syllabus and I
thought it was
a little empty.
Like if it
needed more
content”
I enjoyed the
class”
“I think the
course
(Fundamentos
*
Historia de la Cultura
universal
y Contemporáne
a) is useful
Mundo
depending on
the
Contemporán how
teacher gives
eo.
it,
because
sometimes
History can be
tedious or even
boring”.
“I relate this
course with
History
courses that I
took
previously.
These courses
that I took in
high school in
some
way
helped
me
“I think the
classes were a
little
empty
because they
focused more
on subculture
topics and I
couldn’t find in
which context
those
topics
related
to
35
with
this
subject.
However, at
the end of it I
didn’t
understand
the purpose of
the
final
work.
This
was
about
subcultures
and if I have
to be honest I
don’t get what
is the purpose
of knowing
about
Mexicans’
subcultures
and
its
relation with
English
Culture. That
is
why
I
consider that
in this aspect
the
subject
hasn’t
contributed to
my
knowledge in
any way”.
Fundamentos
de la Cultura
Contemporáne
a. I have to
admit
that
when
the
professor gave
visual material
such as slides
explaining
topics attached
to the subject I
enjoyed it but
when
the
professor got
out the context
the
classes
were boring for
me”
*Historia
P7
“I think culture
subjects
are
important but I
think they are
boring.
I’m
conscious that as
“Caught a
students of the
glimpse”
English
Language B. A.
it is essential to
know
about
culture from the
language we are
“I considered
that
the
* Historia
syllabus was
fine”
“This subject
wasn’t
complicated
for me because
the topics that I
saw here were
things that I
learned since
junior
high
school
even
though I don’t
like culture. I
think that it
36
learning about,
but I as I told
you before I
think of them as
boring”
P8
P9
Yes
“No”
would be more
interesting to
take the other
culture
subjects
(Cultura
Británicaand
Cultura
Estadounidens
e)”
“Culture
subjects
are
important
because
it’s
important
to
know the culture
of the language
that we are
learning but my
opinion
about
Fundamentos de
la
Cultura
Contemporánea
is
that
this
subject is not as
important as the
other
subjects
Cultura
Británica
or
Cultura
Estadounidense.
“At
the
beginning I
thought the
syllabus
wasn’t
*Historia
interesting
universal.
even though
sometimes
the
classes
were
entertaining”
“I think this
Experiancia
Educativa
wasn’t bad but
I would be
more interested
in
learning
about cultural
tips of how the
people
over
there are and
stuff like that
rather
than
historical
events”
I think culture
subjects are kind
of or not very
important
because when
we are learning
other language it
is possible to
learn it without
knowledge
about the history
“I didn’t pay
much
attention
when
the *Historia
professor
historia
gave
the universal.
syllabus and
reviewed it
until
the
classes
started. Then,
“This subject
helped me to
remember
o some
things
but I hope to
learn more in
the
others
subjects related
to culture. As I
mentioned
before I think
37
of the language.
For
example,
Fundamentos de
la
Cultura
Contemporáneai
s a good subject
but it is not
important
because
the
topics that I saw
here
(English
Language EB.
A.) are things
that I learned in
junior high and
high
school.
Besides,
reviewing them
here in the B. A.
helps me to
remember but I
don’t feel that I
learn
culture
from
English
speaking
countries such
as England or
USA.”
P10
P11
“Yes”
“Yes”
“Culture
subjects
are
important
because if we
are
learning
about
other
language
knowing
everything about
it is important.”
I saw what
we
were
going
to
learn”
this subject is
not
very
important”
“I think the
syllabus was
fine, but I *Historia.
hoped
we
could learn
other things”
“At
the
*DID NOT
beginning, this
REVIEW IT
kind of subjects
(Fundamentos
“I
coursed
high school in
a
CBTIS
(Centro
“I think the
subject
was
fine in general
but just that.”
“My opinion is
that
it
is
important
to
learn
about
38
de la Cultura
Contemporánea,
Cultura
Británica
and
Cultura
Estadounidense)
made
me
doubtful about
choosing this B.
A.
(English
Language)
because I don’t
like culture that
much. My goal
is
learning
English, being
capable of speak
it, understand a
video
without
subtitles
or
understand
a
song. Culture is
not my strong
suit, but still I
decided
to
matriculate. In
general,
I
suppose
these
subjects
are
relevant because
they help me to
understand
culture
better.
What I don’t get
is
how
by
introducing our
culture
the
professors are
going to teach us
culture
from
other countries.
Also, I wonder
if this is going to
allow us to
communicate
and
interact
more with those
Tecnológico
Industrial y
de Servicos)
and this kind
of schools are
more
addressed to
the industrial
development
and I didn’t
see anything
related to the
humanities”
culture.
At
least,
the
subject
Fundamentos
de la Cultura
Contemporáne
a helped me to
clarify
the
wrong
idea
about
what
culture is. In
summary,
I
believe
the
classes
were
useful
even
though I didn’t
really
enjoy
them because I
thought they
were boring. I
thought
the
culture
class
was rather a
history class
which
I
honestly don’t
feel attracted
to. I have to
admit that I fell
asleep during
class one time
because
the
professor
showed us a
video
about
cultures from
other countries
and there were
some parts that
didn’t add up
to me.”
39
cultures”.
P12
P13
“No”
“Not
exactly”
“I
think,
Funtamentos de
la
Cultura
Contemporánea
has little to do
with the B. A.
because
it’s
important know
about
culture
and not any
*DID NOT *
Historia
culture
but
REVIEW IT
universal
British or USA
culture. I think
Fundamentos de
la
Cultura
Contemporanea
doesn’t
deal
with
those
cultures that I
believe would
be more useful”
“I have a feeling
that
subjects
related to culture
are not relevant
for the B. A.,
because
they
just teach you
things that have
nothing to do
with the subject
or what we are
studying, which
is
English
language. Then,
I don’t think it´s
really important
to know which
social circle you
are, or culture
you belong to,
“I
simply
thought that it
was going to
be a subject
that I might
not need. By
this I mean it
would
be
useful for my *Cultura
personal
sociedad
growth
but
not for the
future. I mean
that I do not
think I will
use it for the
rest of the B.
A.”
“I have to
admit that I
enjoy
the
classes,
but
I’m
steel
feeling that this
subject
Fundamentos
de la Cultura
Contemporáne
a is not very
necessary
because I don’t
really believe
that is closely
attached to the
B. A and also
is
a
little
repetitive”
“The
course
Fundamentos
de la Cultura
Contemporáne
a was fun
because during
it
we
did
presentations.
However,
I
y
don´t
really
think that the
class was very
good because I
don’t see the
point
in
learning
something that
will not be
useful in the
future.
40
or maybe it is
important but in
English culture
or
something
like
that;
something that
is related to
English
language”.
P14
“Finding
subjects related
to culture was
quite odd, but at
the same time it
was logical. The
negative aspect
is that as a
language student
you matriculate
to
learn
language,
but
then they add
“Caught a subjects
glimpse” associated with
culture and this
makes me think
that they are not
very compatible
with
learning
English. Besides
when you learn
a language, the
culture
is
important but at
the same time
culture could be
a little boring.”
P15
“I don’t think
that
culture
subjects
are
important
because
the
“No”
“I just think
that
the
syllabus
content
of
Fundamentos *Historia
de la Cultura
Contemporán
ea is boring”
“I think that
the syllabus
* Historia
of
Fundamentos
de la Cultura
“I think this
course
Fundamentos
de la Cultura
Contemporáne
a didn’t help
me with my
professional
formation
because the B.
A. focuses on
learning
a
language rather
than learning
the culture”
“This subject
Fundamentos
de la Cultura
Contemporáne
a was useful
41
objective
is Contemporán
learning
ea it’s fine”
English. By this
I mean having
the knowledge
and
knowing
how to use it.”
because
I
learned much
about culture.
Now I have a
new
perspective of
what I believe
to
have
learned”
42