Why is the choice of culturally appropriate materials for Reading Proficiency important?

Socio-cultural competence in Reading refers to cultural awareness that helps to understand what is being read. For this it is important not only to choose culturally appropriate techniques but it is also important to choose culturally appropriate reading material. First of all it must be authentic. Even beginning students need exposure to authentic language that is used in every day communication, in conversations, magazines and books, slogans and traffic signs, posters and menus, etc. Authentic texts are always contextualized even when they are simplified, for example, American children frequently ask their parents for money when they are away from home in college. Here is the telegram that a son sent his father.

Dear Dad

No mon, no fun, your son

Here is the telegram that the father sent back to his son:

Dear Son

So sad, too bad, your dad.

The background helps to understand the humorous effect of the telegrams.

Culturally appropriate reading materials should be chosen in accordance with the principle of accessibility: neither too easy, nor too difficult.

Another concern in choosing reading materials for students is cultural relevance appropriateness. Cultural relevance is directly related to schemata (or frame) theory. Students may find the text uninteresting and difficult because it is based on unfamiliar cultural material students don’t understand. Such cultural gaps will interfere with the students’ comprehension. For example, Cartoni-Hawey (1987) tells of a teacher who was reading a story to her class in the United States. In the story, two children brought their sick grandmother some beautiful chrysanthemums. When the teacher interrupted the reading to ask what would happen next, she was surprised that her French student answered that the grandmother was going to die. When the teacher suggested that the chrysanthemums might help the grandmother to feel better, the student looked confused. They had been taught in France that chrysanthemums, a symbol of death used to decorate graves, should never be given as presents especially to the elderly. Had the teacher been acquainted with the traditional French culture, she would have explained that in the United States chrysanthemums are not considered an omen of death. The story illustrates that students from different cultural backgrounds attach somewhat different meanings to words, and these differences can result in misunderstandings. These misunderstandings arise because students often lack cultural awareness. The more they know about culture the better they understand the materials or the more familiar the content the easier the recall. Thus, teachers need to become as informed as possible about the various cultures represented by their students and acknowledge and incorporate their students’ cultures whenever possible.

In teaching students Reading proficiency discourse competence is needed in addition to linguistic and socio-cultural competences. They must recognize markers of discourse indicating coherence in the development, balance, continuity and completeness of the text (then, moreover, therefore), rhetorical organization and other textual features.

 

Traditional and non traditional approaches to Teaching Writing and Written speech. What competences are involved in good Writing? Socio-cultural and lingua-cultural aspects in writing and Written speech

In Traditional approaches to teaching writing teachers emphasize grammatical correctness, correct sentence structures, phonetic and grammar rules to follow in order to avoid mistakes. Nowadays according to the cognitive lingua-cultural and in integrated skill approach Writing proficiency is regarded both as a means and as the aim of FLT.

Writing Proficiency involves language competence, (i.e. grammar and vocabulary), socio-cultural competence and discourse competence which enables them to organize their texts cohesively and coherently with respect to purpose, genre, topic. In reference to Writing Strategic competence enables language learners to use strategies to write effectively. The scheme shows the interaction of Competences in Writing:

Linguistic competence Strategic competence (getting ideas

grammar, vocabulary getting started writing drafts revising)

 

Writing Proficiency Integration with other skills

Socio-cultural

competence (Rules and principles that Discourse competence (Cohesion enable writers to vary their use of the language coherence)

with respect to genre, topic, purpose)

Linguistic competence in regard to Writing Proficiency involves correct grammar, vocabulary and phonetic knowledge in order to express ideas adequately to the context.

Added to linguistic competence writing proficiency needs developed socio-cultural competence which enables language learners to vary their use of the language taking into account the topic, the genre, the purpose and the addressee.

Discourse competence in Writing makes the text well organized cohesively and coherently which shows semantic relation between elements in the text and which is crucial for the interpretation of it. For this some devices are used: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical cohesion

For example:

1. Slowly, James moved the tables away from the door. He moved only the large ones that were blocking the doorway. (substitution)
2. He was a good Worker. Therefore, he was given a prize. (conjunction)

Appropriate use of devices contributes to the coherence of the whole text.

Strategic competence enables students to write logically and effectively. For example before writing an essay we may brainstorm to get ideas together, draft, make up a plan, make notes, etc.

Students from different countries have different preferences in choosing devices, topics, the ways they develop their topics-all this is related to their own cultural experiences, cultural background especially at level 1-2 of cultural awareness in a FL.

Integration of 4 language skills reading, writing, speaking and listening leads to improved FL writing ability. But the improvement is not automatic. Being a good reader does not make one a good writer. Reading serves to give ideas, data, model sentence pattern and structures but a student will be able to become good in writing only by writing” (Jacobs, 1983)

The more experience students have in writing the more fluent and correct their writing becomes. In Traditional approaches to teaching writing and Written speech language- focused activities rather than learner-centered activities are used: teachers emphasize grammatical correctness, correct sentence structure; feedback is given when the writing is finished; students are discouraged from making mistakes.

Nowadays writing and Written speech are regarded in the frame work of Intercultural communicative competence: students are taught writing and written speech for communication on intercultural level. Students are taught to discover effective Writing techniques and strategies under the guidance of the teachers. Writing is not only individual, it is collaborative. For example, in creating projects

Students assist one another in composing texts, they shape and refine their thoughts: “A writer’s normal task is a thinking task” (Flower and Hayes, 1977), because Writing is a cognitive-communicative process. The 3 stages of Writing prove it:

Pre- Writing activities

Idea-gathering Information-gathering

Journals Interviews

Brainstorming (sharing ideas Clustering Dialogues

or in small groups Cubing (6 sides of the cube) Peer Reviews

1 describe (color, size, shape)

2 compare (what is like or unlike)

3 associate (similar or dissimilar

4 analyze

5 apply

6 Argue (for it or against it Why)

The Pre-Writing Stage in very important: it involves finding a topic, gathering ideas, generating ideas, shaping, refining, organizing (taking into account the audience, the genre, the tasks, etc.)

 

While Writing activities

-Writing a plan

- Drafting

- Writing paragraphs

- One sitting writing (from beginning to end) Letter writing

- Leisurely Writing (begun in class, finished at home) Essay

- Jigsaw writing Resumes

Summary

 

Post- Writing activities

- Revision (some formal changes, substitutions, reorganizing)

- Peer Reviews (in pairs)

- Editing

- Error Corrections

- Rewriting

The process of Writing is not linear, It is creative! It means that there is constant integration of idea gathering, grammatical and lexical shaping and changing the structure, revision, editing, etc.

IV. Writing and Written speech activities in FLT. According to Robin C. Scarcella and Rebecca L. Oxford all writing activities may be grouped by FL proficiency levels: beginning, intermediate and advanced and though they spoke of writing activities in ESFL it is quite possible to apply them to EFLT:

Beginning level	Intermediate level	Advanced level
Writing sentences;	Letter writing (informal)	Reports
Writing lists of varies kinds(shopping lists, etc)	Congratulations, part-cards;	Letter writing (formal): letters to editors, to travel agencies etc)
Note taking;		Sport digests
Writing plans;		Character-sketches
Writing down simple messages (telephone);
Descriptions sport-class writing reproductions jigsaw
Dictations writing; cooperative short story writing
	Projects essays e-mail

 

In letter writing socio-cultural and lingua-cultural aspects are very important. All the structural elements of the letters contain cultural aspects:

a) Salutation to the addressee

b) General message

c) Closing and signature

d) The writer’s address

Salutations are placed on the left margin. The informal salutation begins with Dear followed by the addressee’s firth or given name: Dear John! Or Dear Mary! Each letter is a personally creative act of real communication and it reveals the person’s language competence, discourse competence, Strategic competence and his cultural awareness

 

Recommended literature

1. Geremy Harmer. The Practice of ELT. London - New-York, 1991

2. D. Nunan. Language Teaching Methodology. Phoenix, 1991

3. Byrne D.Teaching Writing skills.London:Longman, 1998

Questions for self-control

1. What is Reading Proficiency and what competences does it need?

2. Why is integrated-skill approach important for teaching Intercultural Communicative competence? What skills are Reading integrated with?

3. What are the advantages of integrated skills?

4. What does linguistic competence (strategic competence, socio-cultural competence, discourse competence) in reference to Reading imply?

5. What strategies for developing Reading Proficiency do you know?

6. Why is the choice of culturally appropriate materials for Reading important?

7. Discourse markers. What are they? How important are they for teaching Reading in the context of cognitive lingua-cultural Methodology?

8. What are the points of difference in traditional and non traditional approaches to Writing and Written speech?

9. What competences are needed for writing proficiency?

10. Lingua-cultural approach to there stages of Writing.

11. Writing activities and culture?

12. What can teachers do to make writing fun for students?

Lecture 6