Kramsch,
Claire. [Hamid Saffari]. (2013, enero16) Claire Kramsch: do we teach language
using culture or do we teach culture using language. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gk9A_dnmK8&t=47s
The language and culture course makes it possible to
broaden the horizons of knowledge regarding the incidence of language in
culture, and conversely, culture in language, thus achieving a departure from
common canons on the study of language. , related to grammar, semantic content
or spelling rules, as well as the historical path that defines them; Part of
the inability to understand cultural phenomena of the moment, lies in the lack
of knowledge of one and the other, or the lack of agility to interweave or
glimpse their meeting points.
Today, education has reached great changes as a cultural
phenomenon, precisely because of its close relationship with language and its
evolution in the contexts and circumstances in which it operates, that is, in
the culture of the individual who learns through the use of language.
Part of the problem in human relations and the inability
of individuals to respect differences, is precisely due to the ignorance of the
processes of consolidation of culture through language, which means that there
is no cultural baggage but also linguistic that helps to determine the correct
behavior before the difference that does not imply violating the rights of
others.
Knowledge of other cultures is only possible for
foreigners through language, therefore, it is necessary to give the deserved
place to the consolidated cultural traditions through language, the use of
language and the extralinguistic manifestations determined in folklore, oral
tradition and art.
Investigation about the oral cultural traditions of a
chosen country
The history of oral traditions of England starts with
the roman narrations when some writers described the Anglo peoples and There are many influences, like all peoples in formation,
which has the oral tradition of the English language. We must follow a trail
through the oral tradition that comes from the Roman Empire, passing through
the different villages that formed the Breton people, Anglo-Saxon and Germanic,
since it is these, mainly, who gave rise to oral tradition, the formation of
British culture and English literature.
The
monk Gildas tells traditions of the possible formation of the British Isles
before the arrival of the Saxons in his book: De Excidio et Conquestu
Britanniae
the
tradition goes back to the epic poem of the Beowulf, which dates from the
eighth century and was written in English totally different from today; It
tells many heroic feats and ancient traditions of wars, customs and customs of
the Germanic peoples, which were transmitted from generation to generation.
Of
great importance is the historian, and writer Geoffrey de Monmouth who wrote an
important work to follow the oral and written tradition of England. Several of
his works are preserved and studied to trace part of the English, Breton and
Anglo-Saxon oral tradition and their background
There
are several poems and writers of great tradition who are also owed the
possibility of exploring part of the history, tradition, chronicles and the
beginning of English national literature. Among them are the poem Brut, written
perhaps by Layamon’s; Norman poet Wace’s who would write Roman de Brut; there
is also the poem Piers Plowman which was written by William Langland in the
fourteenth century.
Geoffrey
de Chaucer is one of the most important writers who consolidated the oral
tradition through his opus “the tales of Canterbury; we can find different
traditions, stories and legends related to the possible experiences from their own context and real situation regarding wars, birth of languages, deseases, misery, hunger and impositions of church.
CONCLUSIONS ABOUT UNIT 2
The learning processes of a culture are transmitted
through language, and it is through it that the evolution in cultural processes
can be accounted for, without thereby neglecting the role of the oral, mythical
and legendary traditions that identify to each nation.
Education
is a fundamental cultural tool for acquiring a second language and also for
consolidating and strengthening the values of a people, as they develop the
communication skills required to forge the identity of peoples
Mr Demian Ávila share with us, his conceptions and points of view about the relationship between language and culture, thanks to Mr Ávila for his well-built contributions. 😄
CONCLUSIONS UNIT 1
It is not possible to conceive of culture without
language, but it is also not feasible to try to understand language in
isolation, since there are many important factors that reveal the framework and
the union between the two elements.
Often the success of understanding and the closeness
between language and culture is mediated by factors of motivation and resources
available in the classroom and appropriately managed by teachers.
Although there are many studies and theories about the
relationship between language and culture, it is only possible to determine
exactly how such a relationship develops progressively, starting from the
experience of individuals in the processes of understanding cultural elements
through of language
“Do we teach language using culture or do we teach
culture using language”.
There have been many debates around the theme of culture
and language; The linguist Sapir had already said “Language is life” and we
should try to understand that life cannot only be understood in biological
terms but also, in humanistic, social and political terms, that is, in terms of
culture The language, although it is not the most important foundation of the
construction of the culture, yes, at least, it helps to define it, because, the
base of the relations has been gestated through the development of the
language, and this, in turn , of the comunication. In some way we can affirm
that the function of language, the cultural sphere, is precisely that of
enabling the apprehension of the phenomena of the community through words and
the relationship that is formed on them and in them. The most important
institutional phenomena in the history of humanity have been developed on the
basis of language, as an example of this, we have religion, education and
politics. All the different human groups that congregated did so around a
common factor that managed to identify them: language, and this, through the
linguistic signs that gave rise to languages. This is how we see, in ancient
Mesopotamia a way of writing that allowed the organization of society, then,
the Egyptian hieroglyphs, which served as a catapult of the Pharaonic
dynasties, the Greeks, who defined democracy, the State and development of
thought, and the Romans, with the creation of law, the concept of republic and
empire. All this was possible through the use of language.
To better understand the relationship between one element
and another (language and culture) it is good to reflect, first, on what
defines culture, and, secondly, what defines language. In the first case,
culture, in my opinion, should be considered as the whole set of legitimations
from the perspective of the artistic, political, state and also, everything
that represents the idiosyncrasies of the communities, and that It manifests
itself in the particular uses of a language to express emotions, feelings, and
common factors that occur in the interaction. On the other hand, we have that
language is defined from two perspectives: from a purely linguistic perspective,
that is, everything related to the linguistic codification of conventional
signs and symbols to communicate ideas verbally or in writing (in this respect
we might be interested to know linguists' views), and a second perspective,
very typical of philology, helps us define language as a compendium of
community experiences throughout history, which have transcended thanks to the
use of the written word. It is the communicative action that defines in the
end, all the definitive and connotative frameworks between language and
culture.
We can say who teaches a foreign language that, it is
possible to use language to show a culture but that that same culture also
allows us to use language as a source and guarantor of the communicative act,
because it is through its signs and conventions that the convention of the
cultural construct of humanity. History has taught us that it is not feasible
to separate language from culture and that only through the mutual recognition
of both institutions of knowledge, it is possible to build and deconstruct the
bland imaginary of its separation, then, all arts, letters, Science and thought
are based on the imperative need to communicate but communicate experience:
communication is made by language, and experience is made by culture.
The constant question between intellectuals and language scholars: is
culture the product of the use of language, or is language the result of the
historical evolution of culture? Well, throughout this course we sought to
answer this question, or at least address the possible circumstances that
reveal the meaning of language and culture, and their close relationship, the
result of which is evidently evident in the concept of civilization. It is a
daring and intrepid print trying to answer this question about the role that
one has played over the other, but the possibility of constructing new concepts
and glimpsing other horizons of meaning regarding the use of language is also
envisioned. in the social, political, economic and cultural interweaving of a
territory, and how such aspects transcend the MR itself and go beyond
geographical borders, which leads to the concept of "global village"
that has been widely blurred in recent times .
Language and culture permeate our whole lives, and by them, we understand
the world around us, and also, the world built from reflection and
understanding. Art is also, without a doubt, one of the key elements for
understanding the fabric of culture in language, since it constitutes itself as
a product of creation, manifested through its own language that goes beyond
words. In the classroom, the required, useful and necessary pedagogical
strategies are condensed to bring the apprentices to the understanding of the
universal culture and their own, because, precisely through the language, the teaching
of the foreign language, or the mother tongue, which consolidates the
intellectual and emotional processes on which the development of humanity is
forged.
