Strategies for Developing Cross—Cultural Awareness in EFL Learners through Adapting EFL Materials

郭漫

【Abstract】Universal EFL coursebooks are acting as culture ambassadors in almost everywhere of the EFL countries.Most NNS teachers seem to be much concerned with the stereotyped representations，especially foreign cultures which are sometimes differ from L1 culture values （Gray，2000； Kramsch，1993）.As a result，it is vital to encourage the students to develop an introspective and analytical skill in interpreting cultural content of their coursebooks.

【Key words】EFL coursebooks； cross-cultural awareness； adaptation； L1； L2

【摘要】英语课本在世界上非英语国家广泛作为文化的传播者。大部分英语学习者只学到了是课本中英语国家文化的刻板描述，尤其当外国文化和学习者母语有时不相同时。因此，通过对课本有关文化视角的解析，对鼓励培养学生对外国文化的自我分析和自我审视能力至关重要

【关键词】外语课本 跨文化意识 转换 母语 第二语言

Introduction

In terms of the cross-cultural awareness that EFL materials are designed to develop，it is important to view the ‘English coursebook as a cultural artefact and bearer of message （Gray，2000： 280）.More importantly，in adapting EFL materials it is vital to encourage the students to develop an introspective and analytical skill in interpreting cultural content of their coursebooks.In the following sections，some practical suggestions will be discussed.

Develop locally-specific EFL materials

According to Yoshida （1996） and Guest （2002），culture should be taught on the realization that culture deals primarily with specific personalities and specialized group dynamics rather than generalized ones.Regarding EFL materials，some stereotyped American or British cultures are likely to exclude the diversities of local cultures that their target audiences have.

Most NNS teachers seem to be much concerned with the stereotyped representations，especially foreign cultures which are sometimes differ from L1 culture values （Gray，2000； Kramsch，1993）.As a result，it seems that teachers should adapt those culturally contradicting materials to suit the local cultural values.For example，some teachers would try to avoid some negative effects that the foreign culture represented in materials might have on the students，such as the implicit superiority of a foreign culture.For those teachers who are more concerned with the value system of their students，they would either change the inappropriate cultural content into a locally acceptable one or directly use these materials but not as the coursebooks suggest.

As Gray （2000： 277） points out，some teachers would change a context which is associated with ‘pub culture to a school cafeteria because alcohol inevitably exists in pub culture，which is considered to be harmful for the physical development of teenage students from their conservative cultural value.Likewise，Prodromou （1988：81） also proposes several ways in which some local authentic English is used in the design of an EFL material in Greece.For example，the teacher could ask the students to list the names of the shops in Greece they are familiar with.The names could be English ones，Greek ones and Granglais ones.After that，the students are required to identify the kind of place they referred to and give the details of the shop either from their indigenous cultural or the foreign cultural view，such as the customers，the kinds of goods and the reason why the owner chose the name of the shop，and then the students are encouraged to compare the differences which might be implied in two cultures.In this way，Greek culture is emphasised on the one hand； on the other hand，the topic of the material is close to students life which is more likely to provoke their motivation to learn English from a Greek cultural perspective.

Cultivate students critical language awareness

Critical Language Awareness （CLA），according to Wallace （1992） and Fairclough （1992），refers to enabling the students to become proficient at observing，analyzing and evaluating language use in the real world in order to respond adequately and confidently to the pressures of the external cultures of its language.

In terms of adapting EFL materials in which some cultural content may be inappropriate for the audiences local culture values，it seems to me that teachers can not only change the stereotyped cultural content to a more locally specific one，they should also respect their students cultural sensibilities.This means that students should not be deprived of the ability to defend themselves against the ‘possibly harmful concepts and pressures expressed by coursebook cultural content （Hyde，1994： 300）.In other words，the aim of materials adaptation is to raise the students Critical Language Awareness.Referring to Prodromous survey （1988） in Greece for example again，he suggests that learners should be cultivated to think and feel about their own native culture under the influence of Anglo-American culture.‘This could involve devising tasks which allow students to question the content of material and actively elicit responses based on L1 value （Gray，2000： 280）.This kind of approach，according to Prodromou （1992），is cross-cultural approach which refers to the method that the students learn to use in order to explain and contrast their own culture with those represent in the coursebooks.

In the practical process of adaptation which prepares to develop studentsCLA，emphasis seems to be intensively put on the development of the critical，analytical competence of students.Firstly，students are required to have a good command of their native cultural background knowledge which is the foundation they stand on in comparing with foreign cultures with their own.This can be achieved by their continuous exposure to locally-specific designed cultural materials as discussed.On this basis，students should be encouraged to reverse the one-way flow of information and participate in the interrogation of the cultural texts （Wallace，1992； Kress，1998； Gray，2000）.For example，3 questions which entail both the studentsforeign and native cultural background knowledge are prompted： 1.Why is the topic being written about？ 2.How is the topic written about？ 3.What are the alternative ways of writing about the same topic？ In addition，another example can be illustrated here： at the end of the activities in adapting EFL materials in the Greek example，students are asked to compare the equivalent Greek words with the English names theyve given and explain why English words are often preferred.

Clearly，the methods above are overall for the purpose of developing students awareness that EFL materials，especially those with cultural content，are more than linguistic objects.They ultimately act as a useful instrument for provoking cultural debate which leads to develop students cross-cultural awareness and，concomitantly，critical language awareness.

Conclusion

It is important to recognize the nature of language as carrying cultural meanings and associations that are perceived differently by individuals （Prodromou，1988： 82），and the universal EFL coursebooks are acting as culture ambassadors in almost everywhere of the EFL countries.Because of the inevitable inappropriateness in the content regarding the cultural aspects from the view of the local cultural value and some stereotyped representation of Anglo-American culture，the adaptation process is indispensible.It involves the participation of both teachers and students，and the ultimate goal is to raise the students cross-cultural awareness.According to Torres and Hutchinson （1994） and Allwright （1981），the interaction among teachers，students and materials together provide the possibilities to learn.

As to the strategies that develop students cross-cultural awareness through adapting EFL materials，great efforts should be made firstly to produce more locally-specific EFL materials，and then to develop students critical language awareness.In addition，this aim can be achieved through changing the situation when students passively receive information in one-way to another one in which an actively learning takes place.For example，students are offered the opportunity to compare the foreign culture with their own rather than either being simply exposed to a foreign culture or exclusively confined to their local culture.Apart from that，there are possibilities for the students to design their favored EFL learning materials by their creativity under a teachers instruction.In this way，students can learn about the foreign culture from a more reasonable and flexible perspective，which is likely to equip them with more sensitivity regarding the learning of some other foreign culture.

In the future，it is likely that most NNS English teachers in EFL countries are more capable than NS English teachers to adopt EFL materials.Besides，they are also responsible for not only teaching linguistic knowledge of a foreign language but also combining it with the cultural values implied in the language together.In addition，the students also need to explore more about their own culture which provides a standpoint for them to make a comparison with a foreign culture.With the great effort of both teachers and students，it is possible that a cross-cultural awareness can be developed.

References：

[1]Allwright， R.L.（1981）.What do we want teaching materials for？ ELT Journal， 36/1： 5-17.

[2]Fairclough， N.（1992）.Critical Language Awareness.New York： Longman.

[3]Gray， J.（2000）.The ELT coursebook as cultural artifact： how teachers censor and adapt.ELT Journal， 54/3： 274-283.

[4]Guest， M.（2002）.A Critical ‘checkbook for Culture teaching and learning.ELT Journal， 56/2： 154-161.

[5]Hutchinson， T.and Torres， E.（1994）.ELT Journal， 48/4： 315-328.

[6]Hyde， M.（1994）.The Teaching of English in Morocco： the place of culture.ELT Journal， 48/4：295-305.

[7]Kramsch， C.（1993）.Context and Culture in Language Teaching.Oxford： Oxford University Press.

[8]Kress， G.（1989）.Linguistic Process in Sociocultural Practice.Oxford： Oxford University Press.

[9]Prodromou， L.（1988）.English as cultural action.ELT Journal， 42/2.

[10]Prodromou， L.（1992）.What culture？ Which culture？ Cross-cultural factors in language learning.ELT Journal， 46/1： 39-50.

[11]Wallace， C.（1992）.Critical literacy awareness in the EFL classroom.In Fairclough， N.（Ed.）， Critical Language Awareness.London： Longman.

Introduction： Man Guo （1987- ），Female，was born in Jingzhou，Hubei Province.After graduation from TESOL in the University of Nottingham，2011，I am currently working as an assistant teacher in Wuhan Bioengineering Institute.The research subject is English teaching method and cross-cultural communication.