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Why Is It so Difficult to Teach Language as Culture?
Author(s) -
Byram Katra,
Kramsch Claire
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the german quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.11
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1756-1183
pISSN - 0016-8831
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-1183.2008.00005.x
Subject(s) - meaning (existential) , language education , german , sociology of language , foreign language , linguistics , language assessment , comprehension approach , sociology , language pedagogy , language industry , pedagogy , psychology , philosophy , psychotherapist
A recent report from the Modern Language Association enjoins foreign language educators to “systematically reflect on the differences in meaning, mentality, and worldview as expressed in American English and in the target language.” This means teaching not just language and culture, but language as culture. This paper explores why many teachers find it difficult to teach language as culture and makes suggestions based on the teaching of second‐year German at the college level.