Baylor University

The bulk of recent literature on teaching foreign culture has dealt with the inclusion of a cultural component in foreign language courses, rather than with the design and conduct of courses that are devoted entirely to a study of the culture. The prevailing thought that the former endeavor should receive more of our attention than the latter has been stated succinctly by H. Ned Seelye: «Culture should be taught when we have students to teach. In foreign language classes, for example, the national attrition rate of 90 percent at the end of the second year of language study indicates that culture must be taught during the first two years of foreign language study. Only a fraction of our efforts to teach cultural understanding should be directed to upper-level courses» (4). While I enthusiastically support the teaching of culture in language courses and believe that much has been accomplished of late on this front, I also feel that comparable improvements in advanced courses in culture have not taken place. We need to go far beyond the generally accepted tenet that materials and class discussion in culture courses be mainly in the target language. We must determine to the best of our ability precisely what and how to teach the few students who enroll in the upper-level courses, keeping in mind that it is they who are most likely to put their knowledge of foreign language and culture to significant use in job and leisure situations. Of particular concern is the articulation or meshing of today's culturally oriented language courses with the third or fourth-year culture courses. The present study seeks to provide some of the answers, and at the same time to stimulate greater interest and activity in improving the teaching of culture to advanced students.

In discussing the content of a course in foreign culture we must realize first that our subject matter is enormous, practically limitless. What then needs to be included and how should it be organized in order for students to get a firm grasp on the particular culture? Fortunately, a good deal of work has already been done on this problem, and Genelle Morain, in an up-to-date review, has described the solutions that have evolved (404-05). The most significant development for our purposes here has been the formulation of course goals, the indispensable first step in deciding what the makeup of a culture course ought to be. The best approach is to set an all-encompassing supergoal and follow it with several limited, well delineated goals or objectives. My supergoal, which is based on one put forth by Seelye (49), takes the form of a brief, challenging statement:

For a breakdown of this supergoal into specific objectives I draw on Robert C. Lafayette (1-2). Students should be trained:

1) to recognize and to interpret the culture's geographical surroundings, historical events, and artistic and scientific achievements;

2) to recognize, to interpret, and to be able to follow the contemporary, middle-class behavior patterns of the culture;

3) to use the research and evaluative skills necessary for the independent growth of knowledge about the target culture.

Achieving the first objective, that is, recognizing and interpreting geographical features, historical events, and artistic and scientific milestones may seem to some a task requiring an entire semester. I have found in the Spanish culture course I teach, however, that about half that time is sufficient, provided certain considerations are kept in mind. Above all we must avoid the temptation to be encyclopedic and strive always to provide students with a body of information comparable to the one that educated, middle-class culture bearers acquire in their school years and retain throughout their lifetimes. Henry Chabert has called attention to the limited number of facts   —191→   and figures that remain with adult culture bearers (249), and I wish to emphasize that a more or less integrated set of general views on geography, history, art, and science is in large part what allows a middle-class individual to feel at ease and to function smoothly in society. It is this kind of manageable data and broad concepts that we should endeavor to impart to our students.

When teachers include some geography, history, and art in their language courses, they make an important beginning but are generally unable to provide students with a comprehensive and coherent body of cultural knowledge. The culture course, because of not having to expend time and effort on formal language study, is more effective in conveying cultural facts and ideas that form an integrated whole. Of importance is that culture courses usually adopt an historical perspective in which noted figures and achievements in the fields of politics, arts, and sciences appear in chronological order. A presentation of this type, which is the rule in most culture textbooks, tends to give students a unified overview. A survey beginning in prehistoric times and ending in the twentieth century furnishes them with a complete, freestanding framework which is valuable in itself and because it has spaces to accommodate specific information acquired in language courses and elsewhere. When students are already familiar not only with certain details but with basic material that forms part of the framework, an effort has to be made to give these broad bases of information added meaning by examining them in relationship to the whole. Placing important cultural developments in context is central to the course. The characteristics of each period of history should be compared and contrasted often with those of other epochs and finally evaluated for their endurance and their effect on contemporary culture. In my opinion, it is this kind of well ordered and examined historical background that is essential, if one wishes to develop a true understanding of the target culture and to gain the ability to function appropriately within it.

Readings in the text and classroom discussions about geography, history, art, and science need to be constantly and carefully supplemented with visual and auditory aids. Depending on the resources at one's disposal, I feel that a portion of every class period should be devoted to presenting color slides and film strips, examining maps and realia, and listening to records and tapes of music and literary readings. The watchwords are selectivity and pertinence. Only a small number of high quality aids should be used in each class, and they should illustrate and illuminate the subject under study. The audio-visual segment of the class period should be geared to student interpretation and evaluation of the materials being viewed or heard. One example will suffice as an illustration of the method. Spanish culture textbooks spend considerable time on the Reconquest, the centuries long struggle in which Christians succeeded in vanquishing Moslem military and political power in the Iberian, peninsula. This period in Spanish history begins in the early 8th century, has a clear turning point in the 13th century, and does not end until the late 15th century. To make the Reconquest more comprehensible I elaborate, using a map and some color slides, on the moment when the tide turned. The map is useful in locating the battle lines, and the slides of fortresses that still stand on either side of the front give a good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the warring forces. On the basis of the visuals and the readings in the text, the students are encouraged to draw conclusions as to why the Christians gained the upper hand and eventually went on to reconquer all of the peninsula.

Before leaving the matter of how to deal with geography, history, art, and science, I wish to register my approval of Chabert's statement that an overview which emphasizes basic facts and important ideas: «should not, of course, preclude an individual study in depth of some special topics» (249). One obvious way of imparting greater substance and detail to the general overview is to assign oral reports and term papers, and to require that the students choose subjects and problems of limited scope that lend themselves to a study in depth. I have found, however, that some in-class work of this kind is also advisable. Among the most persuasive reasons are that students need models on which to base their independent studies, and secondly that students and the teacher as well appreciate a few pauses in the fast moving survey. For the best results, the particular topic should be related to the historical period under examination, and some additional reading materials should be distributed to the class. Perhaps my most successful detailed study involves   —192→   reading and discussing copies of some 19th-century church documents I obtained during a visit to Spain. At first sight, the wordy baptismal and marriage certificates seem rather dull, but with a little coaxing students have been able to draw a wealth of inferences about such matters as the structure of Spanish society, the role of the Church, and the day-to-day existence of the ordinary people of the time.

The next course objective, which is to recognize, interpret, and follow contemporary middle-class behavior patterns, presents special problems because its inclusion in culture courses is comparatively new, and the methods and materials necessary for its achievement are still in the early stages of development. Nevertheless, some significant strides forward have been taken. If we backtrack first to the level of elementary and intermediate foreign language study and examine some of the textbooks currently in use, we find that an array of common behavior patterns are taught along with some of their sociological implications. Even in the most up-to-date texts and supplementary materials, however, the presentation often suffers from the same lack of integration as that of geography, history, and art. At the more advanced level of the culture course, behavior patterns are dealt with, but usually at the end of the semester and in summary fashion. In the closing chapters of textbooks, where descriptions of contemporary institutions and concerns appear, there is little that suggests thoroughness and coherence, and even less that would promote appropriate student performance in the foreign environment.

Two recent studies have been especially helpful to me in organizing the second half of the culture course that I teach; they are American Cultural Patterns by Edward C. Stewart and Living in Latin America by Raymond L. Gorden. The first examines culturally conditioned aspects of behavior in the United States and compares and contrasts them with those found in other areas of the world. The second is a study of the cross-cultural miscommunication that took place between a group of young Americans and their Colombian host families. Regardless of which foreign culture one teaches, these readings in my opinion point the way toward what students need to know, and how it might be best arranged and presented.

The number and variety of circumstances that can cause cross-cultural misunderstanding calls for an analytical rather than a simplistic «dos and don'ts» approach. To paraphrase Edward Stewart, any given culture can be analyzed in terms of four components: perception of the world; forms of activity; social relations; and finally, perception of the self (31). While our students, like ourselves, may function quite well in American culture, we can all benefit from a description of our basic values and patterns, above all because it will allow us to make pointed comparisons with the target culture. The first order of business then is to draw on Stewart and others and to present the peculiarly American way of perceiving the world about us. This should be followed immediately by the target culture's perception. With regard to the latter, I have found the needed information in social scientific reports like Area Handbook for Spain by Eugene K. Keefe and in studies of national character like Dios y los españoles by Salvador de Madariaga. The next step is to provide exercises for students which require them to analyze and resolve conflicts arising between Americans and target culture bearers because of their differing perceptions of the world. Each of the remaining three components of culture, forms of activity, social relations, and perception of self, should be treated successively in the same manner, that is, by examining the American and then the foreign patterns, followed by several problem solving exercises.

In an effort to make the problems true to life, I have begun a study similar to the one Raymond Gorden did for Americans in Colombia, only mine is set in Spain. Of the cross-cultural conflicts to emerge, some are attributable to one component of culture and indeed to a particular pattern of behavior within that component. For example, the American student who retires to his room regularly to study finds to his surprise that he is considered by his fellow Spanish students to be antisocial. The misunderstanding is traceable to differing forms of activity and specifically to the American inclination to separate work from play and the Spanish tendency to mix the two. Other cross-cultural conflicts are much more complex and may be understood and resolved only after drawing on historical background and referring to a number of cultural components and patterns. Problem-solving exercises based on such situations   —193→   would necessarily come at the very end of the course when students have the information and experience to deal with them successfully.

With respect to format, the problems combine elements of Fred E. Fiedler's «culture assimilator» and Barbara Snyder's «cross-cultural mini-drama». The essence of the problem is contained in the verbal exchanges in the target language that take place between the individuals involved. An example would be a lively conversation between a young American man and a Spanish maid of similar age which is subsequently interrupted by an annoyed lady of the house. One variety of the problem would contain, in addition to the dialog, only a few brief scene-setting lines, and would require students to discover the source of the conflict almost exclusively from the spoken words. Another type of problem would also include observations from the standpoint of one of the participants. For instance, in the above example the American might comment in English on the gestures and tone of voice of the lady of the house, or if viewed from the latter's perspective, there would be references in Spanish to the impropriety of the whole situation. With all problems students are expected to indicate the cultural patterns that have come into conflict, the steps that should be taken to restore harmony, and finally how the American ought to alter his or her conduct so that such situations might be avoided entirely.

In a course on foreign culture that is organized along the lines set forth here, I believe students will not only acquire the information, performance skills, and understanding needed to interact appropriately in the foreign environment, but they will also learn to use the research and evaluative methods that will allow them to expand their knowledge independently. The third and final objective of the course then is self-attaining. As students construct an historical framework, pursue a number of detailed studies, and engage in a comparative and activity oriented analysis of the American and target cultures, they will at the same time hone a set of tools that will serve them well when faced with unfamiliar cross-cultural predicaments.

Charbert, Henry. «Why Take a Foreign Civilization Course?» Modern Language Journal 60 (1976): 248-51.

Fiedler, Fred E., Terence Mitchell, and Harry C. Triandis. «The Culture Assimilator. An Approach to Cross-Cultural Training». Journal of Applied Psychology 55 (1971): 95-102.

Gorden, Raymond L. Living In Latin America: A Case Study in Cross-Cultural Communication. 1974. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook, 1984.

Keefe, Eugene K., David P. Coffin, James M. Moore, Robert Rinehart, and Susan H. Scurlock. Area Handbook for Spain. Washington: GPO, 1976.

Lafayette, Robert C. Teaching Culture: Strategies and Techniques. Arlington, VA: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1978.

Madariaga, Salvador de. Dios y los españoles. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975.

Morain, Genelle. «Commitment to the Teaching of Foreign Cultures». Modern Language Journal 67 (1983): 403-12.

Seelye, H. Ned. Teaching Culture: Strategies for Intercultural Communication. 1975. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook, 1984.

Snyder, Barbara. Encuentros Culturales: Cross-Cultural Mini Dramas. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook, 1984.

Stewart, Edward C. American Cultural Patterns: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. 1972. Chicago: Intercultural, 191.

Hispania [Publicaciones periódicas]. Volume 71, Number 1, March 1988