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Target-language culture in EFL materials
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Abstract:
Expressing and interpreting meanings in a given language involves two types of knowledge. Systemic knowledge refers to the formal properties of language, comprising its syntactic and semantic aspects. Schematic knowledge, on the other hand, is socially acquired. It is an important part of the ‘fit’ which exists between people's culture-specific cognition and their native language. In native language learning, the child's schematic knowledge and systemic knowledge develop concurrently. Given what is known about the facilitating effects of familiar schemas (or schemata) on foreign language acquisition, it is most natural for learners to rely on their already established schematic knowledge when developing new systemic knowledge. For this reason, foreign language teaching materials which make use of target-language culture elements to present the systemic data are likely to interfere with this natural tendency. It is argued here that such teaching materials are actually detrimental to foreign language learning for a variety of reasons. The article discusses the problem in question in the context of EFL materials, yet with English as a lingua franca in mind. Pedagogic suggestions are then offered to make smooth transitions from familiar to unfamiliar schemas.
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Articles
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URL: http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/47/2/136
https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/47.2.136
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