Learning a Second Culture along with a Second Language. By Dr. Frances Boyd
Traveling abroad to study English? Before you go, you might want to consider the unplanned extra that comes with your ticket: the cultural experience. It's tempting to focus only on language, yet some would say that the real goal of English language learning is to master a tool for intercultural communication. Have you thought about what it means to learn another culture along with another language? Are you ready for the cultural journey?
At first, it may not seem that there is much to learn. So many aspects of youth culture are similar these days. Hordes of young people around the world wear jeans, listen to hip hop, surf the Net, play video games, and travel internationally. Just because the Internet and the airplane make the distant seem close, however, doesn't mean it is close. We have not closed the culture gap. Nor would we want to. Cultural differences --those unspoken, unseen but deeply felt values and patterns of behavior-- are among the richest experiences for learning about yourself, your culture, and other cultures. Still, it is nigh impossible for most of us to get perspective on our original culture until we step outside it. If you want to understand our country, one student's father admonished his son, go study abroad.
The young man took his father's advice, but he had no idea just how eye-opening the experience would be. Even though I suffered through the times, he writes, I can be a more passionate, determined person. Studying English in New York was a really good decision and a positive transition period, and I will keep this belief until I can't breathe. What this student somewhat innocently undertook was a cultural journey of self-discovery. He was signing up for English classes, yet he also got a cultural learning experience so powerful that he will remember it until he can't breathe.
What is the cultural journey?
So, just what is the cultural adaptation process that comes --often unexpectedly-- with several months or more of study abroad? Researchers have identified a general pattern of adaptation that begins with delight and high spirits, slides downhill into confusion and irritation, and finally arrives at a comfortable and stable plain. Oh, and there may be a few wrong turns along the way, the experts add. The thing to remember is that living abroad means living in transition, between familiar behavior and values, and unfamiliar ones. Sometimes this is pleasant; sometimes it is awful.
At first, during the honeymoon stage, the living is easy. In the beginning, writes the same student, it was so exciting and fun. I met many friends and hung out with them every day. We went from place to place, such as museums, cafes, and restaurants in Manhattan, and toured from Washington, D.C. to Niagara Falls. He puts his finger on a common reaction: when the experience is new, time flies, and you drink in and enjoy everything.
It's the next stage --when you feel as if you are spinning your wheels in irritation-- that is difficult. The novelty wears off and the daily experience of dealing with difference wears you down. As time passed, continues the young man, everything was getting boring, and I felt that studying abroad was not what I had dreamed of. All of a sudden, I realized that my English skills had not improved at all, and I missed my country very much. As he says, these negative feelings seem to come out of the blue. All of a sudden, you feel bumps in the road: boredom, disappointment, homesickness. And, worst of all, you seem to be irritated by the very thing that you really wanted and worked for. What could be more confusing?
Fortunately, in the last stage, things smooth out and begin to balance out. You find a new perspective, where some aspects of the new culture are good and acceptable, while others are not. Nowadays, the student concludes, my mind is very peaceful and comfortable because I have a clear aim, good friends and supporters, and a great situation. Experts like Milton Bennett explain the process of cultural adaptation as a movement from ethnocentric values to ethnorelative values. Essentially, you learn to see yourself in a larger context, understanding your standards as one possibility among many.
How can an ESL program help you in the cultural journey?
Simply being aware of the cultural journey can smooth the way, just as denying or fighting it can fill the road with potholes. Beyond awareness, the quality of the ESL program you choose can make a big difference, too. The best schools have intercultural communication as part of their mission. In fact, the teachers are chosen in part for their intercultural experience and empathy, as well as for their nuanced perspective on their own culture.
ESL teachers are in a unique position, asserts Linda Tobash of the Institute for International Education, to act as cultural interpreters. Imagine this common situation: some students are reluctant to speak in class. The most obvious diagnosis might be shyness. More aware teachers, however, might attribute this behavior to culture. Thus, beyond engaging students in fluency activities, they may get them to observe interactive classroom behavior (perhaps in a movie scene), discuss differences, and relate these ideas to beliefs about language learning. Similarly, culturally aware teachers can tease out the cultural issues in language itself and in any topic of discussion, for that matter, and offer perceptive, contextualized explanations.
In short, you want to study with ESL teachers who use the classroom as a crucible of culture in which to help you discover, examine, and interpret differences --those between you and the host culture as well as those between you and your classmates. And, you want to study in a place where the office staff is able to treat your questions about housing, visas, transportation and so on with patience and an eye for potential linguistic and cultural misunderstandings.
How can you maximize your own intercultural learning?
Before you go
1. Anticipate the cultural journey, with its ups and downs.
You will be learning both language and culture. When things get tough, remember that there is a light at the end of the tunnel: just as your language will improve, so will your cultural understanding. You will gain appreciation and respect for both the new culture and your old, familiar one. If you have any doubt, speak to someone who has been through the experience.
2. Choose a culturally aware ESL program.
You are likely to find the best language programs on university or college campuses, where cultural adaptation has long been understood as part of the educational process of every student, whether from abroad or from across the river. Look for programs that state that intercultural communication or cross-cultural experience or intercultural perspective is part of their mission.
Ask questions when choosing your language program: Do teachers have firsthand experience with and knowledge of other cultures? How is intercultural communication incorporated into the method and content of teaching? Do students come from a variety of cultures? Who can help me if I feel homesick or confused?
When you're there.
3. Take advantage of the opportunity by participating.
Move in culturally diverse groups. Avoid isolating yourself in your room or with people only from your country. Speak up in class and outside, as well. Enjoy yourself and learn by being active and inquisitive.
4. Ask questions when things are confusing or strange, but try to reserve judgment. Culture is just culture; sometimes there is no other explanation. Find culture coaches - your teacher, office staff, classmates. They can commiserate with you and advise you.
Conclusion
Expect the unexpected when you go abroad to study English. And, even more, embrace it. Tolerance of ambiguity is well-known as a characteristic of successful language learners. The same is true of successful culture learners. It is your willingness to live through the transition that is the key. As the poet Ranier Maria Rilke wrote: Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.
Cultural knowledge, according to researcher and writer Alvino Fantini, is the ability to behave with members of another linguistic or culture group on their own terms. With a bit of planning, English study abroad can jump start your trip towards that important destination.
Dr Frances Boyd is Senior Lecturer in Language at the American Language Program at Columbia University
