Crossing cultural bridges: A model for mapping the extent of bicultural awareness

• Autores: Ranu Vanikar
• Localización: Journal of multilingual and multicultural development, ISSN 0143-4632, Vol. 6, Nº. 6, 1985, págs. 437-447
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Learning a new language enables us to contact another community and another culture. Learning English enables us to communicate with several communities and several cultures. English mirrors the culture of not only the native speaker in USA, Britain, Canada or Australia but also the culture of the non‐native speaker in several countries of South‐east Asia and Africa. With the present spread of the English Language it may no longer be tenable to refer to it as culture specific. To uphold native varieties of English as models and at once to advance the view of English as the language across cultures seems self‐defeating. To insist on drawing distinctions between English for international and intranational purposes is a compromise (Smith, 1983). Ultimately what needs to be faced is the larger issue of establishing appropriate models for teaching English for international purposes. Therefore to advocate the teaching of English for international purposes alone would perhaps be more pragmatic. To consider the distinction between learning and acquisition in first language and second language learning (Krashen, 1981) may be useful in underlining the difference between international and intranational models. If the teaching of English for international purposes be the ultimate aim, then the learning of English for intranational use may be viewed as within the period of transitional competence. English teaching programmes in non‐English speaking countries should not seek cross‐roads and compromises; instead they should aim at crossing cultural bridges in order to achieve multicultural competence. It would hardly seem worthwhile to include the teaching of Indianisms in English to Indians for intranational use. For one reason, many categories of Indianism fall under the inter‐language hypothesis and are found to occur in different stages of fossilisation. Besides, the second, more complex issue is one of culture learning. It is here that one would press for the teaching of English for discovering other cultures rather than for exposure to one's own. The process of second language acqusition may then be viewed as encounters between shifting versions of one's native culture and other cultures. The paper aims at providing a basis for reviewing cultural transmission in learning English as a second language. What is contended here is that language learning is culture learning and cultural competence consists of the ability to draw from any culture, native or other, with a sense of discernment and purpose.