The Arts As Cultural Representation in EFL/ESL contexts

San Miguel de Tucumán

Jornada; IV Jornadas de Actualización para Profesores de Inglés; 2014

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán

Despite being a difficult and critical task, building cultural awareness cannot be avoided. Language teaching is operating on a rather limited conception of language and culture: language is ´taught as a fixed system of formal structures´(Kramsch 1995) and culture is incorporated only ´to the extent that it reinforces and enriches (?) traditional boundaries of self and other´. (Kramsch 1995). The development of communicative competence seems to be insufficient to cope with the demand of multilingual, multicultural societies. Speakers need to communicate by means of foreign languages but also they need to use the language as a tool to understand other speakers and their cultures. The role of English in the 21st C. as language for international communication, the concept of interculturality, the development of new information and communication technologies and its application to teaching, are all factors that changed the aim of the teaching of English as a foreign language. English is seen as dominant in setting models of language competence, without taking into consideration the ´new´ or ´local´ Englishes or English as a Lingua Franca. An intercultural approach should aim at avoiding stereotyping and point to intergroup attitudes. ELT professionals should design and/or select teaching materials which are international and inclusive in scope. The proposal in this presentation is to illustrate how artistic manifestations can contribute to foster cultural awareness. Bringing art into the classroom to promote cultural awareness will help promote the insights and perspectives, the creativity and initiative, and the critical reflection so necessary for life and language learning