EFL과 미국 문화 교육

Teaching American Culture in EFL

Language is so inextricably tied with culture; to speak more strictly, the former is only an element of the latter. Nevertheless, culture is often neglected in language teaching. Put in the background of language itself, culture is sporadically introduced or commented on as supplementary. However, most of fatal misunderstandings between different countries come from cultural incomprehensions rather than linguistic ones. This is the main reason why cultural competence should be considered in EFL. The second reason to teach culture is that we now live in a globalized world. Now American culture crosses country borders very rapidly. Discussing American culture becomes an urgent job to help the youth build their identities in this age of Americanization. Once we decide to teach American culture in EFL, we face other related questions. First, what should we teach as culture? Culture is so broad a concept that we have to set a certain boundary on it. I think we need to teach culture as a way of life, which includes the ideas, values, and customs in a given society. Although this concept of culture sounds too broad or vague, it is most useful for EFL learners to understand the general features of a target society. The second related issue is where we should put learners in culture class. In foreign language classes, the learner's own culture is likely to be submerged into the dominant culture of the target language. If this situation is repeated, learners are likely to lose the material context of their reality, which is the only practical base for them to create their subjectivities on, To avoid this, we should regard learners' present positions as the most important factor in teaching/learning and help them attain the skills to communicate with target culture on equal terms. On the basis of these beliefs, this paper also presents a sample syllabus of an American culture course.