영어권 문화와 생활 속의 예절교육

Teaching Culture in the Middle School English Classroom

When visiting a foreign country, people inevitably end up sharing the unpleasant experience of glaring stares from the local people or bouts of chides for committing some faux pas. Some may think that the locals are just intolerant of foreigners who fumble with the language. But often, the foreigners, unintentionally, have broken a social or cultural code, which locals may have difficulty understanding. Like learning the English language, culture and social mores must also be studied. The purpose of this study is to survey middle school students to ascertain how well acquainted they are with the target culture - mainly everyday etiquette - and use that result to suggest appropriate and effective student centered activities using story books as they often poignantly reflect the target culture. The survey questions were focused on four categories: 1) Greetings and introducing people 2) Expressions of apology 3) Etiquette in everyday life of the target culture 4) Understanding gestures of the target culture. The survey was on 190 second-year middle school students from two schools. The schools were chosen to compare how the students' backgrounds affect their level of knowledge of the target culture - the schools vary in social and economic status. Not surprisingly, the result showed the divergence between the students from the two schools.