Objectives:

As the lesson ends, the students are expected to:

1. define culture;
2. relate culture to second language learning;
3. differentiate low and high context cultures;
4. explain the difference between multicultural, cross-cultural, intercultural and
international contexts in learning language; and
5. identify language skills in a multicultural context.
The word “culture” is derived from the French term, which in turn
derives from the Latin word “colere”, which means to cultivate, nurture
or to tend to the earth and grow.

Culture encompasses religion, food, language, marriage, music, beliefs,

clothes and how they are being worn, the way a certain group of people
sit, the way everyone greets and accepts visitors, behavior and a million
things.

Culture shares etymology with a number of other words related to

actively fostering growth (Edwards, 2014).
 Culture and society, though similar, are different things.

Culture- simply defined as the way of living

Societies at their simplest can be defined as groups of interacting

individuals (Edwards, 2014).
Communication and Culture

Communication is the exchange of information and meaning. People

anywhere in the world constantly communicate in a wide range of different
contexts, such as with each other (interpersonal communication), with
different cultural groups or subgroups (intercultural communication), or to
large audiences (mass communication). However, to understand
communication, there is a need to understand the place of communication in
culture. Communication is central to the construction, maintenance and
transmission of culture, as well as to cultural resistance, change and diverse
cultural practices.
 Culture and Co-Cultures
Culture is the system of knowledge, beliefs, values, customs,
behaviors, and artifacts acquired, shared, and used by its members
in everyday life. Parts of this system are the rituals, practices,
symbolic and physical artifacts of individuals, groups, institutions, or
societies that shape attitudes. Culture is as a set of learned
behaviors shared by a group of people through interaction.

Within the culture are co-cultures. These are composed of members

of the same general culture who differ in some ethnic or sociological
way from the main culture.
 Strategies to Penetrate Co-Cultural World

The following are the strategies to consider to penetrate the co-

cultural world (Edwards, 2014):

1.Assimilation- is the strategy when a co-culture member wants to fit in

or join with members of the dominant culture. These people converse
about subjects that members of the dominant group talk about (e.g.
cars, sports, or how they dress) as assume the modes of behavior of
the dominant culture.
 Strategies to Penetrate Co-Cultural World

2. Accommodation- on the other hand, is used when co-culture

members attempt to maintain their cultural identity even while they
strive to establish relationships with members of the dominant culture.

3.Separation. When co-culture members employ the strategy of

separation, they tend to resist interacting with the other members they
consider outsiders. Rather than have a contact with ‘strangers’ they
tend to keep to themselves.
Understanding both the general culture and its co-cultures is essential if
one wants to communicate effectively. Merely knowing varieties of
languages and group’s values does not make one an effective
communicator without knowledge on the strategies to use in his
intercultural communication. To Hall (2014), “culture is the interaction
within”. It is the culture that teaches one to think and what to think
about. It is the culture that teaches one what is helpful or harmful, or
appropriate or out of place. Culture is the lens through which one views
the world and the mirror one uses to reflect and interpret reality
 Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism and Cultural Pluralism
1. Ethnocentrism-is the tendency to see own culture as superior to
all others.

The belief that a dominant ethnic group is superior to other ethnic

groups, and that its perspectives should be adopted at the individual
and societal levels. ... Other ethnic groups are expected to expunge
their beliefs, attitudes, and practices, and to adopt those of the
dominant culture.
 Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism and Cultural Pluralism

2.Cultural Relativism – When people experience cultural relativism, they view the group
to which they belong as superior to all others. They tend to understand behavior of
other groups on the basis of the context in which the behavior occurs rather than own
frame of reference. refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right
or wrong, strange or normal. Instead, we should try to understand cultural practices of
other groups in its own cultural context.

Ex. Relativists often do claim that an action/judgment etc. is morally required of a

person. For example, if a person believes that abortion is morally wrong, then it is
wrong -- for her. In other words, it would be morally wrong for Susan to have an
abortion if Susan believed that abortion is always morally wrong.
3. Cultural Pluralism - advocates respect for cultural uniqueness,
tolerance for differences, and adherence to the principle of cultural
diversity. In a multicultural society, every group is believed to be
differently okay since these differences will shape each country’s
future (Edwards, 2014)
 HIGH CONTEXT VERSUS LOW CONTEXT CULTURE

1. High-context cultures- Implicit, nuanced and indirect

communication; prioritizes collectivism; relations and
emotions shape
Ex: Asians
Africans
Arabs,
Central Europeans
and Latin Americans.
1. Low-Context Cultures -A low-context culture relies on explicit
communication. They rely less on context & non-verbal cues
and instead convey meaning more directly

Ex: United States, Australia , Canada, New Zealand, Sweden,

Germany Netherlands .
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING !!!