LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND

IDENTITY
Dr. Asra Irshad
WHAT IS CULTURE?
• Culture – culture is the manner in which people…
• Reason – (How you think about anything through your cultural eyes)
• Interact
• Base society on

• Aspects of Culture:
1. Individualism versus Collectivism
2. Power Distance – status gap (ethics)
3. Gender Role Differences
4. Space Distance – physical touch
5. Time Orientation – time versus relationships
“How much time you have to give your relationships?”
LANGUAGE,
CULTURE, AND
WORLDVIEW
• Worldview – the way that one sees the
world through cultural eyes
• Metanarrative – how you see history
• Stereotype – oversimplification and blanket
assumption

• Framing – how our worldview changes

our perspective Your
Worldview
• Linguistic Determinism – language and
culture shapes ideas
• Language Relativity
WHAT IS HAPPENING?
WHAT IS HAPPENING?
COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
• Communities of Practice (CoPs) are groups of individuals who share a common interest or
profession and come together to learn from each other, share ideas, and develop best
practices within their field.
• Mutual Engagement – everyone is engaged in the same thing
Mutual engagement refers to the active participation of all members in shared activities or
discussions within the community
• Joint Enterprise – actions based on same understanding

Joint enterprise involves the collective pursuit of shared goals or objectives based on a
common understanding
• Shared Repertoire – using the same materials

Shared repertoire refers to the resources, tools, and materials that members of a
community commonly use and reference.
IDENTITY/CULTURAL SHOCK
• Identity – how an individual sees himself
• Culture Shock – when identity is challenged based on interaction with
another culture
• Acculturation – creation of new identity

• Social Distance – the distance between two cultures socially

• Attitudes – our ideas and emotions about other cultures
• What do you think about Japan?
• China?
• USA?